I'd like to make something perfectly clear, I used to consider myself a moderate. I was registered without party affiliation, I believed you could look at the candidates and make your decision based on their stances on the issues. I am now what our local Republicans call "a bunch of left-wing Democrats who have nothing better to do than to sit around and write these little messages to one another". I despise those who want to "move" to the middle, and it is interesting how many of them feel the same way about us here at Daily Kos, as the local Republicans: "I am a serious on-the-ground grassroots organizer and I just visit this place to see what is going on. With the number of people I meet in person, the ones who spend a lot of time blogging would rather sit at a table at the bar and rant the whole time than actually get something done."
Now, we in North Carolina have a perfect example of what "moving" to the middle will get you. Heath Shuler chose to validate a far-right-wing think tank with his presence. Their response?
the backstory is here at BlueNC
Shuler, a big, handsome folksy guy, did his best to sound like he was just a regular old mountain boy. He mentioned that he prayed a lot, owned guns, came from humble but proud parents and the most north he had been before college was Knoxville.
He also noted that he was a member of the Blue Dog caucus, a group of more conservative Democrats. He broke with his party earlier this year to vote against permitting stem cell research.
Jack Hawke, the former GOP chairman who organized the conference, told the crowd that it was important that conservative Democrats be part of the conversation.
"It's not good for democracy to have one party so far left that we can't even talk to each other," Hawke said.
Thank you, Shuler. You've validated an illegal, partisan 501(c)3 group that should have its license stripped, and the response you get from the organizer is that you party is too damn liberal and its ruining our country. But, at least that's it....
No, of course not. Also in attendance:
But Grover Norquist, a veteran Washington conservative strategist, was not impressed.
"Heath Shuler, who spoke recently about what a great conservative he is, just voted for a budget which guarantees a $3,000 increase per taxpayer on all of us for the next 10 years," Norquist said later during a panel discussion. "Thank you, conservative."
"But he is a member of the Blue Dogs, and he goes to church from time to time, so that should make up for it," Norquist added facetiously. "He likes his mother, and he doesn't like naughty language."
THAT, is the welcome that all these candidates who speak about "moving" to the middle and embracing bipartisanship can expect. Plus, to get to the Ford reference, did you notice how moving to the middle is a losing strategy?
Ford? Remember him? He was the Moderate Centrist that filmed his ads in a church, talking about his family values, and said this about Nancy Pelosi when he tried to defeat her in the Minority Leader race some years ago.
The Tennessee Democrat was not as coy about his criticism of Pelosi, calling her "a throwback" and characterizing her style as one of "destructive opposition. We need leadership that is constructive, and not destructive and obstructive,"
And, when he ran for Senate?
KINGSPORT(AP) -- Harold Ford, Jr.'s politics have moved steadily toward the center over the decade he's been in Congress.
...
The 36-year-old has crafted a centrist image, taking positions on issues like federal spending, immigration and even abortion that may be more popular outside his district than within it.
How did that work out? Not so good. What about our "moderates", as the press liked to call them, who DID win in the Red States. How about Jon Tester, winning in a Red State?
Riiiiight, very Moderate, very Centrist. I don't think so.
How about Jim Webb, winning in a Red State?
Riiiiiight, very Moderate, very Centrist. I don't think so.
The right move now is to be aggressive, to NOT forget how we were treated, to remember that our positions were right when we were in the minority, and they are right now!
Universal Health Care, is right.
Getting out of Iraq, is right.
Ending poverty, is right.
A living wage, is right.
A strong Union, is right.
Don't give up, don't move to the center, and don't listen to those who come here with their concern that we don't represent the Democratic Party, or that we are not a big deal in the Democratic Party today.
No! What do we do when when someone wants to stand against us, to spew their talking points that OUR ways are wrong?
We push through them.
No more searching for the middle ground, no more asking for a dozen eggs and getting six, no more looking at a glass with a crust of milk along the rim and saying "I think that's half full."
Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored - contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man
- Abraham Lincoln
No! It's time to fight this battle against the Republicans. And, I KNOW you can do it. Unlike many of these Kossacks, who think that DailyKos doesn't represent the grassroots movement, I believe that we are a key SEGMENT of the grassroots, not the entire grassroots thank goodness, but nonetheless a strong showing of volunteers, activists, and pavement pounders.
Me?
- Chair of a County Committee
- Precinct Leader
- GOTV street urchin
- phone banker
- head of Chapel Hill One Corps
- County delegate
- District delegate
- State delegate
- contributor
How about you?