I should have known that the historic, successful write-in campaign of Sen. Lisa Murkowski would revive David Broder’s tender parts. I should have seen that coming from a mile away, and stayed clear. I think the Alaskan people sent a clear message, and that message was that the electorate of the state as a whole is quite a bit different from the subset of registered Republicans. But to take the unique circumstances of the Alaskan senatorial election and try to make “bipartisan cooperation” the “real meaning of this month’s midterm elections,” is delusional. There are two “real meanings.” One is an estimation of what the electorate wanted, and the other is the consequence of the electorate’s actions. On the latter point, the real meaning of the midterm elections is the exact opposite of what Broder claims. As to the former, the electorate isn’t a person and it doesn’t have an opinion. If most people went to the polls hoping for more bipartisan cooperation, then they are simply going to be disappointed. They are going to get the opposite of that, and get it on steroids.
No wonder Broder ranked out as the fourth biggest hack in American print journalism.
I know today’s “journalists” are the laziest people on the planet, but really “the requirement of a 13-letter, five-syllable name?” It doesn’t require a whole lot of tiresome journalistical research to count to nine and three respectively.
Or maybe “Lisa” adds a real level of complication.
That last link is quite a list.
One can quibble with some of the placements: I’d put Dowd and Joke higher, and honestly, Richard Cohen is so mediocre he should never be considered the best of anything. I’d put Broder and Friedman ahead of him. And where’s Krauthammer?
But really, the list as a whole is the telling thing: an entire Village of wisdom-spouting, reality-creating horseshit-spewers. The chicken/egg question: have their careers been elevated because we’re a nation of dunces, or are we a nation of dunces because their careers have been elevated?
Where is Krauthammer is the biggest question I had.
One race in a state of only 700,000 people won by a bring-home-the-bacon incumbent (who narrowly lost in a low-turnout primary) and boilerplate heal-the-breach rhetoric, proves to Broder that “bipartisanship” – no matter how absurd it is in today’s world of strong differences – is what the entire country wants.
Broder isn’t the only one selling “bi-partisan cooperation.” I’ve heard Chris Matthews echo this sentiment, and I was troubled by his intellectually challenged interpretation of the 2010 election, too.
There has been a consistent dislike of the polarization in Congress, which is shown by polls, but “working together” is a slightly unrealistic goal rather than a behavior that voters reward. Depending on which poll you look at and how it’s worded, we’d very much like it if the Democrats showed they have a spine. This result directly contradicts the bi-partisan result. And as is often the case, voters would like it if the opposing party would cooperate with them so bi-partisanship is merely code. We’d all like it if the opponents would agree with us but that’s hardly an agreement on a common goal.
I realize I don’t have to take Murkowski’s comment seriously but it’s a pet peeve of mine when polling is misinterpreted or used disingenuously to claim a mandate. And mandates are another pet peeve of mine since there’s rarely a true mandate. I won’t say never because health care reform had a mandate in 2008 if you look at the polling.
CNN’s exit polling had the following results for which issue was the number one concern according to voters:
52% – Economy
8% – Education
8% – Health Care
8% – Immigration
8% – Deficit
8% – Wars
4% – Energy
4% – Terrorism
There’s a lot I could say about many of the issues mentioned but Economy dwarfed everything else. There’s a lot I could say about that issue, too, but I’ll save it for another time.