Retribution and Incentives

By Fester:

John Murtha's campaign is in trouble after stating that Western Pennsylvania has a lot of racist voters.  I think he'll pull out a squeaker, but this will be toughest race he has faced in at least the past decade as Political Wire notes a case of dueling polls:

Yesterday, a more public Susquehanna Poll showed Murtha leading by just four points....
A Pennsylvania source leaked a new poll to Michelle Malkin showing Republican challenger Bill Russell (R) leading Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), 48% to 35%.

And then Michelle Bachman (R-MN) is in trouble as her challenger is now up by three according to Survey USA.  She went from a tough race that was highly winnable to becoming an underdog in a deeply Republican district because she channelled her inner McCarthy on national TV. 
Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings looks at Bachman's case and makes a generalizable statement that I think is a hopeful sign ---

if they paid a price for saying genuinely hateful things, their self-interest would line up on the side of basic decency.

We might be getting closer to that world.

Michele Bachmann may yet win. But in her district, she should have won easily. She has paid a serious price for what she said. A few more episodes like this and we might just see politicians thinking twice about vileness as a political tactic.

That would be a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Generalize this to Rep. Murtha facing the toughest race of my political memory, and the incentive structure to not be a complete douchebag is starting to firm itself up.  There may be plenty of douchebags in Congress, but the smarter ones will learn to keep their mouths shut and not reveal their inner idiocy. Hopefully we can start burying the 60s and work and speak as if most voters are functional adults.

Comments

[Steve Hynd]

I wouldn't shed a tear if Murtha was ousted, to be honest. He's way too well funded by arms companies, and always seems to run a spoiler "alternate bill" that comes from the left field (misdirection) to derail whatever military-industrial curbing legislation Dems put forward. He smells to me like a corporate gopher in liberal clothing.

Regards, C