Vindicated by the Hammer

Last week I made the comment that Charles Krauthammer was much better at policy analysis than he was at political analysis. This actually brought me a little grief via e-mail from some Hammer zealots.

Well, as of yesterday I'm vindicated.

From Fox News Sunday on how town-hall protests have affected the health-care debate:

Astonishingly, I was wrong. Empirical evidence is in. Remarkably, the protests have had an effect of galvanizing opposition.

I would have thought with some of the images, and particularly the way the media have played it, as rowdies, as — portraying them essentially as a mob — that it would have a negative effect. In fact, it has had the opposite effect.

And I think the reason is that the Democrats in these town halls have had to defend the indefensible. They've been stuck with stuff in the bills like the public option that are not going to end up in the final analysis in any legislation.

The guy couldn't be more right when it comes to dissecting conservative policy or undressing the liberal agenda. But when it comes to the politics behind it all, he just doesn't quite measure up.