Horizon

Molly Ivins says two things help to survive being a progressive in Texas: laughter and beer. I'm all for both.

And as for taking advice from New Republic writers on how to do liberal politics -- well, in politics as in litigation, following your opponent's advice is often surprisingly tempting but it's also nearly always a mistake.

Martha, judging from the content of The New Republic piece, Groopman is hardly an opponent of liberals or Democrats. Rather, he wants them to succeed and therefore is disturbed when they behave in ways that provide ammunition to their Republican opponents.

Not having read the firewalled bits of the piece, Groopman may have the moderates dilemma: he wants the Democrats to succeed, and it just so happens he thinks their path to success lies in becoming more centrist ... like him.

Not having read the firewalled bits of the piece, Groopman may have the moderates dilemma: he wants the Democrats to succeed, and it just so happens he thinks their path to success lies in becoming more centrist ... like him.

Ben, I suppose it's a lost cause, but I'm not sure exactly what is "centrist" about supporting an activist, democracy-promoting foreign policy.

Depends on which part of the article you're talking about:

This made me wonder: Why the visceral reaction to these particular formulations? . . . Meanwhile, terrorism remains a real threat to America, and a source of continuing death and destruction the world over. . . . This is not an invention of the Republican imagination; it is reality.

Certainly the overwhelming majority do not share Michael Moore's assertion that "There is no terrorist threat," and a centrist wouldn't make fun of that worry.

Groopman seems to be demanding an awfully nuanced performance from what is basically a group of buddies trash-talking over the TV (a wonkish version of Mystery Science Theater 3000). Must every visceral reaction to what Bush says, no matter how trite or cynical (and that covers about 90 per cent of his output) be a hem-hawing chorus of while we of course fully support the principles behind the President's comments, if sincerely and effectively carried out, we find his use of these otherwise progressive sentiments to be insincere? That might make for a policy paper but it sounds like a dull evening in front of the box.

Alan's got it exactly right.

You're just saying that because you like seeing the sentence.