I happened to tune into Hannity & Colmes last night, simply because they were the only show at the nine o'clock hour with coverage of the Joe Lieberman / Ned Lamont primary. I was not able to find a transcript of the entire show on LexisNexis, but there was a segment in which Hannity remarked to Mary Matalin something along the lines of 'Mark this date down. This is the day the Democratic party officially became the party of Moveon.org, Al Gore, and the far-left extremists etc.'
Later in the show Hannity remarked to the very mainstream David Horowitz (and this I can quote directly), "There's no room for any moderation in this [the Democratic] party." And later in the same segment in the midst of a long diatribe that I will not bother to quote at length, Hannity again bemoaned that "there's no room for any moderation or an alternative vocie in [the Democratic] party."
Regardless of what one thinks about Ned Lamont's primary victory last night, if Hannity wants to discuss political parties that have no tolerance for dissent, he is welcome to the debate.
In the midst of the media's hysterics about a "far-left insurgency" seizing control of the Democratic party, they conveniently omitted any mention of the primary that took place in Michigan's seventh district last night. What occurred was the ousting of Joe Schwartz, a moderate Republican in a conservative district. Hotline On Call had a post mortem which made several important points.
MI Rep. Joe Schwarz's long history in his CD -- from doctor, to mayor and active rep -- couldn't save himself from the fire that his moderate positions on social and fiscal issues kindled.
Schwarz's positions easily handed ex-state Rep. Tim Walberg the backing of MI Right to Life and the Club for Growth. RTL helped Walberg's ground game and CFG helped Walberg raise money when the MI and national GOP establishment lined up behind Schwarz. . . .
Unified Dem opposition made moderates the key for the GOP leadership to pass legislation. The hope among conservatives is that Schwarz's defeat will encourage moderates to tack right.
Pretty much the same as Connecticut. Granted, Schwartz was a member of the House, not a Senator, but the GOP attack on moderates has been going on for ages. Senator Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI) is being challenged in a primary by Cranston mayor Steve Laffey, who was also endorsed by Club For Growth. It's interesting: at least the "far left insurgency" has the sense not to challenge Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), because they understand the politics of the state.
The right-wing has purged practically all the moderates from the Republican party, and has moved so far to the right that (according to John Dean's new book, Conservatives Without Conscience) even Barry Goldwater said couldn't recognize them in the 1990s, and that was before the current administration and Congress.