Ezra Klein plays my favorite parlor game: What Does Joe Want?
In the course of discussing with Sam Tanenhaus his book The Death of Conservatism (an expansion of this essay he wrote for TNR), Reihan Salam claims in passing
Karl Rove never imagined that opposition to same-sex marriage would cement a permanent Republican majority. It was a distraction that I'm sure he found distasteful.
Andrew Sullivan pounces
Rove thought this was a distraction? From his realignment? Does Reihan recall the kind of politics Rove cut his teeth on in the South? Gay-baiting was one critical part of his strategy for realignment.
Andrew doesn't cite it, but the best piece on the subject (at least of which I'm aware) was written by Josh Green in November 2004, at Andrew's current (and Reihan's former) home The Atlantic. Indeed, reading it anew, I'm still shocked by some of the details. In the 2004 context that Reihan was specifically referencing, Green singles out gay marriage as an issue that others in the GOP feared Rove was overplaying, thanks to his long experience in Texas: "Several consultants pointed to the issue of gay marriage, which one described as a perfect Texas wedge issue.... But he doubted that the issue would have the same effect in the less conservative battleground states that are expected to decide this election."
But this is really nothing compared to the gay smears in which Rove had long specialized:
The Department of Labor’s release last week of the worse-than-expected job numbers for the month of September set off the now typical back and forth debate about whether the federal stimulus is working. Joe Biden, Larry Summers, and Christina Romer have commented that the economy is still moving in the right direction and the loss of 263,000 jobs last month could have been worse had there been no federal stimulus at all. Another army of usual suspects claims that the dismal jobs report is proof that the stimulus package has yet to produce economic recovery.
In a way, both camps are right.
Several commentators have noted that temporary stimulus rebate programs--namely “Cash for Clunkers”--propped up the economy through July and August. Car dealers credited this effort for boosting their sales to the highest levels of the year. The First-Time Homebuyer’s Credit is said to be having a similarly positive impact through the real estate and construction sectors. So, in this sense, short-term federal stimulus has been working.
Yet, because these temporary programs are short-lived, so too are the positive economic benefits they generate. The abrupt end of “Cash for Clunkers” led to a rapid reversal of growth in the auto market with the Big Three automakers seeing their sales decline 33 to 37 percent from August levels. And, the looming November 30th expiration of First-time Homebuyer’s Credit has already sparked concern that without this federal support, the housing markets will just reverse on any recent improvements. Sustained economic recovery, it seems, will likely not result from this sort of short-term stimulus.
Facing humungous challenges to passing strong health care reform this year, Democrats are starting to talk up the idea of reconciliation again. Republicans--shock--don’t like the idea.
