You can tell that the Democrats are off balance, perhaps even already reeling, in anticipation of another mid-term "shellacking" in 2014. Billionaire politician/propagandist Michael Bloomberg is funding an effort to punish Democrats running for re-election who failed to support the gun-grabbing agenda the plutocrat is pushing.  Among the targets is Senator David Pryor of Arkansas, running for re-election in a fairly red state that generally supports gun rights.

That's bad enough, of course, but the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee is making matters worse, running ads that seem to be designed to enhance the prospects of Pryor's opponent.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post explains:

...this is really weird - the Dems are running an attack against possible challenger Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) for backing an Iran sanctions bill. This is mighty odd since Iran sanctions are supported on a bipartisan basis by huge majorities in the Congress these days. Nevertheless, this report suggests the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee has gone off the deep end:

The campaign arm of the Senate Democratic Caucus on Thursday criticized Rep. Tom Cotton as "an extreme ideologue" over an amendment he offered to the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013.

At a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting Wednesday, Cotton sought to extend sanctions that would be imposed on Iranian human rights violators to close family members of the "primary malfeasant."

Some Democrats on the panel raised concerns that the proposal was unconstitutional because it would violate "due process" protections guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment. Cotton, R-Dardanelle, argued that those protections only apply to U.S. citizens.

As Rubin points out, standing up for the Fifth Amendment rights of non-US citizens in Iran is not exactly going to endear the Democrats to Arkansas voters.

This kind of dementia suggests a party in disarray, aware that something very bad lies ahead, and experiencing a sinking feeling that nothing can be done about it.