SCORCHED EARTH….On Thursday, House Republicans took the odd step of reversing a rule that says anyone in a leadership positions who’s indicted of a crime has to step down. Why? Because one of their leaders, Tom DeLay, seems likely to be indicted sometime soon on charges of breaking Texas state fundraising rules. Mark Kleiman responds:
Pelosi and Reid, and the rest of us, need to take a page from the Republican playbook of 1993-2000. No surrender, no compromise, no bipartisanship, no civility, no reaching out to Republican officeholders (as opposed to detachable Republican voters): nothing but scorched earth from here to victory.
I’m a moderate kind of guy, but this sounds about right to me. When you’re playing against people like this, what choice do you have?
