lying in ponds
The absurdity of partisanship
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Thomas Oliphant
Boston Globe

Columns 29
Words 28150
Normalized Median Partisanship Index 56.25
Normalized Total Partisanship Index 56.51
Normalized Combined Partisanship Index 56.38
Democratic Index 70.59
Republican Index -37.58
Positive Index 40.94
Negative Index 31.88
Neutral Index 27.17



Partisan References

Type Number All References
Positive Democratic 177 Democrats(17), Kennedy(15), Dean(12), Moynihan(12), Kerry(11), Biden(7), Democratic(5), Matsui(5), Hillary Clinton(4), Chisholm(4), Democrat(4), Al Gore(3), Albright(3), Daniel Patrick Moynihan(3), Feingold(3), Joe Biden(3), Kerrey(3), Bill Clinton(3), Madeleine Albright(2), Shirley Chisholm(2), John Kerry(2), Kerryism(2), Ickes(2), Joe Lieberman(2), Barney Frank(2), Clinton(2), Tip O'Neill(2), Bob Kerrey(2), Moran(2), Pelosi(2), Bob Matsui(2), Muskie, Mario Cuomo, Ted Kennedy, DEMOCRATIC Party, President Clinton, Pat Moynihan, Hale Boggs, Wallace, John Moss, Edward Kennedy, HOWARD DEAN, Jimmy Carter, John Edwards, Harold Ickes, White House, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Edward M. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Christine Gregoire, Gregoire, Lyndon Johnson, Frank, Jim Moran, Joe Crowley, Crowley, Hubert Humphrey, Nancy Pelosi, Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich, Neil Abercrombie, Franklin Roosevelt
Negative Democratic 9 John Kerry(2), John Conyers, Roosevelt, Muskie, Democratic Party, Democratic, Clinton, Democrats
Neutral Democratic 52Democrats(16), Democratic(5), Democratic Party(3), Edward Kennedy(2), Kerry(2), Kennedy(2), John Kerry(2), Democratic National Committee(2), Harry Reid(2), Dean(2), Joe Biden, Ed Muskie, Democrat, Moynihan, O'Neill, George Wallace, Nancy Pelosi, Clinton, Carter, Donnie Fowler, Richard Neal, Booth Gardner, Gregoire, Biden
Positive Republican 49 Republicans(6), Bush(5), Republican(3), the president(3), Weber(3), The president(2), Reagan(2), John McCain(2), George Bush(2), Scowcroft, Rice, Lincoln Chafee, Richard Nixon, Bill Thomas, Olympia Snowe, Thomas, Ronald Reagan, Lindsay Graham, President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Brent Scowcroft, Vin Weber, Ford, Sam Brownback, Paul, Walter Jones, Jones, Bush I, Steve Hadley, Dick Lugar
Negative Republican 167 Bush(60), Republicans(11), Bush administration(8), President Bush(8), the president(8), Hastert(7), administration(6), Republican(6), Bushies(3), Tom DeLay(3), White House(3), Reagan(3), House Speaker Dennis Hastert(2), Rice(2), Condoleezza Rice(2), Dick Cheney(2), Bennett(2), House Republicans, Jim Greenwood, House Republican, DeLay, Republican Party, Richard Nixon, Nixon, Treasury Secretary John Snow, the President, David Stockman, Ronald Reagan, president, veep, Cheney, PRESIDENT BUSH, The president, Alan Keyes, Bush I, Bush II, George Bush, Dino Rossi, GOP, Rossi, Laura Bush, Administration, Senate majority leader Bill Frist, Frist, House majority leader Tom DeLay, CONGRESSIONAL Republicans, Robert Bennett, Delay
Neutral Republican 98Bush(21), Republicans(17), President Bush(7), Bush administration(5), administration(4), Rice(4), Republican(4), Rossi(4), Condoleezza Rice(3), John Bolton(3), the president(3), GOP(3), Republican Congress(2), Strom Thurmond, Orrin Hatch, Colin Powell, The Gipper, Keyes, Joel Hefley, Hefley, Bolton, George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Nixon, Reagan, George Bush, Jones, Karl Rove, White House, John Sununu, Bill Thomas



