Katherine Kersten's Korner

It's time for another Kersten kolumn, and this one is once again tilted beyond belief. I really don't expect Kersten to be fair and balanced, but since she isn't, shouldn't an editor somewhere keep her from claiming that she is? This Thursday's insanity is all about how horribly partisan things are today. The bad example of partisanship: a Democrat. The good example of how things used to be: a conservative she used to work with at the conservative Center of the American Experiment. It's like the flip side of the lobbying scandals, where almost all the bad guys are Republican but it's painted as a bipartisan scandal.

Wingnuttia Level: 8 (Give me a #$%(*%! break)

Yes, things are more partisan than they used to be. That's the consequence of the age that we live in. We have an expanded media, along with sharply more partisan niche media. We have the same thing online. We have lots of soft money and single-issue groups. Since Kersten is such a conservative, maybe she would like to go back and live in the 1950s, or 1850s, or whenever, but that's not happening.

Like I said, it's very intersting that Kersten gives an example of a naughty partisan Democrat, but doesn't give an example of a naughty partisan Republican (and Bachmann deserves all the scorn she gets). The good guy is somebody who is obviously extremely conservative, even if a DFLer; you've got to be pretty conservative to be on the board of the CAE.

This DFLer, Sandy Keith, goes on to talk about how things used to be: no party affiliations, Republicans representing parts of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, that kind of thing. Which may be interesting from a historical point of view, but what does this teach us about what we can do today? Absolutely nothing.

That't the key: the kolumn is nothing more than some old codgers reminiscing at the nursing home talking about how much better things were before. No interesting ideas on how to be less partisan in today's environment. No examples of people who are trying to cross the divide. Nothing that anybody can put to good use. And that's why this kolumn is pretty worthless.