Lacking a single legislative accomplishment, fumbling the ball on health-care reform, wondering why the president seems to be operating in a parallel political universe, Senate Democrats are not going to do nothing, mind you. They have a new secret plan: don’t get blamed and try to divide the other side. Yup:

Democrats are looking for someone to blame for their electoral woes — and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez is working hard to make sure it’s not him. Showing that they’ve learned the lesson of Massachusetts, Menendez and his staff will distribute a memo Tuesday advising Democratic campaign managers to frame their opponents early — and to drive a wedge between moderate voters and tea-party-style conservatives.

The game plan is to force their opponents to answer wacky questions and then make them out to be extremist nuts:

“Do you believe that Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen? Do you think the 10th Amendment bars Congress from issuing regulations like minimum health care coverage standards? Do you think programs like Social Security and Medicare represent socialism and should never have been created in the first place? Do you think President Obama is a socialist? Do you think America should return to a gold standard?”

Think it’ll work? Nope, me neither. And it does seem rather pathetic, craven, and oblivious to the real risk that the people harping on the gold standard will be the ones who look like the loonies. You’d think the Democrats would get to work on a positive centrist agenda of their own, perhaps follow the leads of Sens. Webb and Lincoln and oppose the Obami’s unwise anti-terror policies. But instead they come up with a cheesy plan that evidences the low regard in which they hold the public. Republicans no doubt have their fingers crossed that this is the sort of silliness they will come up against in November. But I wouldn’t count on it. At some point, some adults in the Democratic caucus may suggest a realistic legislative course adjustment. Otherwise, the discussion will quickly move from speculation over whether the House will change hands to whether both houses will. That’s the sort of thing that happens when the majority party acts irresponsibly and resorts to cheap political stunts.