On Friday afternoon, I had the great honor of speaking with former Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) for an interview over at my blog, Basie!. Dole and I talked about a number of issues, ranging from his new book to telecommunications reform to Social Security. The former Senate Majority Leader’s thoughts on the lack of bipartisan comity on the hill are particularly interesting.
Jonathan Singer: Now with the situation on the hill seeming to be as bad as it’s been in decades — with the ethics struggle in the House, with the “nuclearâ€? or “constitutionalâ€? option nearing in the Senate — do you think the two parties can walk away from the precipice and just figure out a way to come back together, or do you see worse in the short term?
Bob Dole: [W]e go through these little periods where we have this very — I don’t say bitter — but very fierce partisanship where people line up 55-45, 51-49. There are always a few middle of the road type people who really have much more influence than their numbers would suggest.
[…]
I think it will come back to the middle. I consider myself a middle of the road Republican. Maybe when I first started I was more to the right. Again, you learn the same thing. You learn about other people’s problems, different problems in different states. Maybe it’s immigration, maybe it’s something else — homeland security. Maybe I’m just rambling on here, but I think it will work out.
Click here to continue reading the interview.
