Memo to pundits
by digby
Dear Pundits,
Please stop saying that the election results show that "American people" came together and said they wanted congress to work together with the president on behalf of the American people as if that's some kind of a mandate for moderation.
The American people spoke but that's not what they were saying. In fact, they didn't agree on much:
The majority of Republicans only want to pass their own policies and somehow force the president to sign them. They do not want compromise and they do not want moderation. Democrats, on the other hand, are much more likely to want both.
This isn't brain surgery. As long as this dynamic exists the government will get more and more conservative regardless of what the more pragmatic Republican leaders and the Democratic Party wants. There is no incentive for the right wing to do anything but hang in there. They may not get everything they want in one fell swoop, but they'll be getting more of what they want than if they compromise. And they simply do not want "moderation" they want to make a point.
The Democratic plan to deal with this seems to be that a bunch of Republicans will eventually wake up and realize that they have been wrong. Good plan.
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