Pining for earmarks, longing for graft, and fetishizing "getting things done"

Boehner and Pelosi at the feet of George Washington Plunkitt.
Tammany Hall got a lot done.

Last week, while commenting on a John Harwood column about Ronald Reagan's negotiating skills, the Dividist pointed to a missing political tool that makes it harder for our federal government to forge compromise:

"Harwood missed another factor that made it easier for both Reagan and Clinton to push a deal through a divided congress. In the Reagan and Clinton eras legislative ideological opposition could be softened through the widespread practice of sweetening deals with earmarks secretly carved out in committee. Lets' call it what it was - a form of legalized bribery to buy votes by throwing money to a district or big contributor. It was slimy. It was corrupt as hell. But it was sure effective in greasing the legislative skids and blunting ideological opposition. It still happens, but not to the degree that it did in the Reagan and Clinton years. The loss of that tool makes the job harder for Obama. Regardless, if the question is where does responsibility lie for getting deals done in a divided government? The answer is that the buck stops in the Oval Office. Full stop."

David Plotz at Salon used Chris Christie's modus operandi as a starting point and takes it to another level. Here he pines for earmarks and waxes nostalgic for just the right amount of corruption in "Politics Should Be Dirtier":

Republican National Convention, Romney, Ryan, Rubio, Rice and The Empty Chair

Rorschach Test? Or replacement for that faded poster on your wall?

One down. One to go.  Some thoughts on the GOP Convention just ended before we plunge headlong into the Dems Convention next week.

Improbably, the moment that will define this convention for all time occurred in the very last hour as an 82 year old iconic actor spent 12 minutes talking to a empty chair.  If you didn't see it you can catch the act here, and reactions everywhere.   Truth be told, I enjoyed the spontaneity and cringe inducing weirdness of it all. The perfectly polished, precision timed, everyone scripted, stay on message regimentation of the convention up to that point had my eyes glassing over and pretty much drained all interest in the proceedings. Clint's improv brought me back, although I suspect I am in the minority with that perspective.  The president punctuated the event with his own rejoinder in the form of an amusing tweet:

That should have been the end of it, but of course - this being American politics at it's finest - we're just getting started.