I’m no fan of Bill Clinton’s presidency obviously, but some useful political lessons can be learned from the man. One is always to attack your opponents for being partisan. This line of attack has a several advantages: 1) It tends always to be true; 2) It puts you on the right side of the public, which mindlessly dislikes partisanship; 3) It is the best way to be partisan yourself, because at the same time you are superficially eschewing partisanship you are attacking your opponents. All this is brought to mind by the latest Cook Political Report poll (Hat Tip: Hotline) that shows 52% of people think the Democrats are playing for partisan advantage when they criticize Bush on Iraq, while only 30% think they are trying to help in Iraq. 68% think such attacks hurt the morale of the troops in Iraq; only 14% think they help. This suggests that Bush officials are on to something politically when they warn of attacks sending the wrong message to the troops, and that they should never defend their Iraq policy without regretting that the war has become such a partisan issue thanks to partisan Democrats playing partisan games–repeat as necessary…
UPDATE: That link apparently isn’t right, but the above numbers definitely appear in today’s Hotline.