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Profiles in fear: ‘conservative’ Democrats and THAT WOMAN.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  July 15th, 2009 at 05:30 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Politico apparently has a sadist running its assignments, because he or she sent out reporters to interview a bunch of ‘conservative’ Democrats to find out whether they’d be willing to let that woman campaign with them – and got everything from uncomfortable silences to Congressmen actually running away. At least, that’s what I’m going to characterize ‘lunging for elevators’ and suddenly remembering that they had meetings that they had to get to right now. And why would this be? Because there’s no right answer to that question:

For these Democrats, many of them part of the right-leaning Blue Dog Coalition, Palin presents a quandary: She’s deeply unpopular within their own party, but in the socially conservative, often rural districts or states they represent, the plain-spoken, wader-wearing Alaska governor has a following.

…hence the running away. There are a lot of Democrats who will be relying on both the largess of the national party and the forbearance of their majority-Republican districts to stay in office past next November. Embracing that woman will infuriate the former, but too-vehemently rejecting her (as in, rejecting her at all) will hurt them with the latter.  Even if you buy into the professional pundits*’ narrative on that woman, it must be admitted that she is popular with precisely the voter demographic that is currently sending a lot of ‘conservative’ Democrats to Congress.  So… well, nobody ever died of shame, right?  So Running Away really is the best answer, especially if you’re not actually mentioned by name.

I’m not going to claim that this was that woman’s plan all along.  In fact, I actually think that the original story got garbled.  But it’s funny to watch them scatter like this.

Moe Lane

*Who also, by the way, were usually astounded about how that man could keep getting his way on the war, not to mention re-elected.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

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COMMENTS

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  • DavidSage

    Palin said she would campaign for “conservative Democrats”, which I find infuriating.

    If there’s currently a “conservative” Democrat in office, all that means is that particular politician is in a conservative district taking the place of a much more conservative Republican. We should still be going after these Democrats, even if they occasionally break the party line here and there.

    I really don’t buy the whole “conservative Democrat” meme. If you feel you have conservative principles, why are a member of a left-wing political party? Why not be a member of the conservative political party? That decision in of itself speaks volumes about a person’s true ideology. These conservative Democrats are really spineless liberals that just want to get reelected in Republican districts. If they were in a more liberal part of the country, they would let their freak flag fly.

    Thirty or forty years ago, I could understand being a conservative and having a home in the Democrat Party, but those days are long gone. Look at the modern heads of the Democrat Party, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, etc. It’s no longer a centrist political party, but a leftist/socialist party.

    I highly doubt any Democrat will take her silly offer, but we should show Miss Palin the door if she actually campaigns for any of them.

  • Finrod

    After all, in that race, Lieberman was the most conservative candidate in the race.

    As long as Sarah campaigns for the most conservative candidate in any particular race, I’m not going to complain.

  • Xasteius
  • DavidSage

    I look at someone like Lieberman, who everyone calls an ideal conservative Democrat, but he really has no conservative instincts except on a select few national security issues.

    Republicans all fell in love with him, but have you seen him stand up to any part of Obama’s agenda? Lieberman supports about 90% of Obama’s agenda, including cap and trade, universal health care, judicial nominations, etc, but conservatives love him just because he didn’t want to cut and run in Iraq.

    I really know of no current Democrat in office that I would label as a true conservative that just happens to be a Democrat.

  • IJB
  • Vegas_Rick

    Maybe because our elected Republicans don’t usually resemble conservatives. There might be confusion as to what a conservative party looks like.

    I could be wrong, but I don’t recall those exact words: “I will campaing for conservative democrats.”

    I think most of you are simply making an assumption that that is what she meant. I don’t think that was her meaning at all.

  • squeek71

    The so-called “blue dog” conservative dems in my state (TN) have been voting the party line and supporting Obama’s socialistic agenda. I don’t think that there is such a thing anymore as a conservative democrat once you get above the local level. Once a dem makes it to Washington, there is just no way he or she will take a true stand for conservative values (fiscal responsibility, strong national defense, a culture of life). I just can’t imagine that Sarah Palin would find someone who truly represents the same things she does in the party of Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Franken, etc. And I would hope that she wouldn’t sell out to stump for someone who does not represent a conservative agenda.

    I am so ready to get the dem reps here in TN out of power. They can not be relied on at all to represent the ideals and best interests of their constituents. I am tired of emailing and phoning to only be ignored.

