Just about every major paper in the country ran an article this morning about Louisiana Democratic Senator John Breaux’s meeting today with George W. Bush. And the possibility that he’ll offer Breaux a cabinet post. This, of course, is part of the reconciliation-bipartisanship -be-nice-to-me-please agenda which Bush is now pursuing.
But why isn’t anyone pointing this out? There is probably nothing that Bush could do right now that would piss Democrats off more than appointing Breaux, and thus reducing their margin in the Senate to 51-49.
Breaux, of course, would be dead to Senate Dems for such an act of betrayal.
I guarantee you, if Breaux accepted an appointment, the day he walked out of the Senate, Tom Daschle would grab him and plant a big, hard kiss right on his forehead (obligatory Godfather reference).
But what about Bush? To Dems on the Hill this wouldn’t be reaching out. It would be war.
Is this intentional? Do they want to screw with the Dems? Or is this just a misunderstanding of how Washington politics differs from politics in Texas?
In a weird way I suspect it’s both.
P.S. If Talking Points is just brimming over with all these choice insights, you’re probably asking yourself, why doesn’t he write a column for some major metropolitan daily?
Good question!