There was a lot of sense in George Will's column Sunday. Will noted that even the most apolitical of citizens, with far more immediate concerns on their minds than a Presidential race that's two years away, might start to notice "vibrations of weirdness" in some of the self-proclaimed Republican candidates. Will points out that the "birther" concept is extreme nonsense, and it is hard to take seriously a candidate (Mike Huckabee) who refuses to label it as such.
Another case of weird emanations not mentioned by Will is the curious grandstanding by Rep. Peter King with his plans to investigate radicalism in the U.S. Muslim community.
At its heart, what's lacking here is something I've complained of in the past: We can't break out of our political straitjacket unless politicians are willing to philosophically and rhetorically disown the worst extremists of their political "base." Few, alas, are willing to do so.
Another way of tackling the problem of timidity in truth-telling that could have some success is what's now being tried by a handful of Senators who have dubbed themselves the Gang of Six -- get a buddy from the other party, and the two of you can team up to try to get both sides to listen. These guys are trying to tell the turth about dealing with the deficit. It's not clear yet that they're having any impact, but most of them are well-connected enough to their party's leadership that they might gain some traction. We should welcome such efforts.
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