Thursday, February 14, 2008

An Ilegitimate Election?

Gingrich advocates a Michigan and Florida do-over to ensure the legitimacy of the election:
You might think that as a Republican I don't have a dog in this fight, but I do. All of us do. A tainted or "stolen" Democratic nomination has the potential to delegitimize the election itself and its outcome. And tainted victories produce hobbled administrations. Much as I might have agreed with the outcome of the 2000 general election, the rancor and vitriol it produced created divisions among Americans where none naturally existed before, irreparably damaging the Bush administration.

Contrary to the political consultants' handiwork and the mainstream media's mythmaking, America is not a nation fundamentally divided between red and blue. We are surprisingly united on the core values that make us Americans and the practical solutions to the challenges we face. We need an election process with the integrity to produce a nominee who can lead this natural majority.
I'm not so sure about this. If Hillary succeeds in seating MI and FL and then wins the nomination because of it, the Democratic Party will well and truly self-destruct. But I'm hard-pressed to see how that would delegitimize the general election.

I think my positions against the Democrats are hardening. Much though I love to listen to Obama, his positions are simply nuts when you weigh them in the boring light of pragmatic policymaking. Adding $64 billion a year for healthcare doesn't sound like a wonderful idea. Withdrawing from Iraq simply isn't practical. Paying for all the stuff he's promising simply can't happen. While I'm not wild about McCain, at least he's a grumpy old man that will take perverse satisfaction in vetoing anything that's the least bit pricey. Ultimately, I think that's more important than everybody feeling inspired as we saddle ourselves with a half dozen major policy changes, each with its own hugely expensive mandate.

So I would shed no tears if the Democrats choose to self-destruct. Mind you, I don't think that they're quite that crazy. But perhaps Hillary is just power-mad enough to pull the pin on this particular grenade.

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