TODAY’S QUESTION: Is skillful political horse-trading the mark of a hero or a villian?
POINT (IT IS HEROIC): “The word "courtly" was created to describe Bruno's polite and generous manner. His image as a tough-guy boxer was accurate only until it suggested he was combative by nature. Then it couldn't have been more wrong.
He was in truth a compromiser by instinct. His negotiations weren't aimed at winning as much as creating a win-win situation. He wanted his share, and was happy to give you yours..”–Michael Goodwin in the New York Daily News (6/24/08) commenting on former NYS Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (a convicted felon)
COUNTERPOINT (IT IS VILLIANOUS): “The health-care debacle alone would make a classic Capra morality tale. The naked vote-buying that enabled Reid to get 60 was the very sort of insider corruption the three-time Oscar-winner despised. His reel heroes, including Jimmy Stewart, Jean Arthur, Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, would be denouncing the bill as crooked and stacked against honest, ordinary Americans.
Yet there was Obama, who promised to change the culture of Washington, heralding the sleazy outcome. How fitting that the end of his first year also marks the end of any pretense he is a reformer.
He is now the very opposite of what he promised. To support the health payoffs is to support corruption.” — Michael Goodwin in the New York Post (12/23/09) commenting on President Barack Obama (a Nobel Laureate)