For those of you who do not read the New London Day, Dave is a columnist who ordinarily makes a great deal of sense. A person near and dear to me thought he made a great deal of sense today, and urged me to point this out in my blog. I make a point of always doing what this particular person says, so here goes.
Dave has declared pretty much every Connecticut Republican gubernatorial candidate dead to him for either refusing to take a coherent position on, or for professing support for, the GOP's government shutdown. I'm not clear why Dave is surprised; the more fractured the field, the less likely is it that any of the hopefuls will deviate from insanity. That's the nature of the GOP these days. But still, it's important that these folks be exposed for the sake of the sane majority.
So, good for Dave for getting these guys on record (or ducking his questions).
Why only two cheers?
Well, Dave is a journalist. He must have gone to Washington recently, associated with his beltway brethren, and contracted a case of Beltway Balance, a condition endemic among journalists there, who insist that both sides are at fault in every situation, no matter the facts. Some of Dave's targets try that meme on him, and he was quite receptive to it; it was only when they endorsed the blackmail tactic that he got turned off. For instance:
I came away from a long and spirited chat with declared gubernatorial candidate John McKinney of Fairfield, state Senate minority leader, impressed that he is a thoughtful candidate who was also willing to lay blame for the shutdown on both parties.
In the end, though, he seems to side with Boughton on the sausage-making theory. I could not get him to condemn the strategy of linking a government shutdown with demands to change the health care law.
via New London Day
But Dave, there is no rational basis for blaming both parties. The Democrats have actually offered to negotiate to give away more than they already have (they have already accepted continuation of the sequester, and they have no qualms about allowing the Republicans to do more damage to the economy), but the Republicans refuse to negotiate without keeping a gun to the head of their opponent. So, if you pretend to be unbiased, you cannot let the “both sides are to blame” argument pass, anymore than you should let a politician take the position that it is alright for the minority to take the country hostage. It may be a Republican meme, and it may be a symptom of a beltway disease, but it's a lie, and it should be treated as such.
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