Politics- Is It the Consultants' Fault

Joe Klein thinks so in his new book, Politics Lost. Or is the politicians fault for letting themselves be "consulted" to the death of their public soul. See Gore, Kerry, et cetera. How much is the media's need for pre-packaged sound bites to blame? Is this why we hunger so for the "Straight Talk" of John McCain? Why I think Wesley Clark can win on the Democratic side? Answering a question once during a Veteran's Day event in new Hampshire, one supporter asked Clark what he would do if the Republicans [I am paraphrasing- do not have tape] sicked their attack dogs on him. He said, "I'd beat the shit out of 'em" and took another swig of his Samuel Adams. I'm sure the consultants were horrified, but I thought- this man could be president. Not just because of his excellent taste in beer, but because you could tell he was telling the truth as he saw it, a rare quality these days. A Democrat with backbone? Who knew such a creature existed.

Aside: See Wes Clark's son (notoroiusly a hothead) unleash a profane tirade against his father's consultants and the Democratic Party establishment here - he thinks they are, um, "pussies." He only calls them this about 50 times.

Interesting discussion here of the modern-day consultants' role in Slate. One highlight is Markos Moulitsas observation:

As a Republican Party official once told me, "We treat our consultants like the hired help. You guys treat them like equals." That would be bad enough, but it's even worse than that: We treat our consultants like they're our bosses.

Sigh, this one I'm afraid, goes into the sad but true category.