Must read of the day

Steve Newton nails it. Combine this with his "Fighting the way you train-governing the way you campaign" and the man is really on a roll. He's a dose of much needed sobriety and objective assessment that usually follows when you're at a remove. Very well done.

Comments

Jeff the Baptist said…
I don't buy the whole "Republicans win because they're mean" concept that founds the "govern the way you campaign" piece.

I'm not saying that Republicans are the nice guys. That certainly wasn't the case in the middle of the Clinton Administration. But the idea that the Democrats have been high minded nice guys after 8 years of "Chimpy McHilterburton", BDS, and Congressional obstructionism surpassing anything Gengrich did is so much BS.
11:23 AM
The Last Ephor said…
Hmm...interesting. I didn't take that away from his post at all. Rather, I think, the thrust of his article is that your attitude prior to election influences the way you will behave after. Consider the French Revolution. It started out baying for blood and then became The Terror.
1:10 PM
Jeff the Baptist said…
I'd suggest that you read it again, start with the 5th through 9th paragraphs and then read the bit where Rush Limbaugh invents divisive politics towards the end.

It's bunk. The Republicans didn't come to power through divisive means in the 1990s. Newt Gengrich lead the Republicans to victory in 1994 by resurrecting the party platform using the Contract with America. CwA was not based on partisan scare tactics or hate rhetoric, but principles of government accountability that nobody really disputed. When they did start using highly divisive politics in the late 90s, they lost the '98 congressional elections badly enough that Gengrich stepped down.

That in itself is a refutation of "as you are elected so shall you govern."
3:15 PM
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