Friday, June 6, 2014
On the Assertion that the Republican Party Has Moved Farther From the Center than the Democratic Party
I'm not entirely certain on this one, folks. I mean, yeah, you've got a fair number of crazy Republicans out there (Gohmert and Bachman are the two who most immediately come to mind) who are definitely to the right of Howard Baker, Lowell Weicker, and Jacob Javits, but I'm also old enough to remember folks such as Sam Nunn, Howell Heflin, William Proxmire, John Glenn, Dennis Deconcini, Ed Koch, the first Mayor Daley, Bob Kerry, and Paul Tsongas and all of these individuals were clearly to the RIGHT of Boxer, Sanders, Warren, etc.....I don't know, if I had to make an educated guess here, I would probably say that, yeah, the Republicans have more than likely moved a little bit further but that it isn't anywhere near as big a difference as the left maintains.
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I've been around awhile longer than you and yes the republicans have moved further away from center. The Tea Party is reminiscent of Ole Senator Joe McCarthy and the era of the Red Scare. Ted Cruz reminds one of Joe McCarthy. actually. Hannity, Beck,Limbaugh, Coulter, Levin, and the "right sites" populating cyber space all drive the politics of republicans further and further right. Perhaps I mean reactionary, especially when it comes to social issues and civil liberties and individual rights.
You might be right, Les, but have you watched MSNBC or gone to the Daily Kos or Salon lately? There are some real guttersnipes and borderline extremists on that side of the aisle as well.......That's a good point, dmarks. I would just add that Mr. Sanders in fact does caucus with the Dems.
I think there's truth to this........The larger problem with party math is that each entity sees itself closer to the center point on the scale [the vaunted "mainstream"], and their rhetoric postures their opposition at the far opposite end of the scale. It's embedded in the rhetoric.....there always seems to be a "far right/left" or "extremists"......but never centrists or moderates in the opposition.
The GOP sabotages their cause by trying to link the Democrats with Communism and Marxism.
dmarks....fair point...there IS a link....but I believe it to be tenuous at best, for overwhelming majority of the Democratic Party. But to read comments of fierce GOP supporters....you'd think Obama and the left are the second coming of Stalin [when Obama's not characterized as a Muslim, of course].
Also, the Dems damage their cause by embracing such far fringe extremists... like if the GOP championed proud Nazis... but worse.
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