Being a N.Y. Times columnist means never having to escape the world of political fantasy

I like New York Times columnist E.J. Dionne. He is a basically decent fellow and certainly does not lack intelligence. But, with the exception of former theater critic Frank Rich, he has to be the worst political analyst in the paper’s amply-populated stable of left-liberal and center-left scribblers. If he just wrote for the HuffPo or on some Markos Moulitsas forum, this would be expected. But, then, the Times is not what it once was, even twenty years ago. Following the recent electoral smack-down of the Democratic Party, Dionne wrote a column focusing on, of course, the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, an area that, though it had been held by Republicans for well over a century, was carried by Mr. Obama by 5% in 2008. The lesson Dionne takes from the election in general and the New York district in particular is that the Democrats were given a warning (to make people feel better), while the voters actually rebuked the GOP’s conservatives’ message. Riighht.

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey takes some time to fillet Mr. Dionne’s argument. It’s an easy, but time-consuming task, given the amount of nonsense Dionne wrote. So I’m glad Morrissey did the work for us, even providing links to a couple of Dionne’s old columns where he celebrated as an act of principle the Left’s 2006 primary challenge to incumbent Senator Lieberman, a challenge that many on the Left openly billed as political revenge. Today, the same Dionne is horrified at the fact that a Conservative Party candidate could run because of voter dissatisfaction with the pseudo-Republican nominee selected in a back room by 11 local party bosses.

Of course, the same Left in the Democratic Party wants the Senate leadership to strip Lieberman of his committee chairmanship (though officially an “Independent,” he caucuses with the Democrats) for Lieberman’s support of John McCain in 2008 and for pledging to vote against ending a potential filibuster of a Senate government health care bill. From a political viewpoint, I understand the Left’s sentiment in Lieberman’s case. They are also consistent in that various Lefties have openly threatened with left-liberal primary challenges any Democratic legislator who votes against a government health care plan. One is left waiting for Dionne’s response to these plans.