Thanks, will do next time.

Well, I think McCain is less incapable than others.  Moving in an encouraging direction, at least.

The main sticking point with him for the real Republican partisans is things like campaign finance and the Gang of 14 filabuster thing.   My point is that we should encourage this when we see it.

Nah, not that he's a moderate in terms of substantive policy positions.  I don't think I made that claim in the diary, and certainly wouldn't.

He's a conservative Republican.  I like any rhetoric coming from conservative Republicans about working across the aisle.  I mean, it's not like he'll have a choice--Democratic congress and all that.

I guess this is what bothers me about the "McSame" tag.  He and Bush are similar in terms of policy, and it's a policy I don't want to see anywhere near the White House again.  But I agree with the narrative that says Republicans choosing McCain over Romney, Huckabee, Thompson, et al is at least a step in the direction of rejecting the Bush-Rove era of vicious partisanship.

You should know better, Todd.  

Surely you remember what happened in 1994, when the Republicans swept into Congress and instituted the "Permanent Republican Majority."  They marginalized the Democrats and made sure that they had a hard time raising money by not letting them talk to lobbyists.  

The Democrats, smacked down if they tried to do anything, grew spineless and meek... but moved around the edges, evolved their message, and eventually came back after 12 years in the wilderness with big wins backed up by the netroots... by us.

If we crush and destroy the Republicans, we risk becoming them.  They retreat to their base while ensuring that any failures the Democratic majority has get properly sensationalized, just like the Republican sex scandals and finance corruption cases were.

Then, in a certain number of years, they surge back into power with another mandate to loot and plunder the way they did in the good 'ol days.

No.  Screw that, Todd.  We can't afford another 8-12 year cycle of Rightist ideology infecting our country just because you wanted revenge on the people who mistreated us.

We're Democrats.  We're better than them.  What does it hurt to listen to what they have to say?  We'll have the majority, so they won't be able to force us to do anything, but we can take any good ideas they might have and claim them as our own... I do not think that Democrats have the sole lock on good ideas in this country; that's the height of arrogance and will hurt us in the end.

Why does Congress get nothing done, really?  Is it because the parties don't agree with everything, fundamentally?  I don't think so.  I'm pretty certain that the parties play little games where they throw poison pills in every bill to split things down partisan lines.  That way, they can one-up the opposition by saying that they didn't vote for such and such bill or they did vote for the subsection A of this other bill.

If we can ensure an enduring Democratic legacy, shouldn't we?  If, by just listening to Republicans without conceding anything major to them, we can keep them in the minority by showing the nation that we have a working government that doesn't need to change, shouldn't we?  If we can prevent the Republicans from being able to claim status as a victimized minority, shouldn't we do that?

I understand the need to be angry and to punish the people that treated us so poorly.  I'm just saying that there's a better and stronger way of going about it than becoming the enemy.

My problem with this kind of sentiment is that it's exactly, precisely, down to the use of "coddled and appeased," the kind of thing you see on RedState when they talk about why they hate John McCain.  Because he doesn't want to destroy Democrats.

What happens when you have a huge partisan divide is that there's no incentive to get anything done but fundraise and marshal ammo for the next election.  The nation is very nearly divided between those who vote Dem and those who vote Repub.  (Usual caveats about marginal third parties and non-voters included.)  The more rigid the divide, the more the side barely out of power feels entitled to obstuct any gov't work at all.

I'm sorry, but I believe in compromise.  You can't always get what you want; or, more precisely, you can never get everything you want.  The people who tell me that partisanship is good and that we just need to focus on a permanent [PARTY NAME HERE] majority to really remake the world in its image are, I think, engaged in the permanent campaign.  And I'm sick of that.

Well, at least he's making the noise.  The more we can encourage this talk, the more obvious it will be if he goes against it.

I was pleased when he rebuked the NC party for running the Wright ad.  You should have seen the response on RedState, they flipped their shit that their guy wouldn't sanction those kinds of attacks.  "Traitor," "Democrat," "end of the Republican party," other delicious stuff.

You know who benefits from rigid partisanship?  Party fundraisers and the 50+1% people.