A Penguin in the Orchard

Newfound Sanity?

Tom Ball at Political Cortex goes a long way to make this point regarding the recent gesture to Iran:

Some would call it diplomacy and a welcome return to sanity, BUT we simply know the administration far too well to be suckered into that. They don’t know what ‘diplomacy’ is. They believe only in force, and if they are foregoing that force and opting for negotiations, you know something is wrong.

I suspect what’s wrong is increasing evidence that the Republicans are on their way out in November. The move was probably predicated on internal polls that showed just how serious the damage to the Republican party has been over the past year. Internal polls? In the administration that doesn’t follow polls? Count on it. Bush may be incurious, but don’t let that lull you into thinking that no one in power in the administration is interested in the public opinion regarding Republicans around the country.

I suspect the accession to direct political talks with Iran is just the first moderate-appearing move in the months to come. We’ll see more uncommonly common sense moves. And, we’ll see them touted as signs of the real strengths of Republican leadership.

[tags]Iran, Bush, Republicans[/tags]