Freudeschaden: The coalition of the pissy’s Schadenfreude
: The DNC and Dean blogs are experiencing the opposite of Schadenfreude — that is, rather than pleasure in another’s pain, they are experiencing pain in others’ pleasure — with the capture of Saddam Hussein. Call it Freudeschaden.
Tim Blair finds the tears at joy on Dean’s blog; Matt Drachenberg finds them on the DNC blog.
I once worked in a company where the politics were so bad that people actually wished for the company to fail so it would make their enemies look bad — not stopping to think, of course, that such failure would backfire on them and put them out of a job.
That’s the state we’re in with American — and European — politics and the Iraq war. Some people want the U.S. and the president to fail in this war — not stopping to think, of course, that such failure would backfire on the people of Iraq (let’s see a few bleeding hearts for them and their future) and on the people of the modern world (with another base for growing terrorism). It’s not just short-sighted. It’s suicidally selfish.
Let me give you a hint, Deanies and DNCers: The war is not a winning issue for you. Look at the poll results here; it will only help win a primary, not the presidency. How about finding an issue that will really help people — say, health care. How about turning the Democratic Party back into the party of positive change rather than the party of pissyness.