Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Internalize

Mike Lux:

Ohio Senate. Everyone wrote Lee Fisher off months ago in this race, and just today a public poll showed him 22 points down. But I have seen two other polls in the last 4 days that show the race in single digits, and I have also seen polling numbers that show 30% of Portman's voters have the potential to go bye-bye if they know about his role as Bush's trade rep shipping jobs overseas.

Whatever the merits either way, one thing I've noticed is that "free trade"* is one of those issues about which anyone who works in DC politics quickly internalizes the Very Serious Person position, which is that, politics be damned, anything labeled "free trade" is inherently good and only very silly dirty fucking hippies oppose it. In truth, of course, basically everybody in the country hates everything called "free trade" and politicians left and right would benefit from running against it.

*"Free trade" is in quotes because many things having nothing to do with actual free trade are given that label.