If only the bastards had done exactly what I told them to do!
At times it may even be correct, but any competent person should understand that the bastards (politicians) are not going to do exactly what you want them to do. They may enact only 4 points of your 5 point plan. Key provisions might be altered to forge some Broder-blessed "compromise." Lobbyists will come in and muck things up for preferred interests. The politicians may be insane and/or incompetent.
This is, of course, the lament of the pundit also. The choice is never between your pony plan and something else, the choice is between competing packages which have some realistic chance of being enacted. There is value in discussion and think pieces, of course, and there is value in discussing what a pony plan might look like. But at key moments sophisticated people understand that their contribution to the political discourse is going to either be an endorsement of some policy or opposition to it.
That's why it's absurd for Joe Klein to claim he "opposed" the war because he muttered some misgivings and then told Tim Russert that he thought it was the right thing to do. Or for Uncle Alan to claim to be shocked and disturbed about policies he loudly endorsed while quietly expressing concern. Or for Tom Friedman to continue to crank out columns about a bunch of stuff which won't happen in Tom Friedman's Fantasy War.
Shorter Atrios: Stop wanking.