Or what Senator Specter really meant to say to his former GOP colleagues at his press conference the other day:
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Or what Senator Specter really meant to say to his former GOP colleagues at his press conference the other day:
Specter was a “moderate” or “centrist” just yesterday, and now you’re cracking wise about “masquerades.” Ummmm…you’re confusing me.
probably because Steve and I and different people. Also, because centrist doesn’t mean what you think it means.
I know what a “centrist” is quite well. I think a “centrist” is a opportunistic politician who has a (D) after their name on Fock Snooze who votes to the the Republican line on all important issues, which instantly coronates them as the “moderate centrist” when they can “stand up” against those Dirty Frikkin’ Hippies from Moveon.org and the ACLU and vote like a “real American.”
I got that from reading WaPo, NYT, and Sarah Palin. It’s a sad, disgusting game. I might be wrong because I haven’t been able to become so cynical at this from watching American politics since 1968. Anyone to the right of Abbie Hoffman and to the left of Herbert Hoover is a “moderate” or “centrist.” I do get it.
Oy!
Let me help you out.
A ‘centrist’ is not a description of where most people are ideologically. It is a description of a subset of politicians that the most closely resemble members of the opposite party in their voting patterns. Thus, the ideological positioning of centrists can drift over time. Richard Shelby used to be a centrist Democrat but now he is a hard-right Republican.
A ‘moderate’ is a bit different. It is a descriptor better suited for finding an ideological center. Olympia Snowe exists near the ideological center in this country. So does Daniel Inouye. As a whole, the U.S. Senate is skewed far to the right of center ideologically, so there are very few moderate Republicans.