"Why Not the Worst?"

[ovidsen]

The Washington Post's Gene Weingarten isn't in the same stable with the Washington Post's "serious" columnists, but he is an unrepentant Democrat, and I think his cynicism isn't entirely unfounded:

Why Not the Worst?

An agenda for the coming Democratic juggernaut
By Gene Weingarten
Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page W36

As I write this, Republicans are in free fall, wedded to an unpopular president who is mired in an ill-conceived war while afloat in a cesspool of scandal. The mixed metaphors alone are enough to make you sick. Conventional wisdom is that 2008 is looking great for the Democrats.

In politics, however, conventional wisdom is often wrong -- particularly where Democratic victory is presumed. Why, it seems like just yesterday that Al Gore managed to take a great résumé, a sophisticated command of the issues and a legacy of the country's strongest peacetime economy, and parlay them into defeat at the hands of -- and I mean no disrespect here -- a man who was considered a little weak in the brains by his own mother.

One suspects that, deep down, the Democrats secretly don't want to win. Which is why, as a service to their party, I offer today:

A 16-Point Plan for Blowing It:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/30/AR2006053001024.html?referrer=emailarticle

Wasn't it Benjamin Franklin who said something like "We must all hang together, or we will all hang separately"?

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Actually, it was Oliver Cromwell who said that

Franklin was quoting him.

The American revolutionaries looked to the English Civil War as an example of how to rebel against a king and also for philosophical justification for doing so. Cromwell said that just before the beginning of the Civil War, and Franklin quoted him in similar circumstances, no doubt knowing that his audience would recognize the quotation and appreciate the parallel.

[ovidsen]

2. Thanks

You just saved me a lot of mind-numbing investigative work. I'm glad I put the quote in the form of a question. ;-)

[Tesha]

3. Dear Gene: Eat shit and die. (NT)

[Demeter]

4. Neither Instructive Nor Funny

What a waste of resources this article represents!

[ovidsen]

5. You might be surprised

The author (Gene Weingarten) runs a weekly chat at Wapo, and the bulk of the posters there are as liberal as he is. They think Bush is a joke, the war in Iraq is repulsively immoral, and the GOP's Terri Shiavo blitz was political pandering, just like the proposed gay marriage and flag burning amendments. And don't get him (or his 'fans') started on making abortions illegal.

But he's tired of seeing Democrats lose when millions of voters "perceive" that the party is subject to hijacking by activists with hidden and "un-American" agendas. Please note the use of the word perceive. And I'll bet you a mango the traffic on his next chat will reflect his cynicism.

The Democratic Party isn't perfect. It's light years ahead of the Repukes, though. And if you think this article was not "instructive" and a "waste of resources", then you've closed your mind. That's not good. As for funny... I think that acerbic cynicism can be very enlightening. I think the reason Weingarten's essay rubs some people the wrong way is because it's a little too close to the truth.