You ought to read this bogus piece by Washington lawyer Greg Craig in today's Washington Post. Greg is the guy who was one of the honchos on the Clinton defense team during impeachment, so he can't be all bad. But this op-ed is really, really idiotic, and maybe one of the most ham-handed early campaign ploys ever.
I like how he starts out, beating up on President Bush for his phony make-nice quote-unquote call to bipartisanship in the Wall Street Journal. Excellent work, counselor.
But then he gets weird on me. He starts beating up on Nancy Pelosi -- that's Speaker Pelosi to me and you -- and she just got handed the gavel yesterday. Anyway, he takes her to task for -- gasp! -- trying to get something done. Essentially he's whipping her for trying to pass a bunch of legislation in the first hundred hours of the 110th Congress.
You know, Greg, we had an election. And the American people voted for new leadership in Congress, and whether you can stand it or not, they expect actual results. You know as well as any partisan hack in Washington that there's one way to get it done as advertised, and that's to fast-track it. Let the Republican members open up the Democrat's proposed legislation in committee and you'll have deadlock faster than you can say "unbreakable congressional logjam." So lay off the Speaker, you ding dong.
Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder, Greg got Twilight Zone-weird. What's the faux-folksy BS about wishing upon a shining star that those gosh darn presidential elections would just start a little later! Aw, heck, Greg! They're at it again! Those mean ol' politicians -- running for office! Golly, Greg? What're we gonna do about it? Couldn't they just wait awhile longer?
Come on. Get over yourself, Greg. You and I both know that's not even remotely what you're upset about. You're not upset about Rudy's leaked campaign plan, or about Senator Clinton being "truly unhappy about being forced to make an early decision." Or the one that really got me:
Forgive the cold water on an otherwise impressive event, candidate Edwards, but why couldn't you have simply announced your candidacy? Your announcement from New Orleans looked like a partisan gimmick, taking advantage of human misery to take a shot at the Republicans. Your genuine concern about the problem of poverty in America is well known. Shouldn't that issue be used to unite Americans, not to divide them?
Boo, Greg, boo, hiss, hiss. You want to talk about a cheap, not to mention cynical, shot? Take that paragraph right there. Man, that is a low blow, counselor. And you know it. Nearly ten million people newly in poverty since the Bush Administration took over and the city of New Orleans virtually forgotten, and this is your contribution to that dialogue? Wow. Real classy.
Now. Let's see. What would prompt a Washington lawyer-slash-political-hack to have such an op-ed published in the Washington Post? Hm. Well, we figure that Greg's a Democrat (or has worked for Democrats), and let's think of a Democrat running for president whose name was not smeared by Mr. Craig. Thinking...
Thinking...
Oh. Well, how about Senator Barack Obama? Good God, I sure hope not, because I happen to really like the Senator from Illinois. If this is one of his early moves, it'd be too bad, and extremely disappointing.
Of course, if it's a move for Dodd or Biden it'd be just as disappointing but much less surprising. It could even be Richardson or Vilsack, I suppose. Also disappointing.
I don't know who did this. I suppose it could just be Greg Craig, Kind of Insane Washington Lawyer.
But I doubt it.
**cross-posted at The Spencerian**