Monday, December 17, 2012

Newtown Tragedy May Soften Hearts in Washington - NYTimes.com

Memo From Washington

Newtown Shooting May Cool Washington’s Partisan Passions 


WASHINGTON — To the extent that Americans have diverted their attention since Friday from the horror in Connecticut toward their capital, it has been to wonder whether the school shooting would provoke the first serious gun control debate in years. But the tragedy could have an impact on another crucial legislative issue: the current contest over taxes and spending. 


While seemingly unrelated — the emotionally wrenching holiday-season massacre of 20 first graders and six of their guardians, and Washington’s mind-numbing fiscal fight to reduce deficits — the first cannot fail to have a salutary effect on the latter, say veterans of Washington’s partisan wars from both parties.


“Members of Congress, when you get down to it, are just people,” said Mickey Edwards, a former House Republican leader. “There are those things that, at least momentarily, trump ideology.”
...  Newtown Tragedy May Soften Hearts in Washington - NYTimes.com

No comments:

Post a Comment