In a brilliant piece in today's Washington Post, Harold Meyerson rips the "moderate" line that New England GOP senators love to describe themselves with to shreds. Seems the MSM is finally starting to get it: "moderate" is nothing but an illusion for even those Republicans who would likely be welcomed here with open arms -- if they switched party.
Here's a link, if you'd like. (free registration probably required -- definitely worth it)
More below:
Meyerson starts off with a little anecdote about Chafee's choice for president in 2004 -- guess what, it wasn't Bush Jr.
He didn't even vote for George W. Bush in 2004, he protests. He cast his vote for George H.W. Bush -- a kinder, gentler, more prudent, less strident Republican.
Big deal.
Alas, one vote against the party line does not a rebel/maverick/moderate/etc. make. On the votes that matter, say, for the Senate party leadership, a vote with the GOP mainstream means enabling extremism. Linc, that is why that little R next to your name will be such a problem for you on November 7.
What does Meyerson think Chafee should do, then?
If Chafee truly wished to alter the course of his party and his country in the spirit of his vote for Poppy Bush, he would, if reelected, cast his vote for majority leader when the new Senate convenes for Bob Dole or Howard Baker -- former Republican leaders who showed a decent respect for reality and an interest in doing the nation's business.
Never thought I'd see the day when Bob Dole's name was presented in a positive light like this by a liberal writer. Unfortunately, this is how far we've come in the past six years.
Meyerson goes on to talk about the hypocrisy inherent in being a moderate Republican:
Chafee, Snowe and DeWine readily admit that a melted polar ice cap would be troublesome; they will fight it tooth and nail. But come time to vote for majority leader, they always vote for a leader of a party in thrall to big oil.
Couldn't have said it better myself (then again, I suppose that's why he's paid to write columns and I'm not :) ). A truly principled moderate would stand up for his own beliefs and work actively to defeat the extremist tendencies within his party. Once again, however, for Republican moderates, the party comes first.
Meyerson ends with a call to vote for each of these three Senators' Democratic opponent... which leaves one question in my mind:
Who's running against Olympia Snowe?