John F. Harris gets all meta in the Washington Post, discussing new media and politics. Well, we all love to read about ourselves, don’t we? I found Bill Clinton’s remarks the most interesting.
While the Foley and Allen episodes burned Republicans, [Bill] Clinton said in an interview earlier this year that he thinks the proliferation of media outlets, as well as the breakdown of old restraint in both media and politics on balance, has strongly favored Republicans. Without mentioning Gore or Kerry by name, he complained that many Democrats have allowed themselves to become unnerved and even paralyzed in response.
“All of this is a head game, you know. . . . All great contests are head games,” Clinton said. “Our candidates have to get to a point where they don’t allow other people to define them as either people or as political leaders. Our people have got to be more psychologically prepared for it and there has to be more distance between them and these withering attacks.”
A few Democrats seem to be getting it. A few days ago I noted Jon Tester’s no-nonsense response to Conrad Burns.
They also disagreed sharply on the U.S. Patriot Act. Burns said it is needed to intercept calls placed to known terrorist phone numbers and gives law enforcement the same tools they use to fight organized crime.
“I don’t think Mr. Tester understands this enemy,” Burns said. “We cannot afford another 9/11. I can tell you that right now. He wants to weaken the Patriot Act.”
Tester said the Patriot Act is eroding the very freedoms the terrorists are trying to take from Americans.
“Let me be clear. I don’t want to weaken the Patriot Act. I want to get rid of it,” Tester said.
Today, Harold Ford, Jr. took no bull:
In TN, How does Harold Ford, Jr. beat back an NRSC ad that notes he once partied with Playboy bunnies?
Says Ford: “I’m not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator.”
Russ Feingold always seems to be able to define himself and say the right thing at the right time. But the torture and detainee vote last week shows that the majority of Democrats in Congress just don’t get it.
