The Fantasy of Bipartisanship

Much has been made this week of the Research 2000 poll of self-identified Republicans showing extreme, factually inaccurate views on President Obama. 63% believe Obama is a socialist, 53% think Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President, 39% support impeaching Obama, 36% think Obama is not a US citizen.

Former Reagan budget official Bruce Bartlett says the poll shows that "between 20% and 50% of the party is either insane or mind-numbingly stupid." Jeb Golinkin of the conservative blog Frum Forum notes "If you ran this poll among independents, it would be 80-20 (against these positions)--all the more evidence that the mainstream of the Republican Party is startlingly out of touch with the mainstream of the country."

R.L.G. of The Economist draws two conclusions.

We're seeing dual-causation here: as the party's most fervent believers believe more ridiculous things, those sensible ones leave. The remainder reinforce each other in extreme beliefs...Those figures don't make me panic. Really, this should give Republicans more pause than anyone. The party-identification number is down over Mr Obama's first year, and beliefs like this aren't likely to turn that around. Anybody who doesn't already believe these things isn't going to start by watching Mr Obama govern.

And is Mr Bartlett right that 20-50% of this 24% is insane or stupid? I'd guess a big chunk of that group simply pays only passing attention to the news, not exactly reading the whole A section of their newspaper daily. So where do they get their views? Remember, though they don't read much, they're committed Republicans, having stayed with the badly battered ship. When they do tune in, they're likely to go for cable news or talk radio, and what they hear is only what Republican leaders—and we can include media leaders—tell them. If they'd learned the actual facts of things, and still concluded Mr Obama is a socialist racist foreigner, that would indeed make them insane. But they haven't. And not being a news junkie doesn't make them stupid, contra Mr Bartlett. They value their jobs, families and non-wonky hobbies over reading the New Yorker or even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

President Obama noted during his televised interaction with GOP members of Congress that their use of extreme rhetoric in attacking his policies leaves them no room to negotiate with him. This was illustrated in a Congressional conversation reported by James Fallows on his Atlantic blog.

"GOP member: 'I'd like this in the bill.'"Dem member response: 'If we put it in, will you vote for the bill?'"GOP member: 'You know I can't vote for the bill.'"Dem member: 'Then why should we put it in the bill?'

How is bipartisanship possible if the minority party votes in lockstep opposition, uses fact-challenged rhetoric to distort the debate and refuses to negotiate in good faith?

--Ballard Burgher