List of Columns

Lines in yellow indicate a substantive crossover column, meaning that the column is of opposite sign to the pundit's Normalized Total PI for the season, and contains at least five non-neutral partisan references.
Title/
Date
words Norm
PI
Partisan References
In retreat on Social Security
28 June 2005
1025 64 6D+: Bill Clinton, Democrats, Clinton, Al Gore, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bob Kerrey
1D-: Democrats
13R-: CONGRESSIONAL Republicans, President Bush, Bush, Republicans, Bush, Republicans, Robert Bennett, Bush, Bush, Bennett, Bennett, Reagan, Bush
2D=, 5R=
Misread message on Iraq criticism
26 June 2005
971 28 8D+: Joe Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden
6R+: George Bush, the president, George Bush, the president, Steve Hadley, Dick Lugar
1D=, 7R=
Patience running short on Iraq
21 June 2005
1075 59 17D+: Democrat, Jim Moran, Democrat, Joe Crowley, Crowley, Moran, Democratic, Nancy Pelosi, Moran, Pelosi, Pelosi, Democrats, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, Neil Abercrombie, Democratic, Joe Biden
6R+: Republican, Republicans, Republicans, Paul, Walter Jones, Jones
8R-: President Bush, Bush, Republican, Bush, Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Bush
1D=, 9R=
Conservative spin befuddles the media
19 June 2005
938 93 9D+: John Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Democrats, Barney Frank, Democrats, Frank, Kerry, Hillary Clinton
9R-: Bush administration, Administration, Republican, Senate majority leader Bill Frist, Bush administration, Bush, White House, Frist, House majority leader Tom DeLay
1D=
Promoting democracy
14 June 2005
934 13 5D+: Democrat, Madeleine Albright, Albright, Albright, Albright
7R+: the president, Republican, Vin Weber, Weber, Weber, Sam Brownback, Weber
1R-: Laura Bush
5R=
A truly conservative court
12 June 2005
1122 43 5D+: Democrat, Christine Gregoire, Gregoire, Democrats, Al Gore
7R-: Republican, Dino Rossi, Republicans, Republicans, Republicans, GOP, Rossi
5D=, 12R=
The politics of punishing Libya
7 June 2005
976 41 1D+: Clinton
1R+: Bush
4R-: Bush, Bush, Bushies, administration
5R=
My journey into darkness
5 June 2005
1128 75 3R-: George Bush, Tom DeLay, the president
1R=
Get history right on Jackie Robinson and Red Sox
6 March 2005
958 59 5R+: President Bush, The president, Bush, The president, Bush
2D=
On death penalty, Scalia's consistency shines
3 March 2005
1033 0
Einstein's century
1 March 2005
839 100 2R-: Bush administration, Bush
Oil and Russian hubris
27 February 2005
946 26 3D+: Democrats, Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton
4R+: Ronald Reagan, Republicans, John McCain, Lindsay Graham
4R-: Bush, the president, Bush, Bush
7R=
Greenspan's gyrations
22 February 2005
987 42 4D+: Barney Frank, FDR, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Moynihan
2D-: Democratic, Clinton
1R+: Bush
11R-: Bushies, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, Bush, Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Tom DeLay, the president, Republicans, Republican
3D=, 4R=
Abandoned but not alone
20 February 2005
924 67 2R-: Alan Keyes, Republican
1R=
Blaming the bankrupt
15 February 2005
924 100 4R-: Bush administration, administration, Bush, Bush
A lesson in dishonesty
13 February 2005
933 77 1D+: Democrats
1R+: Republicans
16R-: PRESIDENT BUSH, White House, The president, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Republicans, Republicans, Republicans, Bush, Bush, the president
3R=
Budget shenanigans
8 February 2005
857 100 15R-: Dick Cheney, administration, President Bush, veep, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Cheney
Beyond Social Security
6 February 2005
992 10 2D+: Democrats, Joe Lieberman
1D-: Democratic Party
6R+: Bush, Bill Thomas, Thomas, Republicans, Olympia Snowe, John McCain
6R-: Bush, David Stockman, Ronald Reagan, the president, Bush, president
A year later, Dean fits leadership role
3 February 2005
1081 66 25D+: Dean, HOWARD DEAN, Dean, Democrats, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Dean, Harold Ickes, Bill Clinton, White House, Hillary Clinton, Ickes, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Democrats, Dean, Democrats, Dean, Ickes, Dean
1R+: Republicans
3R-: Bush, the President, Republicans
11D=, 2R=
US military is the big threat now
1 February 2005
904 44 5D+: Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Kennedy
4D=, 4R=
Social Security campaign is political grave-robbing
30 January 2005
1036 78 20D+: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Moynihan, Moynihan, Moynihan, Moynihan, Moynihan, Democratic, Bob Kerrey, Moynihan, Pat Moynihan, Kerrey, Moynihan, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Moynihan, Kerrey, Moynihan, Moynihan, Kerrey, Moynihan
1D-: John Kerry
1R+: Richard Nixon
13R-: President Bush, Bush, the president, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, administration, Treasury Secretary John Snow, Bush, Bush, White House, Reagan
2D=, 4R=
Remembering a gentle giant
25 January 2005
1052 15 3D+: Muskie, Ted Kennedy, Mario Cuomo
2D-: Muskie, John Kerry
2R+: Reagan, Reagan
3R-: Richard Nixon, Nixon, Condoleezza Rice
2D=, 1R=
Bush and the limits of freedom
23 January 2005
918 51 6D+: Democratic, Russ Feingold, Feingold, Feingold, Feingold, Franklin Roosevelt
3R+: Rice, Republican, Lincoln Chafee
10R-: Bush, Bush, President Bush, Bush administration, Bush administration, Rice, administration, Rice, Bush, administration
1D=, 9R=
Sound judgments
18 January 2005
885 13 1D+: Kennedy
5D=, 3R=
Kennedy's journey back to the future
16 January 2005
976 75 23D+: Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Democratic, Tip O'Neill, Democrats, Democrats, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy
1D-: Roosevelt
3R-: President Bush, Republican, Republican Party
4D=, 3R=
Kerryism's comeback on Iraq
11 January 2005
896 56 12D+: Kerryism, John Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Joe Biden, Madeleine Albright, Edward Kennedy, Kerry, Kerryism, Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Kerry
5R+: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Brent Scowcroft, Ford, Bush I, Scowcroft
5R-: President Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush, Bush
2D=, 3R=
Conflation inflation
9 January 2005
866 51 7R-: Bushies, Bush, Bush, the president, the president, Bush administration, Bush administration
1D=, 5R=
Hastert's House of unexamined ethics
6 January 2005
994 73 18R-: Hastert, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Tom DeLay, Hastert, Delay, Hastert, Hastert, President Bush, Bush, House Republicans, Bush, Jim Greenwood, House Republican, Hastert, DeLay, Hastert, Republicans, Hastert
1D=, 5R=
The legacy of two pioneer Democrats
4 January 2005
980 77 21D+: Democrats, DEMOCRATIC Party, Shirley Chisholm, Bob Matsui, Chisholm, Chisholm, Matsui, President Clinton, Chisholm, Matsui, Tip O'Neill, Chisholm, Hale Boggs, Wallace, Matsui, Matsui, Matsui, John Moss, Democrats, Shirley Chisholm, Bob Matsui
1D-: John Conyers
4D=