Response to Base Moves

(See: Just Above Sunset: Base Moves)

Yeah, we always joke about the idea of the Republicans mucking up some government project, then turning to point back at their handiwork and say, "See? What'd we tell you? Government doesn't work!" But as with so many other jokes we tell about Republicans, there's a lot of truth in that one. 

For example, I suppose some might find some humor in that Karl Rove strategy, back in 2004, of turning out the base with all those state initiatives on gay marriage -- only to discover eleven years later that dragging that issue out into the public square like that might have just compelled people to think about it and choose a side, eventually with the chickens coming home in the form of a Supreme Court decision.

What we learn from this is that the hapless Republicans don't just actually win when everyone thinks they lost -- such as all those seemingly-quixotic government shutdowns then leading to their off-year electoral victories -- but sometimes they end up losing after everyone thought they won. In fact, the way things have been going for them overall, this seems to happen more often than not.

But someday, they might find they need to look for a less feckless strategy than trying to trick everyone into thinking windmills are giants.