...The Republican party (or maybe its -- people you hire to help you win, political operatives, or something) wanted to "hijack" the [extremes and extremists] drawing them into the party & get the support of their votes, and then the [extremes], having been drawn in, hijacked the party...------------------
...and I began thinking about political operatives who maybe have changed the game and "poisoned the well" in our country's politics.
In George Stephanopoulos's book, All Too Human (his memoir / working for Clinton) he wrote briefly about the phenomenon of the political-op and how the way of doing things had changed since the Kennedy era, & the 1960 election, when journalists, thinkers, and miscellaneous lawyers kind of hung around, smoking a pipe or whatever, and discussed issues and came up with the best plan they could, to offer to the American people.
(Offer.
Offer.)
Then -- enter the "ops" -- the James Carvilles, Dick Morrises, and Karl Roves of the world, & then the process changed from an exchange of ideas and honest competition for who had the
best plan,
into a
process of
creating a competition to see who had the
worst
things to say about the other.
Cheapening the process, lowering the standards for substance and even behavior, both in
running for office, and even in
governing.
My impression, from reading what George S. wrote in the book, was that with the entry of the political operatives into the process, the overall attitude became "cut-to-the-chase-and-WIN" and basically, over a period of time, this shift in focus slowly corrupted the process.
(When using the word "corrupt" or "corrupted"-- fear sometimes thought might veer off-track & people will say "corrupt politicians"
[and some would say that they, like the poor, "will be always with us" as Bible says though don't think that Book mentions specific Republicans or Democrats - !]
but when we write, "corrupted" here we don't mean individual "pols" we're talking about the process and that's infinitely more important. And more troubling if it's indeed corrupt.)
Was thinking that if our political process has been reduced by political operatives -- who are after all just people hired for a job, like a garbage collector, a pallet-jack driver, or a neck cutter -- to an unseemly and unbecoming Race To Win At Any Cost, an Endless Contest, it represents a misuse of our democratic process and a disservice to voters.
A smart and effective and long-experienced lobbyist who was a life-long Democrat told me in the Capitol cafeteria in the mid-nineties that he watched James Carville on television and, "He's the devil; the guy's the devil." I was surprised to hear him say that, but I realize now he must have been observing a change and evolution in a bad direction, that he did not like to see.
Carville worked for the Democrats, & the lobbyist who told me that was a Democrat, so he was not berating opponents, he was criticizing tactics. And a passel of Republicans could be found to say the same of Karl Rove, so that's -- you know, it's the tactics. And the Ultimate Misplaced Focus.
Over the years the impression has grown that some if not all of the political "Operatives" that both parties use, now, behave with the reflexive aggression of rabid weasels and operate with the ethics of Tonya Harding.
The win-at-all-costs-with-negative-tactics Strategy is like steroids in sports, it's misplacing the focus and wrecking stuff, it's no wonder a lot of people don't feel like voting. They want to distance themselves from the behavior and attitudes. I may join them.
(Come to think of it, I may nominate them....)
There's a world of difference between
winning by Being Best, and Outperforming the competition
vs.
winning by destroying the opponent.
-30-
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