a muse for Chris Matthews

Almost four years ago, on Feb. 22, 2010, we discussed here at BCL blog the topic of Why won't politicians get along with each other in Washington anymore?

Wrote,
"It started in the early 90s.
Before that, I remember President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O'Neill working together and being civil.  Joking together.  Getting together on what they could get together on (as Pres. O. reminds us -- "finding common ground") and getting some bills passed, and making things work.

Governing.

Governing is a different ball game from campaigning.
during the campaign you compete.
Then when it's over, you do a different job.  You govern.

Since sometime early in the 90s, it seems to me, it became a situation where the campaigning Never Stops, and the Governing is hard to do because each party looks at the short-term goals of their own best interest for the next campaign.

And it's not even to make themselves look good; it's to make the other guy look bad.

It's like trying to win the voters by default.

Where did all this negativity come from?"

[end Blue Collar Lit excerpt]

And then today, saw Chris Matthews has a new book out titled,
Tip And The Gipper:
When Politics Worked.

[Publishers Weekly review excerpt] --
Author Chris Matthews draws from his personal journals, President Reagan's diary, and Speaker [Tip] O'Neill's press conference transcripts to bring 1980s politics back to life.  Matthews begins with the vastly different backgrounds of the two men.  He contrasts their styles and politics before moving through the Reagan years in a highly-detailed narrative.

Matthews' thesis is that the government's functionality at the time is largely attributed to the relationship of Reagan and O'Neill, who both used the check-and-balance design of their positions to "propel the republic forward..."...Matthews offers little direct commentary on today's contrasting "government by tantrum," allowing the events and personalities to speak for themselves....

Part history, part Washington inside story, part career memoir, this inspiring story of two remarkable men is recommended for political junkies and insiders alike.--------------------

= = = =
[Washington Post]:  During tense budget negotiations at the White House in 1982, President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill were spotted off to the side, heads together, whispering.  Aides wondered what was up, and Reagan replied that they were "just two Irishmen plotting."

Given the reverence for all things Hibernian in Chris Matthews's "Tip and the Gipper," a reader might conclude that the current legislative crises are due to a shortage of Irish Americans in the capital.  Matthews, the host of MSNBC's show "Hardball" and a former aide to O'Neill,...writes, "It's easy, from the vantage point of today, to mock all those Irish jokes and the swapping of stories between the President and the Speaker.  But I was there, and the plain truth is, they kept the conversation going when no other progress seemed possible otherwise."

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Is Chris Matthews referring to this blog for book ideas?
His last book was about President Kennedy.
Maybe his next tome will feature "Sex And The City",
then one about "Bewitched," and then
about 14 books on the music and writings of Bob Dylan !!!   :D

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