I've been hearing some speculation about what the Dems should do post election if (and it's a big if) they win a House in Congress. Norm Ornstein, who has a new book about called The Broken Branch made several suggestions on Al Franken's show yesterday that mostly centered on Nancy Pelosi reversing Republican rules that have been rude and denigrating to Democrats .... offering an olive branch with procedural changes if you will. I don't disagree with that. Two wrongs don't make a right and discontinuing the dysfunctional rules of the House makes sense.

But I have to admit, taking the "turn the other cheek" approach leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and seems a bit incomplete. I know retaliation isn't right. But I also felt uneasy about Ornstein's suggestions.

Digby to the rescue.

In this post, Digby does a fine job outlining the history of how the atmosphere of partisanship we have today came into being. It's a very good read for a thumbnail walk down memory lane, and the short version is that Republicans like Lee Atwater, Newt Gingrich, and Karl Rove (an incomplete list) are the reason. But then he gets to the meat of the matter:

So, why am I taking this little trip down memory lane of which most of you are all too well aware and need (sic) no reminding? Because we are very possibly going to win this election and you can very confidently place a large bet in Las Vegas that the cries to end the partisanship will be deafening. I have little doubt that the entire Washington press corps is gearing up for a full scale vapor-fest if the Democrats attempt to demand even the slightest bit of accountability for the past six years of corruption and failure. The Democrats have to accept that they will once again be fighting the entire political establishment.

Digby nails my discomfort.

Sure, you need to return to rules of respect in the operation of both houses of Congress. But the Democrats simply must outline, through oversight processes, exactly how we got here. The divisive political tactics of the past fifteen years must come to a greater light and there must be an accounting for it. Exactly what that accounting will be, I'm not sure. But there must be very public and official consequences for the way Republicans have used the political process.

Democrats are only recently beginning to catch on to how you play the game of partisanship perfected by Republicans. And because I think Digby is right about the pressure being enormous for Democrats to create an atmosphere of "comity" and "partisanship", it will be incumbent on the Democrats to walk a fine line. The content of their language and policy must be shaped carefully around the idea of restoring morality to government and holding the "wrongdoers" to account, and "righting" government. Cogent arguments must be shaped to counter the inevitable charges of retaliation and retribution.

The most important arena for this action is the media. The crusty dinosaurs of the "old wise men of punditry" (the Broders, the Roberts, the Will's to name a few) will continually have to be confronted on the past and the hypocrisy of having a different standard when Dems are in some sort of level of power. The distinction must be clear that performing oversight and holding government officials accountable is not a partisan activity, but rather a governmental responsibility that the voters insisted on when they voted.

This will not be easy, but to do less will be to allow yet another generation of corrupt Republican newbies to watch the success of their elders and to dream of the day when they get to pull the levers, and reap the wealth, of their form of governing. We didn't thoroughly kill the beast during the Nixon administration, or during Iran-Contra, and it has costs the country dearly. The time will be here soon where another opportunity will present itself to return our politics to some level of moderation and functionality, but not until the cancer has been removed. And we all know it takes guts to cut into the body politic. But do it we must.