I’ve always hated it when a sports team has a lead and instead of trying to win the game by doing what it has done up to that point (scoring more than the opponent), they instead try to not lose the game (keeping the opponent from scoring). They call this a prevent defense because you are trying to prevent the other team from scoring. It is particularly a problem in football and hockey. Baseball isn’t really as susceptible to this strategy. But it very often backfires. They become so conservative on offense that they practically guarantee they will not score, and they become so passive on defense they allow the other team to chip away.

In politics, I’ve also never understood why conservatives who get to Washington seem to think that if they drop the conservative principles and give the liberals what they want, the liberals will all of the sudden start to like them. Instead, they give away the store to the liberals, tick off their base of support, and get no love back from the liberals. But they keep trying it over and over again, in the hope that this time it will work.

The Washington Times reports that the Bush administration tried to gain the liberal love with the Medicare drug bill that was recently passed into law: Medicare reform backfires on Bush

Originally promoted as a market-oriented reform by its Republican supporters, the final bill proved to be an unsatisfying compromise, said Mr. Haislmaier, a visiting fellow in health policy at the Heritage Foundation

“The idea was that adding a new drug benefit would buy liberal and elderly support for transforming Medicare from a bureaucratic, provider-centered program into a true, consumer-driven program,” he said. “But what they ended up with was a hugely expanded government program with virtually no reform.”

Conservative ire might have been an acceptable political cost if, as some strategists had expected, the Medicare bill boosted support for Mr. Bush and the Republican Party among older voters. But that hasn’t happened — in fact, the opposite has apparently been true, as retirees seemed to heed Democrats who denounced the bill.

“So far, the health care gamble hasn’t paid off for the president,” Mr. Haislmaier said.

The irony of it all is that the people who are condemning Bush from the left have unsuccessfully proposed similar bills in the past, and so, when they condemn Bush’s bill, they are condemning themselves.

Under the provision, “we cannot even allow the government to use its bargaining power to bring down the costs of prescription drugs for all seniors,” said Mr. Edwards, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

That provision “doesn’t make sense,” said the Democratic front-runner, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

In fact, Mr. Kerry, along with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, sponsored a bill with a similar provision in 2000, and a similar measure was endorsed in the House by Democratic Reps. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, John D. Dingell of Michigan and Henry A. Waxman of California.

The prevent defense rarely works, and the liberals will never love a Republican, even if he gives them what they want.