I don’t like the term ‘moderate Democrats‘. I think there are conservative Democrats, regular Democrats, and left-wing Democrats. The people that are constantly being called ‘moderate’ are the conservatives. That doesn’t make sense to me. Ordinary, everyday Democrats are the moderates. They’re not agreeing with the lunatic-right, and they’re not trying to sell off the Pentagon for scrap.
Moderation isn’t some magical place where Democrats and Republicans agree. Moderation is having modest demands, a patient demeanor, and a willingness to compromise. The way our press defines things, it’s moderate to torture the shit out of people because at least a couple Democrats are afraid to say otherwise.
I think we may have to use the same tactics used against Republicans to get the “Blue Dogs” in line. Like the great question of how many “earmarks” they voted for in the past and know have become fiscally conservative.
I have wonder why the Republicans could whip into line their moderates and the Democrats cannot.
How many “Blue Dogs” were riding on Obama’s coattails?
Conservatives have been driving media’s conditioned responses for at least thirty years, finally reaching the point where they simply grant the source the right to self-define. Why lead when it’s so much easier to just bear the leash and follow?
But if we called the current moderate Democrats conservative Democrats, would we have to call the current moderate Republicans liberal Republicans? I don’t think of Alan Specter or Olympia Snowe as being liberal Republicans, they’re just Republicans. But then if you refer to them as moderate Republicans versus conservative Democrats, you’re acknowledging there’s an asymmetry, and the Republican party has gone so far to the right that the so called RINO’s are what would have been mainstream Republicans in earlier times.
thanks for posting this.
the media and the conservatives a nd the corproate whores have adopted the word “moderate” to mean “conservatives and corporate whores”. this needs to be understood and neutralized.
they’re conservative, shitty democrats. not moderates. shitty democrats.