Payback: It Could Backfire [UPDATED]
By amba | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Elections, General Politics, Partisan HacksThe WaPo reports that the Democrats, “increasingly confident they will seize control of the House in November,” are already planning “a legislative blitz during their first week in power” that includes not only a minimum-wage hike, homeland-security measures, and brakes on the deficit, but this:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said in an interview last week that a Democratic House would launch a series of investigations of the Bush administration, beginning with the White House’s first-term energy task force and probably including the use of intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Pelosi denied Republican allegations that a Democratic House would move quickly to impeach President Bush. But, she said of the planned investigations, “You never know where it leads to.”
Now, besides the unwisdom of counting chickens before they’re hatched — especially for a party that’s laid so many rotten eggs in the recent past — telegraphing this blitz of partisan revenge seems like a really bad idea to me, both strategically and on principle.
Strategically, it will only confirm Republicans’ suspicions that not only their power but their very survival is at stake, and will turn this election into even more of a no-holds-barred steel-cage match than those Karl Rove is already notorious for running. You think you’ve seen dirt-digging and personal destruction? Just wait. There’s nothing a cornered beast won’t do to stay alive.
On principle, a sober assigning of accountability for mistakes and malfeasance may be important, but even if that was all the Dems were after (and it’s not), it would be far less urgent than finding a smart and sane way forward. The two parties are taking turns snatching the ball and whacking each other as the long shadows of real predators steal ominously across the playground.
cross-posted at AmbivaBlog
UPDATE: Callimachus concurs:
Accountability, yes, but not while the building is still burning.
Rather than spend the next two years picking over every clause and semi-colon of pre-war intelligence on Iraq, I’d spend it working to make Iraq better. To build on the success there, you have to admit that there is some. [ . . . ] Rather than crawling to European elites and the U.N. and begging forgiveness, I’d continue to build alliances with free peoples who are not afraid to stand up and fight, if pushed down, and to work for reform of international bodies, not submission to their current corrpution.
If there’s one thing worse than wherever we are now, it would be letting the next two years slip by while we do nothing but bicker about how we got here. [ . . . ]
And we all know there’s a huge chunk of the Democratic base that is completely fixated on Bush — the way some on the right were utterly rabid about Clinton eight years ago. Part of [Pelosi's] job is to convince me these people won’t grab the tiller if the Democrats surge to power in November. I have no interest in electing a lynch mob.
Word. Listen up, Dems. And RTWT.
This entry was posted on Sunday, May 7th, 2006 and is filed under Bad Decisions, Elections, General Politics, Partisan Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 7th, 2006 at 8:42 am
I think that Democratic Party leaders would be more prudent to start trying to reduce expectations for the fall rather than predicting victory at this point. It would have two beneficial effects: it would be more likely to energize the base and it would tend to insulate the leadership against recriminations in the event that Democrats fail to take control of the House.
May 7th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Six months out is way too early for the Democrats to be declaring victory. Coming out with an audacious and polarizing agenda won’t help. The angry left is already going to go to the polls and vote for the Democrats. Such an agenda will not gain more votes. However, the right, which has been beset by apathy and anger at party leadership, will now go to the polls and vote Republican just so the Democrats can’t impeach the President.
Either way, as the litany of smear ads and outright lies plays across my television screen, I’ll half-jokingly ask myself once again if representative government is really worth it.
May 7th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Nancy Pelosi isn’t saying anything that Elizabeth Dole hasn’t already been telling Republican donors for weeks now.
May 7th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
This is an issue that will fire up the Democratic base, they want Bush gone at all costs, so it plays well there.
At about 33% approval ratings and falling, I dont see how saving or protecting Bush is going to play much with the middle.
And the Republican base isnt going to go nuts on this one, especially if Goss gets pulled into the Hookergate scandal and Rove gets indicted.
