Joe Klein

Is just pissing me off with this stuff:

In 2004 Bush and Karl Rove managed to flummox the Democrats by conflating the war in Iraq with the war against al-Qaeda and insisting that any Democratic reservations about Iraq were a sign of weakness. This was infuriating. It was Bush's disastrous decision to go to war and worse, to go to war with insufficient resources that transformed Iraq into a terrorist Valhalla. It is Bush's feckless prosecution of the war that has created the current morass, in which a U.S. military withdrawal could lead to a regional conflagration.
...
But Pariser's anti-triangulation argument deserves attention because it represents the latest expression of a perennial self-destructive urge within the Democratic Party. "Originally employed as a survival mechanism by a Democratic President in the wake of 1994's Republican revolution," he writes, triangulation "no longer makes sense in an era when any attempt at bipartisanship" is seen as Democratic weakness "and exploited accordingly." He has a point. The Bush Administration has made a mockery of bipartisanship.
...
In the end, the real alternative to Bush's Republican extremism isn't Democratic extremism. It is bipartisan moderation—which has the additional advantage of being the highest form of patriotism and the only route to victory in a time of war.

Joe Klien has finally come to terms with what a disaster the Bush administration is, but still clings to the idea that the perfect policy is just a bipartisan compromise away. But you can't split the difference anymore. This is not like Bush wants 30 billion for education, the Dems want 40 billion, let’s make a deal. You can't have half a reckless foreign policy. You can't say OK, invading Iran next will be a horrible disaster, let’s compromise and invade Syria. What does triangulation mean when one side advocates complete disaster? Half a disaster doesn't cut it. You can only support the agenda or oppose it. Lieberman supported Bush's foreign policy and paid a price at the polls.

One of the better lines from West Wing goes like this "You aren’t here to end the partisan fights, you are here to win them" When the policy is this bad, there is no compromise. There is only winning at the polls or not.

It’s not like Klien doesn't know this. Its right there: "The Bush Administration has made a mockery of bipartisanship."

Bipartisanship is dead, Bush killed it and Klien should come to terms with the loss. For the good of the Country.