Jonathan Chait's column in WaPo, Blinded by Bush Hatred, is worth a read, and, I think, helps underscore (although this isn't the point of the column) one of the Democrat's main problems vis-a-vis Bush. It is part of the reason they keep underestimating him, and why they keep losing (policy-wise, PR-wise, and election-wise):
Perhaps the most disheartening development of the war -- at home, anyway -- is the number of liberals who have allowed Bush-hatred to take the place of thinking. Speaking with otherwise perceptive people, I have seen the same intellectual tics come up time and time again: If Bush is for it, I'm against it. If Bush says it, it must be a lie. Their opposition to Bush has made liberals embrace principles -- such as the notion that the United States must never fight without U.N. approval except in self-defense -- to which the Clinton administration never adhered (see Operation Desert Fox in 1998, or the Kosovo campaign in 1999). And it has made them forget that there are governments in the world even more odious and untrustworthy than the Bush administration.Posted by Steven at May 8, 2025 09:20 AM | TrackBack