As for the republicans pulling out the dirtiest of dirty tricks, on what planet have you been on? Thats been Rove’s MO, you cant really get too much dirtier. And if they do, well that may actually backfire, as it will come off as too transparently cynical and dishonest. The republicans are facing a credibility crisis, pushing too hard could just end up getting them ignored.
Besides, I dont think the White House has any illusion what will happen if the Democrats take a single congressional body. Pelosi could say theyd bever do that, but the White house would see through it.
May 8th, 2006 at 4:08 am
I see my buddy Tramadol made his way here. Captcha time.
As for your post….. quite correct. We have a pretty good idea where almost any investigation of the Chimperor will wind up-telegraphing the intent isn’t necessary and may well get Dirbold to work on preventitive measures.
May 8th, 2006 at 11:18 am
…I’d spend it working to make Iraq better. To build on the success there, you have to admit that there is some…
There may be some, but it sure is getting hard to sell that line. What people are seeing on their televsion screens is crashing British helicopters and large crowds appearing to cheer and throw rocks at it, and these are the people our troops are dying to help. That’s what could have the most impact on elections, not some baloney about impeachment that won’t happen and everybody knows it.
The impeachment stuff is an attempt to get the right-wing base fired up to show up at the polls. Given Bush’s approval ratings it doesn’t sound like a great stategy.
May 8th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
“Accountability, yes, but not while the building is still burning.”
Well if the arsonist was still outside throwing molitov cocktails around, dont you think arresting him would be the first order of business?
The Bush administration is the source of the problem. We can try and fix the symptoms, but as long as this administration continues to act without regard to the law, their has to be a congressional reckoning. That means impeachment.
May 8th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Just to clarify, moderate thinkers may want to “move forward” but what has to be realized that the manner in which this White House conducts business is antithetical to that. There is going to have to be a fight between Congress and the White House over a variety of issues, from presidential powers to executive priviledge to the basic oversight duties. This is not an ideological battle, but one of the basic balance of powers in our system of government.
The republican congress has basicly abdicated this in toadying up to the White House. A democratic congress is either going to have to walk down the impeachment road, or ceed a large amount of power to the executive branch.
Basicly we already have a constitutional crisis that the Bush administration is engineering by claiming the right to answer to noone on a host of issues. The only constitutional remedy for congress in this situation is impeachment. As a result, wether you like it or not, a democratic congress means impeachment hearings are going to be inevitable.
It’s not a matter of “revenge”, its a basic conflict between an overreaching white house and a congress that isnt ok with being ignored willy nilly. If congress continues to balk, the white house will continue prosecuting the war in Iraq (and I hope not a war in Iran too) without change, because it will simply ignore congress as it already has hundreds of times.
May 8th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
I think a balanced budget measure IS sensible and centrist; and pledging to investigate the Administration on a couple of fronts–that is, to provide the checks and balances that the Republican Congress has failed to provide–is merely advocating to no longer neglect the responsibilities of office. Neither is really a ground-breaking suggestion.
I think this is a safe agenda and stops the whining far-right from saying Democrats have no agenda. To me, it’s a noble effort to move forward.
May 9th, 2006 at 9:49 am
I don’t see the Dems plan to investigate the Bush administration as being vengeful. In case you haven’t noticed, no one likes Bush anymore. (I think his approval rating is near or at the upper 20th percentile). If Repubs were smart, they would throw this administration under the bus and jump on the bandwagon.
Seriously though, this administration does need some investigating. It is totally ridiculous that it hasn’t happened yet, despite all the crazy BS they have been pulling. While investigation of the administration may be seen by many as a dividing event, it should not be. Everyone in this country should be demanding accountability from this administration. The fact that some (mostly who happen to be Repubs) are not is, in my opinion, the thing that is more polarizing than anything else that has been happening in the last few years.
Checks and balances must be used in order for them to work properly, and if we don’t use them, it will be an invitation for a future administration (from any party) to abuse power in a similar fashion.
May 30th, 2006 at 11:06 am
More websites like this should come up.