Pessimism about Democrats' chances, part III

Digby lays it out better than I ever could. Summary:

It is retarded to let "moderate" Republicans fight your battles for you.

I predict that McCain and Graham are prepared to do the big el-foldo on all that and take the "victory" on amending the Geneva Convention which was never really in dispute in the first place. They will be heroes, the president will claim victory like he always does and everyone will get exactly what they need. (Man, I'll bet Joe Lieberman is kicking himself that he didn't get a piece of this. It's his kind of bipartisan deal.)
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But what in the hell are the Dems going to do if McCain makes a deal and this thing gets to the floor? Are they actually going to vote for a bill that eliminates habeas corpus for terrorist suspects? Because if they don't, you know what the Republicans are going to be saying, don't you? After all, the saviors of the republic and guardian kinghts of the constitution say this bill is ok. The only reason the Dems can possibly have for opposing it now is that they are terrorist loving cowards.

The source of all the anxiety is an NYT article indicating, surprise surprise, that Warner, McCain, and Graham may be close to a deal with the White House.

The White House has argued that without more “clarity,” it will have no choice but to shut down a C.I.A. program for interrogating top terrorism suspects. But Mr. Warner, Mr. McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have argued against any changes in the language interpreting the article, saying such a change would invite other countries to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions as they saw fit, which in turn could endanger captured American troops.

The senators propose to provide clearer guidelines for interrogators by amending the War Crimes Act to enumerate several “grave breaches” that constitute violations of Common Article 3.

A dollar to the first person who can explain how paragraph A (what the Senators reject) and B (what they are now prepared to pass) are substantively different.

UPDATE: Jay Cost of the well-respected conservative site RealClearPolitics surveys the electoral map and finds, surprisingly, that Democratic candidates seem more competitive in House districts with strong Republican leanings than they do in more evenly balanced districts. His conclusion:

Simply stated, the fact that there are right now so many solidly conservative districts on the toss-up list is a sign either that Democratic strength is overstated or understated.

You all know what I think about that.