Gerald Seib, who writes the Capital column for the Wall Street Journal, has an excellent piece on polarization in Saturday’s paper. Nonetheless, I was taken aback by this statement: “Meantime, Republicans, having been pushed entirely into the minority, did not have to bear responsibility for either what transpired or what did not get done.” Instead, even liberal media blame Joe Manchin, Kirstin Sinema, Joe Biden, and the Democrats generally for what has not gotten done.
Apparently, the polls show that the Republicans gain by doing nothing. They offer no alternatives. They just say no, and they are proud to do so. Most of them even bite their tongues about the storm on the capital. They are do-nothings, cowards, moral lepers – who apparently will get away with it. The liberal media has chastised the Republicans for their failure to condemn all manner of sins – from sedition to racism – but they have cast only a passing glance at the Republican’s failure to offer concrete legislative proposals. Maybe it is more interesting to focus each night on Joe Manchin; maybe it’s a story that continues to sell; but Joe Manchin is not a moral leper. To find the moral lepers, you have to look across the aisle.
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