"A camel is a horse designed by committee." -- ascribed to Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis.
Perhaps the only thing more likely to yield ungainly results than a committee designing a horse is a Democrat designing a Republican presidential ticket. David Broder tries his hand at it in his WaPo column today, "Principles Amid the GOP Pack. The result is a double-humped dromedary known as McCain-Huckabee.
After some high-falutin' talk of the pair's "clarity, character and, yes, simple humanity," and his claim that the two are operating on a "higher plane" than the other contenders, Broder gets down to brass tacks. The real reason Broder recommends McCain-Huckabee? They're weak on immigration. Oh, sorry, that's not how it's put in Dem-pundit speak. Broder goes lyrical on us, writing that his preferred duo:
remember that those who struggle to reach the United States across the deserts or rivers of the Southwest are human beings drawn here by the promise of better lives for their families.
No doubt true of most. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't prevent people from entering our country illegally or should reward them if they do.
Broder ends with this bouquet to Huckabee's defense of college scholarships for illegal immigrants:
"In all due respect [said Huckabee], we're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did. We're a better country than that." He, too, was applauded.
I think we are that better country. And I hope the Republicans agree.
I'm sure David Broder does. Why wouldn't a Democrat want Republicans to agree with him? In Broder's spirit of bi-partisanship, perhaps the RNC and DNC can work out a deal: David Broder gets to pick the Republican candidates . . . but Republicans get to choose the Dem ticket.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Democratic National Convention, we present you our candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States of America. Friends and fellow Americans, give it up for . . . Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich!"
