Michael writes today, with respect to Republicans not rolling back government expansions by LBJ when they had ample opportunities, that “Republicans seem eternally fated to play defense.”
It’s not just that. Republicans can play defense when it’s politically expedient for them to do so (see the recent reawakening of fiscal conservatism surprisingly soon after November 2008). But with few notable exceptions, and none of any significance in this century, when Republicans get the chance to “play offense,” they turn around and head toward the same end zone the Democrats were pursuing.
