E. J. gets an F

Has there ever been a pundit with a track record for being wrong as consistently as E. J. Dionne? He has been wrong so often for so long, that I gave up reading him years ago. This morning, looking through the selections at Real Clear Politics, I saw the title "McCain May Be Bush's Ticket." Naturally, I had to see what the latest fantasy was about. Not surprisingly, it sprang from the brow of a "shrewd and loyally Democratic party operative." E; J. didn't really have to tell us that. It seems that just about everything he writes is a regurgitation of talking points he got from one Democratic source or another.



His column is based on the kind of skewed thinking one typically gets from Democratic talking points. In Dionne's fantasy world, the president may have to help get McCain elected because the economy is bad, Iraq is a mess, and the GOP has big ethics problems.

Yeah, right. Voters concerned about ethics are going to look at the trumped up Democratic charges against Tom DeLay and rush out to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008. He writes:

If the Republicans' ethics problems worsen, McCain's Mr. Clean image will look ever more attractive to Republican members of Congress desperate to hold power. If things get really bad, many Republicans will be happy to dump House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and embrace McCain.

McCain is "Mr. Clean"? Since when? Hillary is the choice of voters for whom ethics is a top priority?

Even without the silliness about Iraq and the economy, this one gets an F on the ethics analysis.