"There's a Reason Voters Don't Blame Republicans for Congressional Gridlock"

[applegrove]

There's a Reason Voters Don't Blame Republicans for Congressional Gridlock

By Kevin Drum at Mother Jones

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/05/theres-reason-voters-dont-blame-republicans-congressional-gridlock

"SNIP......................

Brown needs to deprive Shaheen of the afterglow that would come from shepherding a (now rare) bipartisan bill through Congress....For a voter paying close attention to the Senate’s machinations, this makes little sense: Republicans are arguing that their torpedoing of Shaheen’s bill proves Shaheen is a legislative failure. But few voters follow politics so closely, and even those reading detailed coverage of the bill’s failure would quickly get lost in an arcane procedural dispute that putatively caused its demise.

....You can call this cynical, but McConnell is actually doing what we expect our politicians to do....McConnell has not merely outmaneuvered other politicians in his strategic acumen, he has likewise surpassed the whole Washington Establishment. The near-total absence of bipartisanship has not escaped anybody’s notice — it is the subject of frequent and even obsessive commentary. The failure of the parties to find agreement is routinely attributed to a series of tactical or communications missteps or the decline of the Georgetown dinner party scene or other variations of magical thinking. It is unable to grasp the underlying strategic incentives of two parties.

It's all fairly remarkable. McConnell has correctly grasped that if you sabotage the government, most voters won't really know how or why it happened. They'll just know that things are a mess and they'll get peevish about it. And when they look around for someone to blame, it will be the party in power.

In a sense, you can't blame McConnell for this. It's a keen insight, and he's just using it to play political hardball. And you can't really blame the voters. Most people are simply never going to have a deep interest in Beltway political minutiae.




....................SNIP"

[scarletwoman]

1. Sad, but true. (nt)

[cheyanne]

2. Here's another reason for not blaming the republicans.

The terms "polarization" and "gridlock" imply that both sides are responsible.

To make the situation clear, we should use the term "radicalization of the right" so people become aware that the republicans are pushing for an agenda that doesn't just do away with the advances in the last half century, but one that attacks laws and constitutional precedent going back to the 1860's.

[applegrove]

3. very true.

[Scuba]

4. +1

[villager]

5. And that reason is "The Media"

Follow the money, etc.

[GeorgeGist]

6. Phucking moron.

Yes you can blame McConnell!