Posted on 08/21/2003 10:35:35 AM PDT by ladtx
California's chaotic gubernatorial recall election and nasty redistricting fights in Texas and Colorado are symbolic of a new damn-the-rules brand of politics being honed by a power-greedy Republican Party, says veteran Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.
"What's now happened across the country is this Republican majority is not intent on just winning elections . . . they want to become a one-party country," Brazile said in an interview Monday before delivering the keynote speech at the Utah Democratic Party's annual Eleanor Roosevelt luncheon.
"They do not play by the rules. They will break the rules and then say Democrats are obstructionists," she said.
Brazile, manager of the Gore-Lieberman 2000 presidential campaign, says the tactics are part of a pattern that emerged in the Florida presidential recount debacle.
"When they lose elections, they seek to overturn them. When they fall behind in an election, they seek to recall them," she said. "They did it in Florida and now they're doing it in Texas with the redistricting, and look at California. That's a national disgrace and an affront to democracy."
While Brazile's concerns are admittedly partisan, the lifelong Democrat is not alone in viewing the new hardball politics with alarm.
Alan Ehrenhalt, executive editor of the staunchly bipartisan Governing magazine, wrote a scathing column in the current issue, titled "Republicans Behaving Badly." He pointed to many of the same events as Brazile -- the recall election in California and redistricting games in Texas and Colorado.
"Since this is a column assailing partisanship, I would very much like to strike a bipartisan note right at the beginning and tell an equal number of horror stories at Democratic and Republican expense," Ehrenhalt wrote. "Unfortunately, I'm not able to do that. The reality is that most of the serious outrages lately have come from the GOP side of the aisle."
Utah Republican Chairman Joe Cannon scoffed at the notion Republicans have taken politics to a new low.
"It is very hard to see Donna Brazile making that argument with a straight face," Cannon said, adding Democrats are just "whining" about losing elections.
"Democrats are really angry and bitter because they don't have control," he said. "They're not used to being the minority."
Cannon said he doesn't support and defend all of the political advantage-seeking around the country, counting himself as an opponent of recall elections and altering voting boundaries already redistricted in the year after the once-a-decade U.S. census. But he denied those acts are orchestrated by the Republican Party, insisting, "they're not part of a right-wing conspiracy."
Oh, really? The recall drive in California follows the law. The Dems in Texas are the ones defying the state Constitution and their duty as elected legislators. And Floriduh, well, Donna, the law was followed to the letter and your boy lost. Even if the vote count had gone his way, he still would have lost.
The Dems are marching further and further into the self-exile of their own political fantasies. And then wondering why fewer and fewer people are willing to follow them deeper into the wilderness.
How about starting with the filibustering of federal judge appointments by the democrat senators. It doesn't get more partisan than that.- Tom
When he made the Democrat Party tow the line to save his rear end, they got the message that the ONLY thing that mattered was winning. The law doesn't matter; the system doesn't matter. The electorate be damned. (See the Wellstone Memorial)
Now it has been carried to the following extremes; Gore challenges the Florida vote; The Democrats in Texas run and hide; The Senate Democrats filibuster without filibustering. The Democrats have NO respect for the system or the electorate. (Then they accuse the Republicans of twisting the system!)
What rules were broken? I believe that the recall process is spelled out in California state law. Redistricting is mandated by the constitution and Gerrymandering is the method the Dems used to control congress for 50 years.
Put some ice on it, Donna, and quit your whining.
Classic projection. It was the Dems that tried to steal the election in Florida. It is the Dems obstructing the Congress and legitimate redistricting, and it was Democrats and independents, as well as Republicans, using a legal means to throw out a woefully inept and crooked governor in CA. It is also the Dems who are obstruction judicial appointments so that they can install "activists" judges to rule extra-judicially.
It is also not the Republicans who want a one party country. It is the Dems who seem bent on political suicide.
Democrats just make up the rules as they go along to suit themselves. Tradition and precedent, such as not filibustering judicial nominees? Bah, a mere detail to this crowd.
Darn right they are obstructionists. Exactly how were the judicial nominations "breaking the rules."
Now, Texan Democrat rascals fleeing state lines to avoid justice, like Bonnie and Clyde - now THAT is obstructionism.
Typical project, common in the fevered brains of such a sociopathetic cult.
Works for me, if true. I have no use whatsoever for the Rats. Unfortunately, the allegation isn't true. The Republicans are merely doing what all majority parties have done throughout the history of this country. If the shoe were on the other foot, the Rats would be much worse.
Sounds like the Hypocrats are sweating bullets.
Typical project, common in the fevered brains of such a sociopathetic cult.
When Democrats are winning they insist that the rules be followed. When they are losing, they ignore the rules or want to change them - always, always, always.
And all the while maintaining a straight face.
But if some of the partisan nastiness of 2003 reflects the continuation or revival of ancient feuds, some of it also reflects a fear among Republicans that if they break down and start talking realistically about the need to raise revenue, their glittering prizes will slip away from them.
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