The New Republic

Different Priorities:
[Steve Benen, The Carpet Bagger
Report]: “But it’s worth remembering from time to time that there are
two major wings of the movement: the principled and the political. Players like
Dobson, Perkins, Land, and Weyrich care about specific social issues, and
aren’t open to compromise. Guys like Robertson want to get invited to cocktail
parties in the East Wing.”

Team Work: [Jeff Dinelli, The Left Coaster]:
“Trippi is close friends with Obama advisor David Axlerod. The theory goes
something like this: Axlerod and Trippi decide Edwards can't possibly win, so
Axlerod sends Trippi to Edwards' campaign to put on a full-blown attack, and
like a suicide bomber, Edwards blows up his own campaign, dragging Hillary down
in the process with a rallying cry of ‘Hillary Must Not Win.’”

Two-Man Race: [Steven
Stark, Real
Clear Politics]: “That means
that for all intents and purposes, Iowa
now looks like it is in the process of getting reduced to a Huckabee vs. Romney
contest, with the winner getting the pole position to become the alternative to
Giuliani or McCain.”

Triangulation: [Kevin Drum, Political
Animal]: “So: Politics 101. Stake out an ultra-extreme position so that
when the rest of your party endorses a merely extreme position it looks like
it's a moderate compromise. … Question: why don't liberals do this? The stock
answer is that we're wimps, but I don't think that's it.”

--Ben Crair

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