Adding to the always insightful Steve Benen, there is almost no ideological range in the Republican Party. Name me a Republican who is willing to filibuster a judge because the judge wants to overturn Roe v. Wade or a Republican who wants to raise marginal income tax rates. You would never see a pro-choice rump rise up in the Republican House to mirror the Stupak bloc. Only a small handful of Republicans have ever voted against war supplementals. There are less than five Republican members in either chamber of Congress who deviate in any meaningful way from conservative orthodoxy. So, it is painless to take the most conservative positions on issues. But there is an enormous ideological divide between Ben Nelson and Bernie Sanders or the Congressional Black Caucus and the Blue Dogs. Maxine Waters and Bobby Bright barely inhabit the same planet. How would progressive (or hard left) Democrats even begin to purge the party of moderates? We are completely dependent on them for our majorities. And, as much as we chafe at this reality, we at least have the common sense to understand it (most of us, anyway).
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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And, as much as we chafe at this reality, we at least have the common sense to understand it (most of us, anyway).
I think most all of us realize that. I think the problem is that re: recruitment(being one example), they don’t throw the ball down the field. They prefer what I call the Bill Parcells method(“Three yards and a cloud of dust). Look at the Republicans. They don’t fuck around at the margins. They throw the ball down the field.
In Europe, you fight the election, then form the coalition. Here you form the coalition, then fight the election. It’s big-tent-or-die.
The GOP doesn’t do big-tent because they don’t need big tent. They have the Wurlitzer on their side, that and the fact that most people au fond are shits. A party that plays upon the worst in people, that’s grounded in the fundamental depravity of mankind, will usually be too big to need a coalition partner.
It sounds like the “Big Tent” is more of a coalition government, except the coalition is agreed upon before the elections. If we had a parliamentary system, we’d have Republicans, Democrats, and Blue Dogs.
Blue Dogs gain power when they act as a bloc, so the aim should be to make each of them more loyal to the progressive majority than to each other. I wonder if this is the case now.
The first step for progressive (or hard left) Democrats to begin to purge the party of its turncoats would be to quit calling them “moderates”. The likes of Lincoln, Lieberman, and Nelson are not driven by moderation but self-interest that trumps concern for core Democratic values. Outside the realms of food and drink, the term moderation has no meaning to anyone outside the syrupy universe where David Broder exists.
Yes. This. Moderates aren’t a problem. Bob Casey is a moderate. Why haven’t we had that big of a problem tugging him along?
Jim Webb, my senator, who is also a moderate, isn’t a problem child with the big things, and he’s been great about prison and drug reform (probably the 2nd issue I care the most about, right behind climate change).
Sure they’re no Sanders or Feingold, but they’re no Droopy or Lincoln or the worst, Ben Nelson. I want a big gust of wind to blow that rag off of his head when he leaves the Capitol one day.
I guess I shouldn’t call Casey a moderate, as he’s easily in the top 20 “good” Senators. I just forget that sometimes because of his ridiculous abortion views.
When ever you hear someone like Broder or Tweety call a Democrat “moderate” it likely means they are corporate whores. And cheap ones at that.
One that gets missed by the “yell louder, we’re moving the Overton Window here” bunch. Gallup does a break down of ideological self-identity by party.
The GOP is 70% conservative, 25% moderate. That’s why GOP politicians always loudly turn right. There’s no downside internal to the the party. Nobody is ever going to lose by being left flanked.
Democrats are 20% conservative, 40% moderate, 40% liberal. So their policy initiatives start with a center-left position that no one really likes and nibble right till everyone is pissed off.
Those that delude themselves into belief the parties are Overton mirror images and expect delivery on leftist ideological triumphalism are out to fucking lunch.