    Dems only pretend to be conservative to get votes in red states (or to get votes in conservative areas of blue states). Their Congressional voting records show this time and again.

  • DavidSage

    The opening paragraph from the linked Politico article:

    “Gov. Sarah Palin said last weekend that she?d be willing to campaign for some Democrats when she leaves office later this month.”

    Has Palin disputed this account?

    As far as Republicans not being the party of conservatives, I really don’t buy that. There are of course a small amount of politicians that deviate, (which happens with every political party) but by in large, I’d say the overwhelming majority of Republican politicians are what I would consider conservative,.

    The Republican Party is the logical political party for a conservative policy maker. On issues like the Obama’s stimulus package, 100% of the Republican members of the House voted against it, and around 90% of Republican Senators voted against it. That’s a unified, conservative political party in my estimation.

    I think we can all agree that regardless of how you feel about the Republican Party, the Democrat Party is certainly not the home for Conservatives.

  • Vegas_Rick

    Just what I thought.

    No Palin hasn’t disputed anything. She’s too busy laughing at all the hysterics you people are going through.

    If she supports a single Dem, I will verbally denigrate her until the cows come home.

    But it ain’t gonna happen! :)

  • DavidSage

    I know some people think Palin can do no wrong, but if the author is lying about his account, that Sarah Palin did not say she would campaign for Democrats, than why hasn’t she disputed the story?

    If I was a major political figure, and a news outlet stated that I would campaign for my opposing political party and it was patently false, I would at least put out a statement that contradicted the account. This isn’t some sleazy, tabloid-type story that she’s being subjected to.

  • Vegas_Rick

    on anything. I’m not one of the people who think Palin can do no wrong. Although you won’t hear me criticizing her, or any other Conservative Republican.

    But I do know that Politico has an axe to grind with Palin, just as they did with McCain.

    Why should she rebut the statement? She knows what she’s planning to do. Do you really think she cares if some have misinterpreted her remarks?

    I plan to wait a see what she DOES. I think all of the hysteria and conjecture about what her plans are is HYSTERICALLY FUNNY!

  • Section9

    Sometimes a conservative has to man-up and vote for the better man.

    However, this cycle, I suspect we won’t have that problem. I can’t think of ANY races where a “Missing Linc” candidate will blight our ticket. I don’t even think Crist is that bad.

  • Section9

    That’s how you build street cred. Palin wants and needs street cred.

    It will be a Blue Dog campaign, I suspect.

  • Scope

    So many Dems played by the Obama rule book, they campaigned by saying they were really middle of the road, and, they got the majority of the Independant vote. Now, Pelosi has reigned them in, and, forced them to vote “her way.” She has “allowed” some to vote against the stimulus, so that they would not have such a hard time in 2010 in their re-elections. I’m not so sure that will work. Many of those Junior House Members, are going to face some really challenged elections, and, as Obama’s poll numbers drop, they know they can’t get re-elected on Obama at the top of the ticket. It will be a very interesting election in 2010. Odd year elections don’t usually bring out alot of voters, unless of course ACORN ramps up their efforts.

  • Scope

    I personally believe that Palin has had enough with any of the Republican committees/organizations. I think she will be on her own, and supporting her own Conservative agenda. Just consider Dave Keene, the President of the American Conservative Union, last week being quoted in an article bashing Palin. It is now becoming interesting between Romney, and, what Palin did with her resignation. I had a vision of Romney having a coronary when Palin made her announcement. With the advent of Obamacare on the horizon, there are alot of negative Romneycare reports out there, and they are not even by those that have anything against Romney, or are even political. They are from the think tanks that don’t support any candidate. That’s almost free advertising against Romney. Oh no, Palin will never be sent anywhere she doesn’t want to be. She will do it all on her own.

  • Scope

    Is there any chance that you might be able to think outside the box?

  • Rod_Patrick

    What we need to do is to show her the door “into” the Republican Party once again.

  • Achance

    not and hold Party or elected office anyway. Sure, there’s some “legacies” like Zell Miller who hold on to the D for old time’s sake, but if he showed up at a Democrat gathering, it would look like everybody had been to a Saul Alinsky bean dinner beforehand.

