They can't run a gummint for s***, but they shore can campaign ...

So, just why is curl rove sitting in the White House ... I mean, he's a campaign guy, not a policy guy, and he's never actually run a gummint agency

The answer, of course, is that these guys aren't actually interested in running a government - because they don't believe in government. They do, however, believe in power, and so have honed their skills at achieving power - i.e. running campaigns.

And that is how the Bush administration is best understood - as a permanent campaign.

An insightful TPM reader noted this in discussing the "ferocity" of the attack on John Murtha, the PA Congressman and former Marine who called for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

"Instant response is what you do in a modern election campaign (unless you are way, way ahead). Discrediting a critic's argument isn't enough, because it takes too much time in an environment when time is everything. Campaign politics are the primary frame of reference for politicians in Washington today. Republicans of late have practiced this trade more aggressively, though I doubt that most of them are any more insensitive to non-campaign considerations than their Democratic colleagues."

And, of course, this is not just any sort of campaign - its a bushrove campaign, nasty, brutish, and apparently everlasting ...

"Another factor, I think you'd agree, is that a lot of politicians tend to take cues from Presidents of their party. Reagan led a generation of GOP politicians to speak with sunny optimism; Clinton influenced Democratic politicians to project empathy in a somewhat ostentatious way. Bush, being more than a little insecure, tends to want to lash out at critics even when this is not politically necessary or productive, and this tendency has radiated downwards through his administration and outward to some Republicans, particularly in the House. Karl Rove's influence on GOP political operatives may be even more profound, and GOP political operatives have vast influence in Republican politics."

Perhaps most significantly, this style has been tremendously effective - and the fault for that must be laid squarely at the feet of the Democrats ...

"Finally and very frankly, Democratic politicians tend to be wimps. Anyone can see how easily they get pushed around by interest groups in their own party; when criticized aggressively, they tend to seek sympathy rather than hitting back. This encourages Republican political operatives to use rough tactics."

Even the Dems agree ...

"There is a perception that Democratic politicians run when attacked that is rooted in a good bit of reality. My observations of the Kerry campaign (fairly up close) suggest that pusillanimous and risk averse consultants run campaigns. The are constantly polling the current situation and reacting. They rarely test how reframing the debate might change perceptions. You do not see ads attacking a messenger, attacking a message, using humor, using emotion and doing so on a sustained basis to build a brand."

As I've said before, FIRE THE CONSULTANTS!!