The Most Dangerous Creature Alive
by digby
I don’t know if Chris Cillizza knew how this sounded when he wrote it, but it certainly speaks volumes to me:
In the days leading up to last night’s State of the Union address, cable television was abuzz about Members of Congress of opposing parties sitting together to show of unity in the wake of the attempted assassination of Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The idea was widely credited to Third Way, a centrist Democratic group, and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall (D) who became its chief proponent on Capitol Hill. But, the idea of cross party-seating — not just for the State of the Union speech but always – — has been around since the mid-1990s in the context of political campaign as Democrats running in Republican-leaning states have used it to paint themselves as independent problem-solvers.
Someone said to me last night, “you liberals are kind of like exotic birds, almost extinct. You live in your refuges and people only see fleeting glimpses of you in the distance. But in the popular imagination you are the most dangerous creatures alive.”
By the way, just a little reminder here of what the Republicans in Frank Luntz’s focus group last night think of all that Third Way kumbaaya:
Luntz then broached Obama’s bipartisanship call, with voters who identified themselves as Republicans indicating they didn’t buy into it. Most said they had heard the cooperation request before.
“So the question is, What is it about this appeal to bipartisanship that those of you on the Republican side don’t like?” Luntz asked the group.
“When he first got into office he was going to be the president to change everything, come across the aisle. It never happened,” one man said.
.