Thomas Jefferson once said:
"The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights; to consider the will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt. This law once disregarded, no other remains but that of force, which ends necessarily in military despotism."
On Wednesday, Chris Matthews flung this quote - "the majority of a single vote is as sacred as if unanimous" - at Terry McAuliffe three consecutive times before asking him if he knew that the founder of the Democratic Party had said that. To watch McAuliffe stammer and hem and haw was revealing. This principle is the Achilles heel for all their bluster. They have no real comeback.
The essence of McAuliffe's feeble reply was something you hear now all the time being parroted on the teevee:
