my $350 walkman

So, my new full time job is to load songs into ITunes to then upload into my new fancy schmancy Ipod photo (which Jason helpfully pointed out was a $350 Walkman). Yeah, I'll soon stop eating and start taking crack so that I can stay up late and put just -- one--more--song on the playlist.

Read this column from Saturday's Washington Post editorial pages from E.J. Dionne. Dionne's telling Democrats that they need to start being a little more strategic about backing pro-choice candidates if the goal is to get more Democrats elected. "You have to wonder why," he writes, "it is so hard for so many Democrats to learn that a little open-mindedness on a very difficult question is not only a virtue but a necessity."

I read that and I can't help but ask, why should he presume that the ultimate goal of those who have always identified as Democrats -- such as myself -- is to get Democrats elected? I have worked to get Democrats elected as a means to an end and the belief that they will represent my ideals. But if they abandon those ideals, aren't they no longer a means to that end?