NP: Mr. Bungle, Mr. Bungle

This is what happens when I read different news and opinion sources out of chronological order. First, I read this column from David Broder on Sunday in the Washington Post on the re-emergence of the political center. This, as hypothetical regular readers of this space will know, is a subject near and dear to my heart. As Broder lays it out:

In Congress and in constituencies across the country, last week demonstrated a powerful and welcome trend: After a long eclipse, the people in the political center, the moderates, have regained their voice and are reasserting themselves.

The causes of the rebellion are not a mystery. There is a war in Iraq that no one seems to know how to win or how to end. There is a profligacy to federal spending that neither party is willing to stanch. There is inaction on large problems that hurt families, whether it be the cost of home heating or the availability of medical care. And, above all, there is a pervasive sense that partisanship for its own sake rules Washington.

Now that public mood -- which was amply demonstrated in last Tuesday's off-year voting -- has stiffened spines in the Capitol.

Then, I blasted through the blogs -- a relative rarity for the weekend -- and saw this Daily Kos commentary on a column that actually ran on Friday in the Post, by David Ignatius, which included the following:

Right now neither Republicans nor Democrats can lay coherent claim to being that party of performance. They are both still captives of the old conventional wisdom that the route to victory passes through the base -- the true believers on the right and left wings who are the activists in both parties. That logic works until the big majority in the middle finally says: Enough!

This inspired all sorts of righteous (lefteous?) indignation from regular Kos voice Armando, who responds to that passage.

What in blazes is that supposed to mean? Is he predicting Perot as the next President or something?

No, it means you need to read John Avlon's book. Right now. But that's not the kicker. The kicker is Armando's final line of his screed:

Even Broder has given up writing this kind of crap.

Of course, Broder wrote "this kind of crap" two days later, which wasn't brought up at all in 231 comments inside the echo chamber, or on the site proper since. I'll be on the lookout for the followup, but I'm not optimistic.

To be fair, it seems that Armando's main point was that McCain is not a centrist, but he buried his main point near the end of the rant. So he comes across as sounding like he's objecting to the notion that the political center matters, which is a really dangerous position to take for the minority party, even if it is just the rabble of said party.