Doug Terry is veteran television and radio reporter in Washington, DC who publishes the Terry Report. I read him fairly often, and for some reason, I am only now introducing him to you. I suppose the reason is simply that his often brilliantly concise essays just failed to hit any marks I was obsessing about that particular week.
No matter, you can meet him now. Never mind the ugly website. He'll fix that someday (I hope). Here is some great content to get you started on this very gifted explainer of political memes, moments and mayhems:
*MUST READ* Why The Right Hates Washington, DC
Have you ever wondered? What is the great “evil” that the Republicans, the right and the far right see in the Federal government? Why does the Tea Party crowd say “centralized government” as if the phrase were a code word for socialism or communism, those twin forces that once united our nation in opposition?
Explaining this phenomenon is certainly a subject worth longer treatment, but, for anyone wondering, a few points can be laid out in short order that might help to clear up the situation.
What Palin is doing is amazing. She is raising Reagan into something he was not, she is slamming the entire developmental history of the Federal government going back to, say, Hoover in the 1920s and she, if she were to be believed, she suggests that her own party was asleep at the wheel, because they were making no such exaggerated charges at the time Reagan came into office. Reagan’s famous statement that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem” was preceded by the words “In the present crisis” (whatever that means). It was not a blanket, cover all statement, it was limited to that particular moment and era, even if not clearly defined.
You can follow Doug on Twitter at @terryreport
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