As I mentioned last week, I penned an “open letter” of advice to the so-called Reform Conservatives (or as Ryan Cooper memorably called them in a Washington Monthly profile, the “Reformish Conservatives”) at the invitation of TNR’s Jonathan Cohn, who’s just launched a new policy-oriented site there. It went up last night with a catchy photo of a dude trying to subdue an elephant.

In any event, the piece should be of interest to anyone thinking about how the Reform Conservatives compare to Democratic Party “reform” efforts, or wondering how I look back on the mixed record of the Democratic Leadership Council, and the lessons that experience provides for people in both parties.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.