Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Bravo: The most admirable thing I think a liberal or conservative can do is to call out his or her own side for screwing things up for the rest of them. Lefty blogger Frederick Maryland takes Marion Barry to task for perpetuating the stereotype that liberals are soft on crime.

What I can't stand about partisanship is how likeminded people defend each other even when it is completely obvious that somebody messed up or is actively doing something wrong. When a political ally draws attention to somebody else's mistake by showing how it's hurting a shared cause, that person gains credibility. And that also usually leads to honest arguments about serious issues.