ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS :

Addiction to Addition (Maureen Dowd, April 3, 2002, NY Times)

"[W]hile Clinton used polling to craft popular policies," Mr. Green points out, "Bush uses polling to spin unpopular ones - arguably a much more cynical undertaking." [...]

At least Mr. Clinton's impulse was democratic. He yearned to do what we wanted him to do - he was Sally-Field-desperate for us to really, really like him. Mr. Bush's impulse is autocratic. He wants to do what he (or Cheney & Rove) wants to do - and is desperate only to find a way to shove it down our throats. [...]

Mr. Bush used poll-dictated phrases to reduce alarm about his Social Security plan, talking about "retirement security" and "choice," as opposed to the Democrats' "bankrupt" and "risky."

Ms Dowd's point here is, typically, incoherent. She argues that it was more honorable for Bill Clinton to abandon his principles (yeah, I know, but let's play along) because they were unpopular than it is for George W. Bush to change his language in order to convince the public to adopt his principles. It is rare to find a columnist who is so openly willing to pimp for a lack of principle, but Ms Dowd appears comfortable in the role. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 3, 2002 9:41 AM