Partisanship's Coming Home To Roost

I read somewhere recently that over 70 percent of Republicans think that George Bush is doing a good job and something less than 20 percent of Democrats think so.  When asked the question if the country is going in the right direction, you get similar numbers.  We have distinct and very different points of view in this country about our leadership and direction.

And now we have this tension spilling out into the open on the floor of the House.

The war in Iraq is clearly a part of this debate, but so is economic policy, environmental policy, abortion politics, supreme court nominations, and the classic second term stench of corruption that is emanating from washington these days.

John Warner, elder statesman of the Republican party, was quoted in the NY Times this morning saying:

"Today’s debate in the House of Representatives shows the need for
bipartisanship on the war in Iraq, instead of more political posturing"

I am afraid you can’t ask for bipartisanship when you’ve crafted your whole governing approach on partisanship. That’s coming home to roost now and its not going to be pretty.  We do need a mature, honest, informed, and open debate about the wisdom of staying in Iraq and also about a withdrawl plan, if that is what is going to happen. But in the poisoned atmoshpere that exists in Washington these days, that’s not likely to happen.