Double Take #1: Despite trying, Andrew Sullivan can’t seem to quite get out of the “makers and takers” hole he dug. And it probably doesn’t help matters when his readers keep knocking him down a notch or two. That’s the funny thing about readers: They insist on keeping writers honest.

Double Take #2: Columnist Froma Harrop was motivated enough by my ignorance of her and her work to email me an introduction — and to subsequently share another column in which she apparently thought I’d be interested. And I was.

What’s more, Harrop’s warning in this other column — namely that reports of the Republicans’ demise in New England may be exaggerated or, at best, premature — reminded me of a line from Robert Rutland’s book on Republican presidents:

“Those who periodiocally pronounce the two-party system dead have little sense of history.”

Granted, Rutland’s judgment focuses on national politics while Harrop’s is centered on regional politics — but their similar note of caution strikes me as valid either way.

Sadly, I was once guilty as charged. But I’m now chastened and commited to avoiding such simple-minded assumptions … at least until the next time it looks like one or the other party is close to dying.