    Once the McGovernites got a grip on the Party apparatus after the ’72 election, they went on a purge worthy of Pol Pot in ideological terms. I went through it in the late ’70s when I was still with the AFL-CIO. We were old-fashioned AFL trade unionists and were staunchly anti-communist and our members were religious and pro-life; the McGovernite Democrats HATED us and did everything they could to drive us away. Only as the AFL-CIO has become dominated by public employees has it become the socialist workers party affiliate of the Democrat Party. The Clinton/Gore years at DLC toned back the rhetoric and changed the style, but it was simply to hide true agendae so that they could get elected. No Democrat could say what s/he really thinks and get elected ANYWHERE outside a deep Blue city, a university campus, and, maybe, Hollywood – even Hollywood doesn’t much like taxes that they think they’ll have to pay.

    The Ds have the rhetoric down though. We had to have a staunch, religious conservative run to the right of Lisa Murkowski to keep her rightward so that Tony Knowles wouldn’t run to the right of her in the general. Both Knowles in his day and Begich today, sound more like a Republican than most Republicans and you have to know them and follow their actions to know they’re lying; most voters don’t follow anything but the conservative sounding TV commericials, and that’s how Ds get elected.

  • Achance

    She’ll make the NRCC and the RNC come to her. She has enough of a following, can raise enough money, and can get enough invites to make herself a force in being – in the military sense of that word. The NRCC and RNC will be in a position, as was the Republican Party of Alaska, where they have to choose between being with her or against her. They won’t like it, she’ll be as unloved in those circles as she is in the RPA, but the choice is stark, and they’ll choose going with her. She is a very dangerous woman; I just wish I could fathom who she is most dangerous to.

  • cookcountyconservative

    A missing “Missing Linc” if there ever was one as far as I’m concerned. If he’s not primaried for the IL Senate seat I’ll have to come up with a good write-in.

  • DavidSage

    I really don’t know of anyone that’s saying the story is untrue. I’m well aware that Politico has its biases, but I really don’t think this is a story they concocted out of thin air that she stated she would campaign for certain Democrats. I really don’t see a motive behind it, and if it was a false account, don’t you think someone would have stepped forward to contradict it?

    I really don’t think it’s an outlandish charge to make, that she would campaign with conservative Democrats. My “issue” with it is I think it’s a bad strategy for Republicans to get suckered into supporting opportunistic politicians that call themselves “conservative” or “blue dog” Democrats.

    If you think Politico is completely fabricating the story, that’s really a completely different issue.

  • Aaron Gardner

    He should be kicked out of the fricken party for his co-sponsorship of HR 1966 SEC 881.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    They’re hungry right now and they like their chances. Recruitment’s been good, money’s been coming in, and those two test votes won them points with the base.

  • Section9

    That said, once people like Begich get to Washington, they vote with Leadership. It’s the only way to get anything done.

    I wonder about the D’s in the long term. I’ve never put too much stock in “realignment” talk. That’s usually self-congratulatory horsecrap from fellow-travelers in the news media. The media does the usual misdirection and claim that Republicans will never win again unless they can attract blacks and hispanics, when in fact, the swing voters in the election were white males, who leached away from the Republicans because of Bush and the economic collapse.

    The D’s are playing around with the fundamental constructs of our economy as they did under Roosevelt. The danger for them this time, and this is where I differ with you Art: Obama is no Roosevelt. He has all of Roosevelt’s charm but little of FDR’s aristocratic guile. He is more of a leftwing ideologue that FDR ever was; as such, he is more likely to overreach and fail.

    Where he will fail, I predict, is in actually believing his own left wing cant.

  • Section9

    She’s in the same position as Richard Nixon was in, say, 1965. She needs a client base.

    She isn’t stupid. She’s not your cup of tea, I get that, but if she’s got a Nixonian side, and I think she does, she’ll do the thing where she picks some candidates who look promising on our side of the aisle. Then she’ll get out there, and campaign for them. If she flips some important seats, and a Senate race or two, she’ll look like the Virgin Mary to the Republican rank and file.

    The idea that she’ll go out and campaign for a D is, I agree, so much noise to make her look “centrist” and a bit of a shot over the bow of a deeply feckless Washington G.O.P.

    She does this kind of thing because she knows that the rank and file are deeply unhappy with the Washington Party. Many of her critics in D.C. are many of the same people who were in the amen corner for the Bush Administration and the GOP in 2006 during our defeat. They serve as useful foils for her, and they don’t seem to get this yet.

    Besides, as Moe Lane points out below, recruitment is very good this cycle. Rank and file are starting to get hungry and want a fighter.

