- Salon: “Goofus Al and Gallant George”. Back during the 2000 presidential campaign, the press watched Al Gore like a hawk, gleefully reporting anything he said that might qualify as exaggeration—even making things up at times. (Al Gore never said he invented the internet, nor did he claim to discover Love Canal.) This, in the press’s opinion, clearly disqualified him from being president. Now it’s 2003 and the evidence is mounting that quite a few of the things George Bush has said about taxes and the threat of Iraq were, at best, misleading. So far, no one seems to mind.
The New York Times: “Across U.S., Redistricting as a Never-Ending Battle” (registration required; free access limited). A look at the nasty redistricting fight (still) going on in Texas. This is a pretty naked power grab by the Republicans lead by Tom DeLay, who has told reporters, “I’m the majority leader, and we want more seats.” For most of this century, redistricting has occurred once per census cycle, that is, every ten years. Well, no more. Between Tom DeLay in Texas and Karl Rove’s personal efforts in Colorado, we may be seeing a regression back to the nineteenth century, when district maps were redrawn whenever a legislature changed hands.
For me, the scariest quote is this one from Grover G. Norquist about bipartisanship: “Bipartisanship is where both parties gang up against the people. I want to take the partisanship in Washington and drive it into the 50 states.” While disagreement between parties is essential to a functioning republic, this sort of attitude seems more likely to lead to disaster. (via Josh Marshall)