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Today at TPMCafe, the Book Club discussion about Juliet Eilperin’s Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives has taken off. Mark Schmitt, Thomas Mann, Josh Marshall and others will be joining in later this week. Also at TPMCafe, Ernest Wilson and Steve Clemons examine the controversy surrounding Rumsfield and the Generals calling for his resignation, and Juliette Kayyem looks at Cheney’s daughter’s role in promoting democracy in Iran. Nathan Newman discusses what states can do to promote job growth, and Todd Gitlin wonders why the NYT editorial page has more news than the actual newsroom. Joshua Hudelson has the day’s news, and readers discuss today’s guilty verdict against the former governor of Illinois and religion maps.
Partisanship has always been and always will be. The problem is ideological thinking at the expense of pragmatism. When there is a fact based inquiry into the policy issues facing the country, decisions and common ground is possible. When there is a belief based ideology dominating the debate, ignoring the facts around resources, problems, and possibible directions, then the battles are always about symbolism rather than substance. Frankly the right wing true believers and their fundamentalist activists that help them get elected bear responsibility for the present state of things.... period.
April 17, 2006 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink