Washington Monthly: Chumps

[dennis4868]

The relentlessly independent-minded Matt Miller argues today that he’s aware “who the real villains are at this volatile moment.” His piece notes that he realizes it’s “Tea Party Republicans” who’ve been reckless, who’ve undermined confidence in the United States, and whose actions have weakened the country.

But, Miller adds, he’s mad at President Obama anyway. Kevin Drum’s reaction resonated with me (http://motherjones.com/transition/inter25.php?dest=http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/liberals-have-been-played-chumps).

Honest to God, Republicans must all be sitting in their back rooms and just cackling like hell right now. Think about it. They developed a strategy to hamstring the president completely — a strategy that’s bulletproof thanks to our country’s Constitution — knowing that it would rally their base but also hoping that it would cause moderates and lefties alike to become disgusted with Obama’s weakness even though we all know who’s really responsible for what’s going on. And it worked! In fact, it’s worked better than they could possibly have imagined. They can probably barely keep from spitting up their beers right now.

We are such chumps.

A couple of weeks ago, the day after the debt-ceiling agreement was announced — a deal I repeatedly condemned, by the way — I asked, “Am I supposed to be angrier with the radicals who held a gun to our heads, or those who prevented them from pulling the trigger?”

The entire article is here...http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/chumps031457.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+washingtonmonthly%2Frss+%28Political+Animal+at+Washington+Monthly%29

[Cognitive_Resonance]

1. K&R