Did The Democrats Really Lose?

 

• Did The Democrats Really Lose?

  November 6, 2010 at 3:39 PM

  It depends on your terms.  The Republican party went right wing, and, seemingly, the further right the better.  Oh, sure the real Wingnuts sponsored by the TEA Party overwhelmingly lost, but a third of them won.  This has taken the Republicans further to the right. 

   

  On the other hand, all of the Democratic candidates who lost their elections were the centrist "Blue Dog" Democrats, and those who won were the ideologically pure Liberals.  This means that the Democratic party has successfully purged the centrists from its ranks, and has gone further to the left. 

   

  Partially, this means that the Republicans have successfully created the Democratic Party they've always complained about.  With the centrists gone, today's Democratic Party really does entirely consist of flaming Liberals. 

   

  But the opposite is also true.  By purging the centrist "RINOs", Republicans In Name Only, from their ranks, the Republican Party now consists almost entirely of ideologically pure Conservatives. 

   

  Either way, this situation has placed the Republican Party in the driver's seat, and they'd better deliver, or the carnage in 2012 and 2014 will make 2010 look like a walk in the park. 

   

  Of course, the largest part of what they will be delivering will be built on will be the policies of the Obama administration, so again the Republicans leave the Democrats holding the bag for their destruction, and take credit for the repairs wrought by the Democrats. 

   

  The bottom line in all of this petty partisan power politics is that the polarization in the American political arena has gotten more polarized than ever, and left those of us who are centrists entirely out of the picture. 

   

  The real losers in this mess will be the American people.  All of them.  Left, Right, and especially Center. 

   

   

  AP

  
  

  Comments

  • 

    Robert Luis Rabello Sigh . . . Those of us with a moderate perspective, especially a moderately CONSERVATIVE point-of-view, really have no one to turn to at this point. I want fiscal discipline, but I don't want my country to turn its back on world leadership, nor abandon what little social safety net exists. I want government to limit its spending, but we ARE the third largest nation on earth, so how small can it reasonably be? It's OUR government, it should WORK for us, and that means it has a legitimate role to play. I don't want to turn the clock back on civil rights, nor do I think the government has any place in the bedrooms of its citizens, except to protect those who are unable to consent. I want law to be firm, but fair. Government should keep its nose out of my faith and stay away from legislating morality. Government must protect our environment, an idea which has been a traditionally conservative point of view until 30 years ago. All markets have rules, and I believe that ours should restrict greed, graft, corruption and protect the weak from the strong, the poor from the rich and limit the power of the powerful. But I don't hear our politicians advocating these things.

    
    
• 

  Jay Ashworth They deserve what they get.
  
  But *I* don't.
• 
  
• 

  Alan Petrillo In retrospect, 6 years later, what I predicted didn't happen. The Republicans didn't deliver, in fact they didn't do much of anything except collect paychecks and talk, and rather than hold them responsible for their actions, or lack thereof, the Republican base is still blaming the Democrats. The cognitive dissonance boggles the mind.

  
  
• 

  Jay Ashworth Well, *our* minds.

  
  
• 

  Alan Petrillo Indeed.