CRIST, RUBIO AND HISTORY
The democrats have their own problems, granted. DFA types are pulling us left of the electorate.
But, am I the only one who sees the similarity between the current purity tests in the GOP and the folding of the old Whig party (That led to the formation of the Republicans in the first place.).
Folks, if the Republicans have no room for Charlie Crist and the dems have no room for Blanche Lincoln, we're in a heap of trouble where the governance rubber meets the societal problem road.
posted by UMRBlog @ 06:53
16 comments
16 Comments:
Nothing like an economic problem to make the country go insane. My big concern is that we are no longer a serious people. We have fulfilled Neil Postman's thesis in Amusing Ourselves to Death by placing our news, our politics, our religion, and our wars as a form of entertainment.
0704,
That is so generic, I honestly can't tell if it's spam or not.
On the chance that it's not, TYFCB
I thought Crist left the party, not the other way around. And he left because a large majority of Republicans favored Rubio. Is there a written "purity test" somewhere, or are Republicans just more conservative than Crist?
The country is more conservative than their congressmen, as a whole, and they are tired of their rep's playing to the special interests to attract some moderate misunderstood middle vote.
The current DC gang has taken this majority position opportunity to jam their far left agenda on US. The logical reaction is to dump them and their compromising enablers that pretend to be in the middle, until their vote is really needed.
But I'm not as old or wise as you, so don't recall the Whig party ;)
First sentence is lame exercise in semantics.
The rest is semi-interesting. The litmus test is pretty clear: Approve of anything the W.H. proposes and you're not fit to be a Republican.
Florida could screw around and turn Kendrick Meek's 15 minute of fame into 16 years in the Senate. Seven Months is an eternity in politics.
TYFCB
I wonder about the correlatives with Lieberman in '06. After Bush won in '04 I remember there was talk that the Democrats were not a national party anymore, that they were hopelessly out of touch, yada yada- and Lieberman faced a liberal challenger who went after him based on his relationship with Bush. Fast forward to '08 and we hear the Republicans are not a national party, that they are out of touch, and lo and behold here is the ad of Crist hugging it out with Obama. I imagine Crist wins this one for the same reason Lieberman won- while primaries favor the rabid animals (political that is!) on the right and left, the name recognition and post-partisan brand can do a lot of damage in an electorate weary of "the base"- be that base Code Pink or The Tea Party.
"Approve of anything the W.H. proposes and you're not fit to be a Republican."
Well Obama began as the furthest left senator, and now he has moved left from there. But he probably had some support from the right on Afghanistan and a few other things.
It seems it is the left that keeps preaching that the Republicans are fracturing, yet it is looking like they will still somehow be picking up a lot of seats in the fall.
But Republican individuals are a little upset with some of the RNC support for RINOs over conservatives like in upstate NY, so may look to funnel funds more directly to their favored candidates.
1329,
Thank you for the intelligent and well-informed comment. I think the difference is the voter education level in Conn vice Fla, but I could be wrong.
The bigger point is that the DFA pull the dems to one seam and the TP/Allied Religious Right pull the GOP to the other seam, leaving centrists with an empty bucket. Troubling.
TYFCB
1549,
The place where BHO falls on the political spectrum is kind of beside the point. See my reply to 1329 about my concern about the real mischief here.
TYFCB
The Democrats have moved very far left, just look at the last year's legislation. We may see in the fall who has the "bigger tent". In any case, Americans are clearly telling the Democrats they want a move away from this far left agenda, toward the conservative. Perhaps it is the Democrats that are fractured.
I appreciate your running commentary on the lameness or the superior intelligence of your commenters. But I notice a strong correlation between favorable judgment and agreement with you, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Rubio is polling ahead of Crist 37 to 30 in a three way race, with Meek at 22. Most "geniuses" I read seem to think Crist's numbers will go down now that he broke his word and jumped ship. As someone said, the ads practically write themselves.
http://fwd4.me/MCi
And Meek has a challenger now, that used to be a Republican.
Thanks for kind response Mr. C. I wouldn't say the sky is falling too much for pragmatic moderate D's and R's. In the 2008 election, if McCain had had his way the ticket would have been McCain/Lieberman. In 2004 there was a real possibility of a Kerry/McCain ticket. There were even rumblings that Chuck Hegal was going to be Obama's VP pick. Also, McCain won his 08 primary and was the most moderate guy in his parties field. So there is still a push for centrist pragmatism out there. The TP and DFA (I admit I'm not familiar with that acronym) are like the U. Notre Dame football of politics- they get a lot of press attention, everyone talks about them...but they never really win.
I don't really understand all the handwringing about how the two political parties have become so polarized---it's been going on for years.
But this is what gives me hope: Liberal billionaire Jeff Greene has just entered the FL Sen. race. This guy is so mainstream, Mike Tyson was best man at his '08 wedding.
My point (such as it is) is that we need MORE diversity and choice in elections and less allowing party elites to choose for us.
When it is left up to party elites to choose, we get people like Phil Hare and that DeDe Scuzzofava person.
As for Crist, my reading is that he is just a sour grapes candidate. Even after $1M in attack ads against Rubio, his poll ratings still went down so he knew he had no chance to win as a GOPer, so he went maverick.
He was just looking out for #1, but so what? I say the more the merrier---and the more fair.
The era of JFK Democrats, Scoop Jackson Democrats and Rockefeller Republicans is over----now the message trumps party affiliation.
Thank the gods.
0734,
DFA (Democracy For America--Run by Howard Dean's son) "won" in Conn the same way the hard right "won" in Fla. Each chased the centrist out of the race into an indie campaign. WJC recognized this problem back in 1988 and formed the DLC as a remedy. Ultimately, the DLC has morphed into something else.
But you are right. In the words of Larry O'Brien'; "There are no final victories in politics." The process goes on. I'm just concerned that we are putting an eraser to a generation of collaborative leaders. Crist is an example and just the most recent one.
TYFCB
0504.
My response to 0704 was completely honest. I still don't know if that was spam. One could slap it in almost any political thread.
0956's first sentence was lame. I engaged on the rest of it.
If you look back at our political threads with an open mind, you will find I only dump on folks who can't stay on topic or who just namecall. I do admit that if you just give me Hannity's cookbook from the night before, I don't exactly stand at attention.
What I try to do is Respond to thoughts presented rather than just toss out a topic and say "Smoke 'em if you've got 'em."
TYFCB
Could you reduce the use of acronyms and take a few extra seconds to spell some things out. I enjoy your take on many things political, but you're excluding me and probably several others from following your thought process.
TP is TEA Party
BHO are the President's initials
DFA is an org called Democracy for America that is very active within the Democratic Party and left-leaning.
I'm sorry. Sometimes my political shorthand presumes the reader knows my politicospeak. Fair Point.
TYFCB
“Sir, since the former VP is such a VIP, shouldn’t we keep the PC on the QT? Because if it falls into the hands of the VC, he could end up an MIA, then we’d all be put on KP…”
Great movie
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