The only thing I didn't like about PoliBlog's Bush's Method-Politics Sans Conviction? was that I felt it necessary to read this Neal Gabler commentary:
From the moment of his disputed election in 2000, President Bush has been dramatically reversing the traditional relationship between politics and policy. In his administration, politics seem less a means to policy than policy is a means to politics. Its goal is not to further the conservative revolution as advertised. The presidency's real goal is to disable the Democratic opposition, once and for all.and Kevin Drum's [CalPundit] concurrence:
He's [Bush] a furious political animal who is uninterested in compromise and whose main goal is to defeat his enemies, not advance a cause. Ideology is actually secondary, and is useful mainly as a way to batter his political opposites.to fully understand the reasons for his retort.
Before you read the article, I provide following to give you the gist of Steven's position:
On balance, while Bush is not an ideologue, he is a man of conviction, who does fight, often quite ferociously, to do what he thinks is the right thing to do policy-wise. And no, I don't think that his main overriding goal is simply to damage the Democrats (they are doing a good job of that by themselves, quite frankly).
While I have lived in Texas for most of 48 years now, I was here when Bush was President of the Texas Ranger's and when he was Governor. He did a better job as Governor.
And Democrat or Republican, the Nation has never been in better hands than when Texans are in power: Sam Rayburn, Jim Wright, LBJ, and almost Perot. Although most of the rest of the US does not realize it, the pulse of Texas is the lifeblood of the Nation. Remember the Alamo, dammit. All Texans do! Texans don't surrender, ever! Texas is not a place, it is a way of life.
Posted by Tiger at June 8, 2003 03:04 PM | TrackBackSorry about making you read the Gabler piece :)
And I agree in re: running the Rangers v. running the Lone Star State. (Although that Sosa trade doesn't look quite as bad now... ;)
Don't Mess With Texas!
Posted by: Steven at June 8, 2003 03:42 PMHeck, Sosa would not have had to cork bats to hit 'em out of Arlington Stadium, the wind would have blown them out, or a corked bat out of a batter's hand.
Posted by: Tiger at June 8, 2003 03:46 PMLBJ? Jim Wright?
Hey, I got nothing against Texans, but those might not be the best examples to use.....
Posted by: Kevin Drum at June 8, 2003 04:07 PMWe Texans don't always agree on politics, but we do admire even those Texans we don't agree with who prove they can "get the job done". It took someone who had the political muscle of LBJ to push Civil Rights legislation through Congress.* And there was no one better at getting Federal money funneled into his Congressional District than Jim Wright.
*Of course, that entitlement driven "War on Poverty" has come back to bite us all on the butt
Posted by: Tiger at June 8, 2003 05:12 PM