[update below]
The Republicans are the problem. So say Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, the well-known Washington think tank scholars of American politics at, respectively, the centrist Brookings Institution and conservative American Enterprise Institute, in a devastating tribune—excerpted from their latest book—in The Washington Post. They cut right to the chase
We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.
I wonder how long Ornstein will remain at the very right-wing AEI with his take on the ever more frightening GOP. Among other things, he and Mann quote Mike Lofgren, a longtime GOP congressional staffer to whom I linked last September, who
wrote an anguished diatribe last year about why he was ending his career on the Hill after nearly three decades. “The Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe”
An apocalyptic cult. Or simply an extreme right-wing party. One thing’s for sure: if I had to choose between the current GOP and the French Front National of Marine Le Pen, I would take the latter without the slightest hesitation. The Republican party has really gotten that bad.
UPDATE: WaPo reports that Mann & Ornstein can’t get on the Sunday morning talk shows to discuss their book. Too hot to handle. Incredible. Or maybe it isn’t. (May 14)
An amazing article in the Post, though actually nothing new about it. It’s one of the reasons that the thought of ever going back to live in the States seems far-fetched for me.
What is noteworthy about the WaPo article is the identity of the authors, who are about as mainstream, moderate inside-the-Beltway as you can get. When Norman Ornstein takes on the Republicans in this way, it merits notice.
Let’s hope you never have to make that choice… That would be difficult.
Thanks for the head’s up.
And back to France: really looking forward for the circus to end. Now that DSK’s back, how much worser can this get?
DSK’s sudden return a week before the 2e tour smells of a boule puante. Stay tuned…