Neat article at NRO by Mark Hemingway, who showed up to observe local liberals drafting their Democratic Party platform. He accidently ends up working in the healthcare group, and making some headway with conservative arguments.
He concludes:
Would they have listened to me if they knew I was a writer for the flagship publication of modern American conservatism? Judging from the majority of emails and letters to the editor I get from liberal readers, the answer too often is no.
So I don’t know whether my time as a make-believe Democrat is encouraging or amounts to a lament. But I do know that it’s a shame that we often have to lie about where we’re coming from in order to talk honestly to each other about where we think the country should be headed.
So in other words, I can take a group I'm predisposed against (see his use of "ignorant," "spacey," and "insane" in the article), imagine their response to a hypothetical situation, then criticize the group for hypothetically behaving in that way. Brilliant!
Yeah, talking about unclear on the concept.
The lesson was that if you sit down respectfully and propose ideas and listen thoughtfully to others, there is hope for a compromise that reflects a blending of perspectives in how to get to the great places we want our country to go.
The lesson he took was that "if I pretend to be a nice guy for a minute, I can fool my idiotic opponents into siding with me!"
It's sad that he can't see the irony in his position. After all, what's creating the partisan divide that is destructive to our country is not anti-conservative bias, it's pompous people who write hateful diatribes for extremist publications.
I'd be happy to entertain any of his ideas in a working group. I would write him off immediately if called anyone who opposed him a bunch of condescending names...
If there was ever any doubt as to how out-of-touch the beltway press has become, this article should eliminate it. Hemingway is apparently unaware that most local government decisions are based on discussion and compromise, rather than the rantings of national party leaders and media blowhards.
so you guys enjoyed it then? :-)