This is what the Democratic Party has to do. House Democrats joined together on a common theme and started pounding on the Republicans, hitting their major weaknesses and using a biting and recognizable motif–in this case, “The Republican Rubber-Stamp Congress,” something that has been around for a month or more but has not been getting too much attention until late. In a series of one-minute speaking allotments, different Representatives banged home on topics like prescription drugs, college aid, energy policy, hurricane Katrina, massive overspending and the deficits, the Iraq War, and Homeland Security. They pointed out that the Republicans in Congress have simply gone along with everything the Bush administration has asked for, and that has led to today’s sorry state of affairs.

I think they’ve got a winner with this one. “The Republican Rubber-Stamp Congress” is a catchy, memorable phrase, it succinctly sums up the problem, it allows for demonstration of what Democrats have been trying to do right but were overruled by Republicans, can carry a message of what Democrats would do if they gained control again, it binds the Republicans in the Senate and House with a highly unpopular president, and it is an omnibus vehicle, allowing for any and all issues to be discussed and associated with it. It will also send Republicans running from the president, and hopefully into fractured disarray.

If Democrats across the country can simply have the wisdom to pound home on this them, use it again and again until election day, I believe they will have a unified campaign slogan even more effective than the ’94 Republicans’ “Contract with America.” If the election were held today, Democrats would likely take over the House and come within a few seats of taking the Senate, despite strong non-census gerrymandering by Republicans. Even Newt Gingrich could suggest a slogan to defeat the Republicans: “Had Enough?” Although I do like the new catch phrase “Dangerously Incompetent,” I think that “Rubber Stamp Republicans” is much, much better.

Already someone has put together a campaign to have people chip in and buy a $6.50 rubber stamp saying “Rubber Stamp Republican Congress,” so that a multitude of them can be delivered to yet-unnamed congressional Republicans on the day that Feingold’s censure of Bush is discussed in committee.

Let’s hope the Democrats have it together enough to keep this slogan going, and to present a unified face to the public.