Posted on 06/24/2005 9:01:10 PM PDT by neverdem
IN Washington, the cords of collegiality that used to bind the members of Congress to one another - and to the president - haven't just frayed, they've snapped. This descent into enmity is not just one party's fault. There is blame to distribute among all.
As Congress struggles through a particularly rancorous session, it is worth recalling a time when compromise had not been exiled from our government. I had the good fortune to see this firsthand when I worked for President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Though historians have painted President Johnson as someone who would do just about anything to get his way, nothing could be further from the truth. His years in the Senate taught him that good government is built on listening to the other side.
In 1964, the president deputized me to handle relations with the Republican leadership. It was my job to keep the Oval Office open for Gerald Ford and Charles Halleck, then the House Republican leaders, and Everett Dirksen, leader of the Senate Republicans. Even though L.B.J. had large majorities in both houses of Congress after the 1964 election, he never turned his back on those across the aisle.
A typical encounter with Dirksen would go something like this: The senator would call me, his majestic barrel-baritone voice rising from some vasty deep. "Jack, I'd like to see the boss today," he would say.
"Of course, Senator. How about coming by around six? O.K. with you?"
After our conversation, Dirksen would rise in the Senate to flog the president and his policies, treating Nero and Caligula favorably in comparison to Johnson.
Later, when Dirksen arrived at the White House, I'd escort him to the family quarters on the second floor. We would gather in the West Hall, cheek by jowl with the family dining...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Dirksen sure had that right.
Hey NYT: Reap what ye hath sown.
Nice try, Jack.
There are times, one simply has to take a position..
The lunatics of the left, have forced the situation..
Time to call a spade a spade and form up for battle..
Semper Fi
Interesting graphic.
Note that it polarized to the left first 1965-75. The right balanced them by 1995.
Of course it is. It's the Democrats fault. Anyone who follows the news can see that Democrats are the party of obstruction and the status quo, and Republicans are the party of fresh ideas and forward movement.
Never take a NY Times article, written by a liberal, as a point of reference.
It's getting to be time, ain't it?
Jack is full of $hit.
The graphic shows that the polarization began on the left, and it looks like the rightward development was a reaction.
There it is in black and grey and white - its their fault.
If I had to guess why the Left were in the majority in the 1970s, and why the Right is in the majority now, I would say that the Baby Boom generation has grown up.
Whan they were in their 20s and 30s, they voted for Liberals bacause the teachers and the media pushed them to vote that way.
Now, they vote for Conservatives, because they have grown up and now can see that they were not told the truth by the Left.
Agreed, but not for the same reason you do.
IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE DEMOCRATS FAULT.
Even when the dems were in the overwhelming majority, they were crude, argumentative, and unmannerly, only back then, they were attacking themselves. Now they are out of power, they are attacking republicans.
A compelling argument, but it seems to me the leftward shift is visible in 1965, and the baby boomers were barely entering voting age at the time. By 1975 you have a point.
Something else was happening 1955-65.
Jack Valenti, oy vey. File this under "shut up old man"!
Sorry.
Time for old Jack to STFU and go sit on his front porch.
If you want to listen to how cynical LBJ was, listen to historian Michael Beschloss' recording Reaching for Glory: The Secret Lyndon Johnson Tapes, 1964-1965.
All that having been written, I mainly used Valenti's guest OpEd column as a device in order to post the graphs shown in the .gif in comment# 1.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.