Analysis of: "The Politics of Spite"

The core argument of the article is that the Republican party has abandoned its ideological values for a more pragmatic approach. The writing is trying to show that the party is now willing to take any political action necessary to increase its power.

In order to make his point, the author attempts to show that the Republican party is trying to fight healthcare in the public arena by claiming that it's bad for Medicare. For this, he uses what he perceives to be the primary arguments and talking points currently in use by various Republican groups. He provides no evidence to show that these arguments are truly mainstream within the Republican party or among conservatives in general. If he is correct in his assertion, the rest of his argument follows logically. The existence of Medicare is entirely contrary to the core principles of conservative government, therefore making the Republican's support of the Medicare system in its arguments a significant departure from its ideological values. However, the author later makes the claim that this rise in pragmatism within the Republican party has been due to the rise in power of several ideologues. As pragmatism and idealism are essentially opposites, this claim seems rather odd.

The author does make several logical fallacies. He over generalizes when trying to show that the Democrat party has been ideologically consistent based on only one example. Also, he assumes guilt by association when he says that the modern conservative movement is infantile based on the actions of Republicans alone, who hardly make up the entirety of the modern conservative movement. Consistent throughout the article is the use of wording to appeal to the emotions of the left/center-left voter, but the argument does not rest on these appeals. The author also uses several insults, but they are not used in making his point.

The author's intent seems only to be that the reader dislike the Republican party. He is clearly trying to paint the party as being a group of power-hungry radicals, and thereby dissuade people from voting for Republican candidates.