I was out of town at the end of September and the beginning of October, and so my blogging slowed down for a while. I've been catching up the past few days, and I came across something that should interest those of you who are hoping for good things for the Democrats in November.
The Washington Monthly has started an election blog called Showdown '06. It looks like a lot of fun. A post by Paul Begala caught my eye. Begala writes that the Foley scandal shatters the myth of moral superiority that the Republicans have cultivated over the years.
Ordinarily, Foley's transgressions wouldn't be the news that they've become (although, obviously, they would still be a big story). How they reflect on the GOP leadership, especially in the House of Representatives, has been driving much of the media coverage. This all makes sense, given what Begala discusses in his post. A party can't pose as moral paragons and then avoid paying the price for failing, in such a spectacular fashion, to live up to their own self-image.
Furthermore, just think what the loyal minions toiling away in right-wing whoredom would be writing if the culprit had been a Democrat. So it's dishonest of Republican pundits to complain about the attention being devoted to the scandal, as Jonathan Chait recently pointed out in this column, which you can also find here.