Edsall On Poker, Life And Politics

Tom Edsall, writing as the Washinton Diarist in the next edition of New Republic, deals out the history of Washington through poker games. Edsall has been a regular in games since 1974 and he hosts a popular table today.

"The best player I have run into," he writes, was a Republican who works at a major think tank in Washington. "Why was he so successful? Republicans are much less risk-averse than Democrats, and taking risks is crucial to poker." Democrats, Edsall writes, "converseley, are the party of risk-aversion, supportive of the safey net, opposed to new weapons systems and sympathetic to protective trade policies." Dems are "less likely to tolerate the tension and uncertainty of a game in which a week's salary -- o rmore -- can be won or lost in a single game."

Another reason why Edsall thinks Republicans are successful: they reward the talent men have for objectifying the other. "In poker, friends, colleagues, and even loved ones become subjects of manipulation and deceit -- sources of cash who must be persuaded to make mistakes and to misjudge their strengths and your weakenesses."

Edsall's new book -- Building Red America -- is out on August 28. It's quick and dirty thesis: a "Republican Party's candidates attract a greater percentage of men than women by advocating a male view of life as a game in which the rewards justly go to the winners."

Edsall has noticed that conservative poker plays 'are more willing to go for the kill." They will "crush an opponent" with big bets in the closing round when the aggresor knows, from the visible cards, that he is a lock[.]" But "many liberals in these circumstances will simply check and turn over their cards to collect a more modest amount." At a "ring wing" game in Alexandria, everyone by Edsall voted to absorn a $100 shortfall by "making the losers pay, jacking up their debt to make up the deficit."

He concludes: "Empathy and affection damage the ability to win. I think the person who probably best understands all this is Karl Rove."


Courtesy of the national journal

News Added: 18 August, 2006

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