Bookends

In what feels to me like a bookend to my earlier post, We May Never Cheer, John Cole explains Why Rove Failed.

[T]he real problem is Rove and company’s complete reliance on gutter politics.

If you look back at every stinking pile of excrement pushed by this administration, in every debate, there had to be an opposition group, the outgroup, to vilify in order to push the agenda du jour (as noted in the comments, any disagreement in any form was considered to be treasonous).

…All the alleged principles are gone- there are no core “conservative beliefs” left- those were all picked off one by one for some short term political victory or another.

Go read the whole thing.