Earlier today, Ben Smith reported that McCain research director-cum-press secretary Brian Rogers will begin working as the research director for Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. On the campaign trail, Rogers worked alongside deputy communications director Michael Goldfarb, who responded to today’s announcement with poise and professional courtesy. “Everybody knew Rogers was a tree-hugger,” Goldfarb noted by email, “but I didn’t think he’d take it this far. He’s dead to me.” This has been today’s edition of “fun quotes from people who wanted to run the country.” But thinking critically for a moment it’s not clear how accurate Goldfarb’s charges are.
Surprise, TPM didn’t get the joke. Andrew Sullivan also took the absurd quote at face value. But hey, it’s hard to have a sense of humor in a country that won’t hold war criminals to account, that nominates a vice president who staged a fake pregnancy, that allows the Israelis to slaughter Palestinian civilians for laughs. But I was surprised to see that John Del Cecato, a partner at David Axelrod’s consulting firm and an adviser to the Obama campaign, picked up the quote in an op-ed for the Hill about how Republicans are pushing moderates out of their once big tent:
And when McCain press secretary Brian Rogers said last week he was leaving to work for Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection, fellow McCain aide Michael Goldfarb declared, “Everybody knew Rogers was a tree-hugger, but I didn’t think he’d take it this far. He’s dead to me.” That giant swishing sound you’re hearing is the GOP’s “big tent” being folded up and packed away. For the GOP moderates who remain, the right wing’s purge is no doubt distressing. But for Americans desperate to replace the bitter partisanship of the past with genuine cooperation in the nation’s capital, it’s an even more troubling sign: The loudest voices in today’s GOP view President Obama’s call for common purpose as sacrilege.
That swishing sound you’re hear is a joke flying right over the heads of an absolutely humorless left.
