Note to Hill Democrats: Read the op-ed Markos wrote in today's edition of The Hill

In an oped in today's edition of The Hill that every Democratic member of Congress, every staffer and all of their consultant-types should read, Markos nails the mood of Democrats off the Hill. Just nails it:

For seven years, Americans outside Washington observed Bush and his Republican allies break every single promise they ever made to the American people.

They haven’t captured Osama bin Laden, dead or alive. They haven’t accomplished our mission in Iraq. They haven’t guaranteed insurance for millions of poor children. They haven’t “defend[ed] the Constitution of the United States” from attacks on our civil liberties.

Meanwhile, Bush and his svengali Karl Rove consistently achieved new heights of hyperpartisanship — always quicker to demonize the opposition than to compromise. So in 2006, the nation struck back with a resounding message — unitary Republican control was no longer acceptable. A wave of new Democrats was elected to oppose the Bush Republican agenda. House Democrats won the national vote by a solid 54-46, while Senate Dems crushed their Republican rivals, 54-42.

But D.C. is a funny place. No one seems to have gotten that resounding message, certainly not Bush and the new Republican minority. More surprisingly, Democrats also failed to get the message. On issue after issue, the Democratic norm has been to capitulate to the slightest pressure from the GOP. And while the public has meted record-low approval ratings for this Congress in response, the lesson apparently remains unlearned.

Whether it’s Iraq funding or the Michael Mukasey confirmation, Democrats continue to give away the store without receiving any concessions in return. It’s a one-way street in a town that has ceded Article I of the Constitution for a unitary, non-compromising executive. The public is sick of this administration’s betrayals. Why aren’t Democrats?

Why aren't Democrats on the Hill sick of it? Something is wrong. Very wrong. The Democrats have become very insular and out of touch with where the American people are. They need to get their spines back.

I keep going back to Dan Froomkin's column on this very subject last week:

But it's not Bush's style to back down, especially when a key element of his radical and unprecedented expansion of executive power is at stake.

Instead, Bush has learned that the higher he ratchets up the rhetoric, especially if he can accuse his critics of being weak on terror, the more likely Congressional Democrats are to fold. He's simply counting on that happening again.

Even with historic disapproval ratings, Bush contiunes to play the Democrats. Yet, the Democrats haven't figured out how to play him or even fight back. That's not just appalling, it's pathetic.