Republicans have used it a lot, lately, but Ronnie Musgrove was the latest to use that term as
an insult, and he's a Democrat.
I call the D.C. metro area my home. In fact, it's been my life-long home. My family tree is full of Federal Bureaucrats, and I even had a job as a GS-4, one semester break. To be quite frank, I'm proud of what this area represents, and I'm tired of outsiders, especially latter-day Carpetbaggers like Bush, chomping at the bit to declare that they're either a) a victim of dastardly "Washington Insiders", or b) declaring that they're somehow superior because they're not a "Washington Insider".
What is the stigma against "Washington Insiders"? I ask this because nobody's made it clear exactly what a "Washington Insider" is. In all honesty, I'd rather have an insider run my country than an outsider. The term "outsider" can denote someone whith a dark cause, someone who doesn't fit in. Insider, in and of itself, has many positive connotations, such as knowing how to best apply resources.
Politics is about learning how to play the game. We need politicians...perhaps unfortunately...and those politicos should be proud to be a part of the process. I believe we should elect those politicians who become insiders, who learn how to safely navigate the troubled waters of our government, and work to represent the interests of their constituents. There will always be some bad eggs, those machine politicians who use the system to their own advantage. But, for every bad cog in the system, which we hear about in the news, there are many others whom the papers never mention. Those are the unsung insider heroes.
On the other hand, we should be wary of those who insist on being on the [lunatic] fringe.