Are we Criminalizing Politics?
Radio host Don Imus thinks it's legitimate to "knock-down" the credibility of someone causing you political trouble. In fact, he's said repeatedly on air that if he were Dick Cheney, he would have held meetings to basically ask (I'm paraphrasing, here): "What do we have on Joe Wilson?"
Chris Matthews agrees, calling this sort of maneuver "hardball" politics. Sports columnist Tony Kornheiser made the same point on his Washington, DC sports radio show today. The thing is that Imus, Matthews, and Kornheiser have all been around the block a couple of times. They have observed the game of politics, and it's players, for years. They know there is a difference between smash-mouth politics and illegal activity. As Theodore Roosevelt once famously said, politics is like making sausage. It comes out really good, but you wouldn't want to see it being made.
The truth is that the politicians have always understood that if you destroy an attackers' credibility, you destroy the attack. It’s not pleasant, but it is effective. James Carville, for example, said Paula Jones, "If you drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find?" Clearly, anyone guilty of committing a crime ought to pay. And as conservatives, our values are paramount. Anyone who is found guilty of breaking the law - regardless of partisan affiliation - should be held accountable. But my concern is that we may just be, as Rush Limbaugh describes it, "criminalizing politics."
But the truth is that much of what happens routinely in politics would be viewed as unsettling by civilized “polite” society. Politics has long been compared to a “bloodless war.” If that's true, it's easy to understand why the practitioners sometimes engage in activities that regular "civilized" folks might find unsettling. Put simply: A country needs soldiers who are willing to do the unpleasant things we don’t want to do. Does a movement - or a Party - need the same thing? ... Again, let me be clear: I'm not talking about engaging in illegal activity. I'm talking about engaging in ethical hardball politics.
If we are, in fact, creating a political environment where merely working in politics equals potentially going to jail, then I don't see how this is going to help us attract the best and brightest future leaders.
Chris Matthews agrees, calling this sort of maneuver "hardball" politics. Sports columnist Tony Kornheiser made the same point on his Washington, DC sports radio show today. The thing is that Imus, Matthews, and Kornheiser have all been around the block a couple of times. They have observed the game of politics, and it's players, for years. They know there is a difference between smash-mouth politics and illegal activity. As Theodore Roosevelt once famously said, politics is like making sausage. It comes out really good, but you wouldn't want to see it being made.
The truth is that the politicians have always understood that if you destroy an attackers' credibility, you destroy the attack. It’s not pleasant, but it is effective. James Carville, for example, said Paula Jones, "If you drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find?" Clearly, anyone guilty of committing a crime ought to pay. And as conservatives, our values are paramount. Anyone who is found guilty of breaking the law - regardless of partisan affiliation - should be held accountable. But my concern is that we may just be, as Rush Limbaugh describes it, "criminalizing politics."
But the truth is that much of what happens routinely in politics would be viewed as unsettling by civilized “polite” society. Politics has long been compared to a “bloodless war.” If that's true, it's easy to understand why the practitioners sometimes engage in activities that regular "civilized" folks might find unsettling. Put simply: A country needs soldiers who are willing to do the unpleasant things we don’t want to do. Does a movement - or a Party - need the same thing? ... Again, let me be clear: I'm not talking about engaging in illegal activity. I'm talking about engaging in ethical hardball politics.
If we are, in fact, creating a political environment where merely working in politics equals potentially going to jail, then I don't see how this is going to help us attract the best and brightest future leaders.
posted by Matt Lewis at 7:33 AM
Subscribe
<< Home