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I won’t speak for the other party, but I would hardly call John Boehner “the loudest and most partisan” on my side of the world. In fact, the rap against him in conservative groups is that he doesn’t have enough fight in him, and that he is too prone to compromise.
I actually think that makes him one of the most effective guys we’ve had on my side, putting aside his annoying blubbering. He knows how to play his hand well: knows when to push, and when to fold. That is the art of politics, and he has accomplished things (Bush tax extension, anyone? Appropriation bills?.
Newt Gingrich was great intellectually, but his personality is erratic and his behavior petulant. Tom DeLay was a crook. Finally we have someone who is a skilled politician, and I say that in a good way.
Check it when you get home. Really incredible place.
By bxgrl on May 17, 2011 3:06 PM
Yes I do agree, dona but that isn’t what is happening these days. These days it’s blind loyalty to the party. My question is, what about us, the voters? What about what we actually want? I believe in the 2 party system but when it’s this extreme?
Sigh. Yes, we are supposed to listen and god forbid, ocassionally change our minds. So little of political “dialog” seems to be directed toward conversion, or actually trying to change someone else’s mind.
DIBS, weirdest thing that gavin’s URL is blocked here by the work firewall
“I love partisanship when my side is doing it because that is ALWAYS in the national interest but when the other side does it it is always destructive, intellectually dishonest, etc. I think everyone thinks that and thinks bipartisanship is when the other side caves. ”
Sorry but I really don’t think that. I’m angry at the leadership because in both parties it doesn’t represent what each party is really about. They’re just the loudest and most partisan- squeaky wheels and all that. That’s why they get the most media hype. But neither party functioned well without the other until now.
Just ordered some neodymium magnets online. Nothing too big though…. that would be dangerous with the kids.
“And of course, I love partisanship when my side is doing it because that is ALWAYS in the national interest but when the other side does it it is always destructive, intellectually dishonest, etc. I think everyone thinks that and thinks bipartisanship is when the other side caves. ”
QOTD.
Lamb described it accurately. I think doing what lamb descibed in the last sentecne is unseemly and it is not so easy to disentangle the interests.
And of course, I love partisanship when my side is doing it because that is ALWAYS in the national interest but when the other side does it it is always destructive, intellectually dishonest, etc. I think everyone thinks that and thinks bipartisanship is when the other side caves.
“Bxgrl, but wouldn’t you agree that in the course of partisians articulating their opposing views that different courses of action can be discussed and the best ones decided upon?”
Gonna jump in here. But when does that ever really happen anymore? It seems as if those discussions soon sound just like the ones we have here, with one side not only vehemently disagreeing with the other, but calling the other position (and far too often, the person articulating it)the closest thing to pure evil or stupidity that is humanly possible.
In the old days, there was partisan rancor, but at the end of the day, things got done. Look at the Johnson administration, or when Tip O’Neill was in the House. Both had to work with the opposition, but they got important laws and policy through. Now, the only way to do it is to have such a big majority, that it’s a done deal. That’s no way to run a government. This goes for both sides, btw.