The Flaw in "Give Them Two Years"

An emailer today suggests that Democrats' taking charge in 2006 would force them to get serious about the war or show the country that they are not. A lot of Republicans (I'm pretty sure this guy would call himself one) are saying that. "Show the country what fools they are" I hear from less thoughtful people than my emailer.

No. And here's why. I'll recommend a great book: It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP by Peter Robinson. He has this great riff in there about "If they don't win, they don't eat." He claims that Republican candidates can more frequently return to the private sector and make more than they would had they won (cf. Pete Coors). Democratic candidates may be wealthy but their staff members need the gig, and activists need victorious Democrats to give them work.

Two years of Pelosi-Reid rule will rejuvenate and reactivate the base of Democratic staffers. The WaPo reports Democrats' Stock Is Rising on K Street

Washington lobbying firms, trade associations and corporate offices are moving to hire more well-connected Democrats in response to rising prospects that the opposition party will wrest control of at least one chamber of Congress from Republicans in the November elections.

In what lobbyists are calling a harbinger of possible upheaval on Capitol Hill, many who make a living influencing government have gone from mostly shunning Democrats to aggressively recruiting them as lobbyists over the past six months or so.

Two years will cause much harm on K Street, remove any chance of another excellent SCOTUS nomination from President Bush, and will set back the war on terror. All of this lasts longer than two years.

Politics Posted by jk at August 17, 2006 12:23 PM