Do libs think we are that stupid & gullible..... or do they
think their base is?
"Great Political" issues
The QandO Blog
Posted by: Jon Henke on Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Powerline is on the case of the purported Republican memo which claims the Schiavo debate would be "a great political issue" for Republicans. They are examining the possibility that the memo could be a hoax. I'll stay agnostic about that for the time being.
The Left, on the other hand, is up in arms that Republicans might be doing it for "partisan gain". ("A party of moralists anxious to do what's right without concern for partisan gain? Not so much"—Carpetbagger Report) Republican Congressmen are — publicly anyway — responding to the criticism by denouncing the memo.
Perhaps I've become obstructively cynical, but—unless the advocates of an issue actually disagree with the position they take, and take it anyway for political gain — I fail to see why political considerations have suddenly become something of which We Do Not Speak. Presumably, the Republicans legitimately believe that Terri Schiavo should not be disconnected from the feeding tube—that doing so would deprive her of her rights—so, it's hard to see why the recognition that this issue is, inclusively, good politics is so dastardly.
Yet, this is a complaint that Democrats have brought up before. In 2004, the Democrats complained Republicans had brought up Iraq in 2002 because "[c]ontrol of Congress was clearly at stake", saying the "politics of the timing is obvious. September 2002. The hotly contested 2002 election campaigns". And that wasn't a blogger...that was Senator Ted Kennedy. All because people like Karl Rove suggested the Republicans "go to the country on this issue".
Kevin Drum suggested that "Republican consultants advised their clients to use the war as a wedge issue in reelection campaigns"....but, as I understand it, that's how a Republic is supposed to work: elections are a referendum - a chance for the public to voice their opinion on controversial issues.
So, Republicans think a position they take will be politically popular? Really — while I disagree vehemently with their position — I just don't get the problem with calling it a "great political issue". In fact, the Democrats have their share of good "political issues", too...
<<<
1998: "Clinton said rescuing the retirement fund was a good political issue for Democrats"
1996: "It's a perfect political issue for Democrats, legislation with working-class appeal. Dole will have to deal with it, or be pounded daily as no friend of working Americans."
2001: "Kyoto is a good political issue for Democrats because most Republicans call themselves strong environmentalists."
1998: "Daschle and Gephardt made clear that they saw the effort to regulate managed care as a winning political issue for Democrats in this year's Congressional elections."
2005: "Democrats also suggested that they believed that they had found a winning political issue in Iraq."
>>>
Further, the Democrats have certainly had their share of private memos, which indicated concerns about "political gain", including:
<<<
...the 2002 Memos, in which Democrats explicitly expressed political concern over the appointment of Miguel Estrada because—inter alia—as "a Latino", he was "especially dangerous". The memos also noted that "we think this is a terrible idea and that voting on (and for) these nominees would be demoralizing to our base before the election". What's more, the memo also pointed out that "all in attendance, including Daschle and Reid, voiced the view that the Estrada nomination should be stopped because ... the Democratic base is particularly energized over this issue".
...the 2003 Memo, in which the Democrats explicitly mulled politicizing the war, by debating whether to "pull the trigger on an independent investigation of the administration's use of intelligence at any time — but we can only do so once ... the best time would probably be next year." "Next year", you might note, was the Presidential election year.
>>>
Frankly, I'm just unmoved by allegations of "politicizing" issues. It's not called "politics" for nothing.
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