A reader writes:
You wrote:
"The classic Clinton smears and lies are fine with the base, it seems. Like Paul Krugman, they seem to want more of the polarization of the past, more politics as revenge."
Maybe it isn’t that the base wants more polarization, smears and lies. Maybe it is that they accept the reality of what the Republicans will throw at any democratic candidate. After watching the right wing noise machine in the past two elections, maybe it is just reality to accept that the smears are coming and to want a candidate that will stand up to it. That is just reality at this time. I personally would love to do away with the polarization and the smearing. However I have no confidence that Republicans are going to stop playing as dirty as they always have and that the main stream media will follow along meekly with their attempts to smear democrats.
As far as Krugman goes, his points about how you have to fight the Republicans are valid.
Since the Republicans have become the minority they have blocked more legislation than any time in the past. They even tried to block their own version of a bill , because the do it so often. They don’t seem to want to work across party lines. Now maybe if the objective of the Democrats it just to allow the Republican party to run itself into the ground by becoming the party that only knows how to obstruct and has no ideas of its own (a worthy goal, I must say) then you can have a conciliatory attitude. However, if you actually would like to accomplish something then you need a fighter.
That being said, I would love to see politics change for the better. I understand the hope that an Obama candidacy brings. I don’t know who I will support, but the fear of a Democrat losing due to the inability to fight is valid. A Guiliani Presidency scares me to death.
The Dish 