With the congressional elections 6 months away, is it time for us to stop criticizing Democrats?

I ask this as a serious question. Some friends on the Hill recently asked me if the liberal blogs could lay off their attacks on Democratic members of Congress until after the election. The idea being that we need to keep promoting a public image of Dems good/Republicans bad, and that any criticism of Dems hurts our image and only helps detract attention from the Republicans' increasing number of failings.

It's an interesting question. Is it time to sit back and shut up and hold our tongue?

I think at some point we can hurt ourselves by helping create a public perception that our party has no message and is spineless. Then again, it's not like they need much help creating that perception - chicken and egg.

And the larger question is whether the party will ever change if we don't publicly hold it accountable. Do we really want the same folks doing the same things (not holding Bush accountable, voting for every war resolution they can get their hands on) once they become the majority in Congress?

It's very difficult to take a six-month hiatus in offering criticism that is intended to change the party for the better, lest the party get worse or at least stagnate at mediocre.

So, I throw the discussion out to you guys, since it came up over the Starbucks meet-up we had last night here in NYC (went quite, by the way, had about 15 people which was perfect):

Should the liberal blogs, and the Democrats grassroots more generally, cut back on their criticism of the party until after the November elections? Or is there a role for criticism in making the party better and helping the election at the same time?