More on the Iraq/"Stimulus" Analogy

Jesse Walker at Reason draws out the parallels very nicely and not just because he closes with a quote from my post from earlier this week.

Comments

[Flash Gordon]

I think libertarians are right most of the time. But if foreign policy is brought into the discussion the libertarian response seems guaranteed to go right off the rails. The attempted parallel of the patriot act and the Iraq war with the pork bill called "stimulus" and the Obama attempt to silence all opposition to it will not work.

Democrats voted for the patriot act and Iraq war because they feared the American people would see them as soft on national defense if they voted against it, not because Bush bullied them into it. Bush was a weak president who reached out to Democrats repeatedly, and except when they thought the public was looking, they spit in his face.

To compare that style to the Obama style is ridiculous. Only the Democrats can get away with extreme partisanship because the slobbering groupies in the media will provide cover for them. Republicans try that and they are immediately demonized and beaten over the head as they slink off with their tails between their legs.