The Up-Down on Partisan Perspectives

Clearly, the image of the Republican Party is getting dirty, at least in the media. In case you missed it, Mark Foley is a Republican, the war in Iraq was initiated by a bevy of Republicans, and Osama bin Laden is still around to scare us, and I've already written that Republicans and Democrats are arguing who to blame for North Korea.

However, the Democrats may not be the yang to the Republican's yin, which is to say, just because the Republican Party is getting bad press, does not mean the Democrats are getting positive press. This can be fleshed out quickly and accurately by utilizing the Daylife search engine.

For example:

• The Boston Globe tells us "[Vermont] Gov. Jim Douglas, who co-chaired President Bush's election campaigns in Vermont in 2000 and 2004, now says he is 'appalled' at the behavior of Washington Republicans, and lays some of the blame at the White House."
• The Baltimore Sun recalls the Jack Abramoff ignominy and states an "iron law of modern elections holds that incumbents lose only in the very rarest of circumstances, such as illness or scandal. This year, scandal is anything but rare."
• The New York Times reminds us "[t]he capital is filled with Republicans convinced that they will lose the House and maybe the Senate."
• And so on.

So, how does coverage of the Republican Party compare to that of the democrats?

• The Washington Post thinks the Democrats should be optimistic, but warns "recent history highlights how difficult it is for Democrats to compete in places where Republicans usually win at the presidential and congressional levels."
• Tony Blankley wrote in an Op-Ed piece, for the Washington Times, "[r]arely in the annals of American politics has an opposition party been less well prepared for governance than today's congressional Democratic Party."
• The New York Times also preaches guarded optimism for the Democrats:

  "If they are as confident as they have been in a decade about regaining at least one house of Congress --— and they are -- it is a confidence tempered by the searing memories of being outmaneuvered, for three elections straight, by superior Republican organizing and financial strength, and by continued wariness about the political skills of President Bush's senior advisor, Karl Rove."