This is the name of my forth coming book (or maybe I'm pretending I already put it out; can't remember) Anyway Ellen Goodman has a good if meandering article today about political discourse. She comments on the recent books by liberals and conservatives, and says, "Still, I can't help thinking about political rant-lit the way I think about political candidates. The belovedly bellicose James Carville once said "If your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil." You want a politician who fights back. And you want politics to be more than just a fight.
Politicians and parties who don't answer attack ads are sunk. But if they do get (equally) down and dirty, they turn off more people who think politicians are just kids fighting in the playground. "
The problem is that President Bush rarely has to say anything negative about his enemies. He's got Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Cal Thomas, Dennis Prager, David Limbaugh, Ben Shapiro, Sean Hannity and so on to say it for him. So he ends up looking clean; while the Democrats look however Karl Rove wants them to looks. Without a counter apparatus any Democratic candidate might end up being drowned out by the Conservative Press. But who knows? We might have a Clinton who can cut through that and reach the American people.
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