PLANK JUNE 18, 2012
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Howard Kurtz has some big breaking news today: Lanny Davis, the former Clinton strategist, and Michael Steele, the former RNC Chairman, are upset about partisanship, and have decided to open up a new lobbying firm to combat the vicious negativity in Washington. (Viewers are encouraged to watch the video of Kurtz “interviewing” the two men, which includes Kurtz exclaiming, “You're both very attractive guys!”) The best part of Kurtz’s piece was this quote from Davis:
“I get more heat and more vitriol from my side than from conservative Republicans,” says Davis. In Democratic politics these days, he says, “you’re not allowed to deviate from a purist, absolutist position. It disturbs me that people who are supposed to be tolerant of dissent are so venomous.”
Indeed. Why are people so intolerant of dissent? I am ashamed to admit it, but sometimes I am guilty of what Davis is lamenting. Case in point: I take the opinion that working for dictators is a bad thing. Lanny Davis dissents from this controversial belief; he likes working for dictators. And, alas, I am not tolerant of his dissent. I even wrote several blog posts mocking Davis for it. But fear not: in Davis's and Steele's Washington, these brave dissidents will no longer be mocked.
4 comments
I guess the first question is - who is hiring a lobbying firm "to combat the vicious negativity in Washington"? Is there a market for that? The second question is - do these guys actually have any weight in Washington? Lanny Davis is a complete tool, and Michael Steele was quite possibly the worst RNC chair in history. I hope this is just a case of two desperate, washed up guys trying to get work by joining forces to appear "bi-partisan". I don't think too highly of Washington, but if these guys can actually get work...wow...can things be that hopeless?
- Attrill
June 19, 2012 at 2:15am
"I get more heat and vitriol from my side" doesn't sound bipartisan. Shoot, if Tea-Party Republicans agree with what Lanny Davis is doing, and thus aren't complaining about it, that doesn't sound like a good thing at all. Instead this sounds like more Fox-News "Fair And Balanced" BS. Sure, just because a Democrat and a Republican are able to work together, doesn't mean the policies they pursue will be truly "fair". Sounds more like a brick-bat sponsored by the Right to beat the Left over the head with. Like we need more organizations doing THAT. "Davis is one of the few prominent liberal voices at Fox News". Enough said.
- AllanL5
June 19, 2012 at 8:48am
“I get more heat and more vitriol from my side than from conservative Republicans,” - that's because he has more in common with conservative Republicans than with the average Democrat. Steele is just mad because his party is careening to the right and he can't keep up; but switching sides means probably losing tenure and status.
- GSpinks
June 19, 2012 at 2:34pm
It takes some doing to be more loathsomely mediocre than Michael Steele, but Lanny does it easily.
- miceelf
June 19, 2012 at 3:42pm