A major conservative meme is that the Democrats are a far left political party. Another conservative meme is that liberal bloggers are a bunch of far left kooks who sit at their computers. Suddenly these memes have clashed in the eyes of conservative pundits who believe that both the Democratic Party and Daily Kos are much further to the left than they actually are. Recent stories show Kos taking on Harold Ford and the DLC. If they declare Kos the winner of this match, then they are recognizing power in the netroots.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Strassel decided to call it a loss for Kos, but this means left no choice but to write that moderates have influence in the Democratic Party. I thought these quotes might come in handy the next time The Wall Street Journal writes about the far left Democratic Party:
It was moderate Democrats who won their party the majority last year (the New Democrats now boast 60 members; 13 new additions), and Mr. Cuellar claims few people understand that better than Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “I’ve seen her behind the scenes, and I’ve always thought she was liberal, but she’s done a good job of trying to bring us more to the middle.”
For proof, Mr. Cuellar suggests a look at “all the passes” the leadership has given red-state Dems on tough votes like Iraq, missile defense and immigration. This is an obvious recognition by the top ranks of the party that getting moderates re-elected is the only way to stay in power. They know that “if we go the way these Internet groups want us to go, we’ll be the shortest-lived majority in congressional history,” he says.
I’m sure readers will find the flaws in her analysis. I found it much more interesting to see the op-ed page of The Wall Street Journal write about how moderate Nancy Pelosi is.
