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Yup, reaped you did. Note my site handle. It refers to the fact that I was a dem when I joined FR, although I’m no longer one.
Point noted with regards to choosing your battles and it’s interesting that you bring up George Allen. I’m also a Virginian and have been into VA politics for quite a spell. So lemme give you some political analysis about the ‘06 race you won’t get elsewhere.
George is a middle of the road conservative. Not a bad guy. Not a great conservative but an OK one. I did vote against him in the primary this year because there were more conservative candidates available. Anyway, George is a nice enough fellow...but he isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
George’s biggest gaffe in ‘06 wasn’t the macaca quote. His biggest mistake was dissing Jim Webb well before that. Jim Webb’s underlying reason for running was that he had some real concerns about the Iraq war. His son was serving in the Corps at the time. And remember Jim Webb is a highly decorated veteran, an ex-Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, and while I disagree with his politics the man is a Patriot with a capital “P.” When someone of his stature let’s you know that he has some concerns about your support of GW Bush’s policies in Iraq, you know what you do? You set aside the time on your schedule and you listen to what he has to say real hard. As an elected representative that’s part of the job.
George apparently didn’t listen. And bought himself a challenge as a result. Add to that the fact that he ran a fairly lousy campaign plus the macaca quote and I’m frankly surprised that George did as well as he did.
Getting back to the point, though, is picking your battles. And I guess this is the difference between how dems and pubs see things. As a dem, you defend your candidate. Period. No question. They say say something stupid, you defend it. It’s about loyalty, but it’s also about knowing that YOU will be given the benefit of the doubt if the time comes. And the funny thing is that once the candidate does become indefensible, have you noticed how fast dems go out the door? It’s an efficient system.
But let’s contrast with how the gop dealt with this. Instead of defending Todd Akin, they were more shrill than the dems in criticizing him. And the call for him to exit the race wasn’t a conversation held privately where some palatable options for the future were discussed in exchange for a graceful exit. No, the gop chose to disrespect Todd Akin both publicly and loudly. They backed him into a corner where the only options were to end his political career or push back. And now the gop is all taken aback and surprised when they got told to stick it?
And there really wasn’t any reason to do any of this from a strategic perspective. The gaffe was defendible with some humor and work. But no, the gop showed it’s hand here when it summarily decided to try to toss the socon under the bus. They didn’t hold back. They told us what they really think of socons.
We see it a little differently. Because the RATS and their press buddies created the WAR on WOMEN, I don’t think the GOP had any choice but to come out quickly and publicly. Perhaps another type of gaffe could have been handled differently, but not that one. It really was the worst thing Akin could have done. I saw the shrillness from the RATS immediately.
Thanks for the insights on Allen.