« The Simple Logic | Main | Today's Bush Joke »
October 30, 2006
| 51% | Politics |
Karl Rove's GOP ruled like they had a mandate, despite getting into office by the thinnest of margins. Billmon explains:
There is nothing in the record of the past six years that suggests building a broad majority coalition has ever been the objective of the Rovian political project. Just the opposite, in fact. The goal has always been to create a narrow, but solid, majority — a dependable 51% or 52% — that would leave the GOP machine in firm control but reduce the need for the kind of moderate compromises required to hold a broad coalition together. Thus the overwhelming emphasis on keeping the conservative base energized and motivated, no matter what. As long as the base is on board, the extra 12 or 15 percentage points needed to reach a majority can always be picked up one way or another — without having to cut too many non-conservatives a slice of the pie. Or so the theory holds.It's really just a redneck variation on the old Leninist strategy for a party dictatorship — if the GOP machine can control a majority of conservatives, and conservatives can control a majority of Republicans, then Republicans should be able to control (barely) a majority of the voters, and thus the country. [Emphasis added]
They don't care about mandates. They care about power, power that doesn't depend on consensus, coalition, or compromise. People marvelled when Bush squeaked into office and then acted like he'd won by a landslide. But the rules had changed.
It's a thug's game now, a game for pirates, cutthroats, and cold-blooded killers. I doubt very much we've hit bottom. They've got the election machinery well in hand, and November 7th may just turn out to be the bummer of all time. I hope I'm wrong.
Posted by Jonathan at October 30, 2006 09:56 PM
