Sunday, October 3, 2010

Paradoxical Blues

Most dictionaries define a paradox as “a statement, proposition, or situation that seems to be absurd or contradictory, but in fact is or may be true.” Unfortunately, this is also a fairly apt description of politics and the American voter. With that in mind, the Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen sums up the current conundrum for democrats rather nicely:
Struggling economy + high unemployment + public anxiety = bad news for the incumbent majority party. Dems didn't create this mess, but they're likely to shoulder the blame anyway. Why would the electorate support a Republican Party that caused the mess, refused to work to clean it up, and would pursue an agenda likely to make things worse? Because voting isn't always rational. (My italics)
A week after House Republicans unveiled their "Pledge to America," two-thirds of the country says it hasn't heard of it, and the remaining third is split as to whether it's any good. If the GOP reclaims a majority of either chamber, we're likely to hear the argument that the results were some kind of endorsement of the Republican agenda. [And yet] that argument will be wrong … (My italics)
Frustrating, isn’t it?

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