The exhiliaration of losing

David Broder:

Whatever the final impact of the Iraq Study Group report being issued today, for the 10 commission members this was an exhilarating experience, a demonstration of genuine bipartisanship that they hope will serve as an example to the broader political world.

"It was a very wonderful experience," former Republican senator Al Simpson of Wyoming told me last weekend. "We very quickly stopped considering ourselves as Republicans and Democrats, but as Americans trying to deal with a most urgent problem."

...
This is what turns on the Washington establishment. It is a return to old order where bipartisanship means getting together to accept Democrat objectives. That is great fun for those who want to lose together, but it is not good for the country. Would Broder and the rest of the bipartisan brigades be happy if such a group blasted Democrat proposals? Probably not.

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