I haven’t given a lot of thought to Internet gambling one way or the other (although attaching the recent legislation to a national security bill was a low move even by the standards of the GOP), but I wonder if there’s anything to this reader’s point:
I think the Corner is neglecting what is clearly a gathering internet storm for Republicans. There are around 10 million Americans such as myself who regularly gamble online. Last Friday, the federal government, led by Bill Frist, reached into our homes and told us that it knew better than we did how we should spend our money. Overnight, the Republicans have enraged a group of people who are normally pretty apolitical. Right now poker forums are irate over this governmental intrusion and they want revenge against Republicans in November. This seems like a monumental blunder on two levels. First, the notion of government intruding into peoples’ lives is what Republicans are supposed to fight AGAINST. Secondly, even if the party is determined to betray those principles, what possible sense does it make to suddenly, right before the election, enrage a constituency of ten million Americans who previously cared little for politics? If there has been a more asinine political blunder in recent years, I can’t recall it.
Me: If there are still Republicans opposed to governmental intrusion into people’s lives, not many of them are to be found in Washington DC.