January 2, 2012

The section of Clinton's "My Life" describing the GOP asking him to delay running comes to mind...

The exact reference escapes me since it was a gift "book on tape" that I listened
to on a cross country drive but I remember the part where the GOP came to Bill
and said in effect that they liked him and could work with him but they wanted
the presidency in 1992 so if he would delay running they'd help him in later.
When he said he was running anyway they said "Nothing personal but we will
destroy you."

Another theme of that book was that many of the "clowns" in the opposition had
a different, more reasonable personality when the doors are closed. That doesn't
mean the positions change, but they are more logically presented. We the people
get the WWF version of each personality because they need to ham it up for the voters.
None of these guys are as stupid as we think they are. Period. Well, except Bachmann
but even Jon Stewart has caught her making sense on things where she works on
a relevant subcommittee.

Anyway, my takeaway for this election is that the GOP is willing to let their crazies eat
themselves. Why not? First, it shows the crazies that they cannot win by themselves
and puts them back in their place as reliable voters and contributors who don't get
what they want. Second, if they find the President someone they can work with
(and face it, he has been a VERY generous negotiator) it is a waste of money
to fight him (which is GG's point). Third, they might look at the hard choices that need to be
made in the near future and realize that the person who makes them will be incredibly
unpopular and easier to unseat with an establishment Republican later. Fourth, they have
a big reputation mess to clean up after GWB and it takes time for those memories to fade
or to be easily argued as "in the past."

You may not like hearing it, but I think they elite old-boys-club guys in the GOP think they can
get what they want with President Obama and so they have no great desire to try and
take him out of office. So we get the clown car.