Even when they lose they win

By Creature

Tonight on Hardball Chris Matthews posed this question to Joe Scarborough and the answer he received was predictable.

MATTHEWS: Is this debate over torture helping or hurting the Republican party ahead of the mid-term elections?

SCARBOROUGH: Anytime you talk about the war on terror it's positive for the GOP. And in this case, were the president on the top of the ticket, were he running against a John Kerry or Al Gore in 2006, then he could be called an extremist for being too far right for his own party, but in this case, it's great, all Republicans are winners. If you were Chris Shays up in Connecticut you could point to John McCain and say, "see that's my Republican party. I'm a moderate just like John McCain." If you're a Katherine Harris or if you're a congressman running in North West Florida you say, listen those liberal Republicans and Democrats can protect detainee's rights, they wouldn't say that, they'd say terrorists rights all they want, I'm sticking with the president. So in this case everyone is a winner.

Yay! The GOP wins. They are split, they are infighting, both chambers are tied up, they may not even pass a bill before they break, yet they still win. Incredible. When the Democrats are painted as split they are tearing the party apart and it's the end of the world as we know it. Why is everything always spun as a win for the GOP?

[Hat tip to me for the painful transcription.]

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)