Old Presidents Never Die -- They Just Become Buffoons

Peggy Noonan, who is bit too Pollyanna-ish for me, nonetheless makes some very good points on the recent deliberate public chumminess between putative political opposites -- to include the political odd couples of Newt Gingrich & Hillary Clinton (on health care reform); John McCain & Hillary Clinton (on their "Alaska-is-melting" meltdown); and (most annoying of all) George H. W. Bush & Bill Clinton. (Hat tip: realclearpolitics.)

To be frank, Noonan is really too polite. Michael Savage (on his radio talk show) criticizes the much-publicized Bush I/Clinton friendship in much blunter terms. However, both Noonan and Savage make it clear that their is something repulsive about this kind behavior.

It is on the one hand demeaning to the politicians who carry on in such a giddy, self-serving manner -- and it is profoundly insulting to partisan American voters who sacrifice hard (both in terms of money and labor) to help one candidate win over another on the other hand.

As Savage puts it, these political "stars" are saying, in effect, that -- at the top, anyway -- there is really only one political party in Washington: The Republocrats (or: the Demicans).

The current President Bush is really no better: He openly cavorted with Ted Kennedy in his first term over "Education" spending, and he has been very friendly toward Bill Clinton.