Friday, March 04, 2005
Regarding social security, I think the triumphalism that the big partisan Democrat blogs have been displaying lately is probably a little premature... I have to say, however, I've noticed a hopeful sign...
"Indicator organisms" are plants or animals that biologists look for in a particular ecosystem because their presence indicates some property of that ecosystem has a certain value, and it is easier to test for the presence of the organism than it is to measure the property directly. For example, crayfish are more sensitive to pollutants than other common freshwater animals; if you see crayfish in a stream, the stream is probably fairly clean.
Anyway, I think there exists an indicator organism the presence of which in the media ecosystem signals Republican panic: Karl Rove. Rove rarely makes media appearances, preferring to sit back, pull the strings, and let his surrogates do the talking. When he does come into the light, it is almost always when the Republican party views itself as being in trouble. The last time we saw a lot of Rove was the end of the presidential campaign, a time at which there was a tacit Kerry victory subtext to campaign coverage .
And now we get Rove peddling social security "reform" on Hannity... I predict we will be seeing more of him.
"Indicator organisms" are plants or animals that biologists look for in a particular ecosystem because their presence indicates some property of that ecosystem has a certain value, and it is easier to test for the presence of the organism than it is to measure the property directly. For example, crayfish are more sensitive to pollutants than other common freshwater animals; if you see crayfish in a stream, the stream is probably fairly clean.
Anyway, I think there exists an indicator organism the presence of which in the media ecosystem signals Republican panic: Karl Rove. Rove rarely makes media appearances, preferring to sit back, pull the strings, and let his surrogates do the talking. When he does come into the light, it is almost always when the Republican party views itself as being in trouble. The last time we saw a lot of Rove was the end of the presidential campaign, a time at which there was a tacit Kerry victory subtext to campaign coverage .
And now we get Rove peddling social security "reform" on Hannity... I predict we will be seeing more of him.