  • davo119

    With a president who is destroying the economy, dismantling the defense’s and crippling the intelligence community with threats of prosecution, the status quo is out the window when THESE pigeons come home to roost!
    Obama and anyone with the remotest ties to him including and especially the MSM will be carrying plague. Palin is positioning herself for a major role in a huge political upheaval.

  • Achance

    And for that matter, I’m no great Roosevelt fan. I think he is more the Bolshevik general in Dr. Zivago, the one who rode the armored train and was Lara’s lover when they were students. The wimp who made himself able to commune with his sociopath self under the influence of Bolshevism.

    He’s simply an operative, and a very sociopathing one, doing the biddng of Soros, et al. You may be right, that they will overreach and fail, but on the other hand, the Country may well be on the brink of civil war. A lot of people have been promised an awful lot by Comrade Obama. If they don’t get it soon, they’ll start thinking about taking it. Then it’s Helter-Skelter time.

  • djemi

    And given the “red meat and heels” numbers that HotAir is directing our way

    the most recently available financial reports of some 250 conservative-advocacy groups and political-action committees; their combined gross revenues totaled more than $2 billion. And that’s only the major players, in just the nonprofit portion of the industry.
    ……………………..
    Thanks to the election of Barack Obama and a heavily Democratic Congress, the conservative industry is, despite the recession, experiencing boom times. Books declaring that Democrats are unleashing “statism” and “socialism” ? by Mark R. Levin and Dick Morris, respectively ? have dominated the bestseller lists. Rush Limbaugh is enjoying record listenership. Over the past three months, every one of the 10 most-watched daily programs on cable news belonged to the right-wing Fox News Channel (FNC). Political interest usually peaks during a presidential campaign year, but FNC has actually improved its ratings this year.
    ………………………
    And unlike earlier times, most of these organizations are no longer reliant on (or controlled by) large conservative foundations. A review of the biggest conservative foundations’ grant-making reports found that they were responsible for about only $50 million of the $2 billion pulled in by the groups reviewed by the Phoenix.(Boston Phoenix)

    I, like Achance, don’t see it as having much of a choice.

    As for the Politico story about ‘that woman’ I think that Joshua Livestro over at C4′SWMNBH’ (I still follow her every move/story though) has a point when he brings up this

    RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals

    As for being hungry, all I can say is I’m not a UAW worker! but…. Now maybe these people are going to far, it’s an idea

  • peg_c

    Her potential to spearhead a true political upheaval. This also explains Huck’s warnings to her not to leave the GOP. Repubs are as scared of her as Dems. We the conservative base are really, really digging THAT. We WANT political upheaval.

    I just got a NRSC ballot in the mail yesterday as I apparently “represent” my town here in the Hudson Valley. I’m voting but not sending a dime and I’m sending a letter with my ballot explaining why.

    Were the GOP to actually embrace Palin or at least the concerns of the BASE, they’d get my money. Not until.

  • emgbane

    The Democratic Party is broken, if Palin can help it at the grassroots level that would be good for the country. There are places in this country were democrats out register republicans 10 to 1. In such an area, does it make more since to support a moderate to liberal republican, or to support a conservative democrat?

    Newt seems to be suggesting we support the liberal republican. In terms of building the party that might be a good idea. In terms of build a governing coalition to pass your agenda it better to support the conservative democrat.

    Does support mean you go out and campaign for the conservative democrat? No not necessarily? It might mean that you mention that person to your supporters. Maybe you give some money to something you both support to build bridges.

    I am going to be nice so I do end up feeling ashamed later, and just write that some of you folks really need to calm down. Many political organizations lead by women operate more on issues than party labels. Palin comes from that school of thought, and so far it has worked for her, but she is also a life long Republican.

    How broken is the Democratic Party? Any Democrat in West Virginia, Ohio, or Western Pennsylvania that is in favor of Cap and Tax is proof the party is broken. They should be easily defeat by a primary challenge.

    If Murtha had faced a primary challenge, he would be gone. If there were, more conservatives in the Democratic Party Nancy Pelosi would not be the speaker.

    Go to a tea party and meet some angry democrats. They do not believe that the Republican Party has all the answers.

    Let’s say you?re a Cowboys fan, the team’s been losing do you start cheering for the Redskins, or do you start screaming for a Cowboys rebuilding effort. Since people do not find it easy to change loyalties, both parties need fixing if we are going to save this country.

    (i am a life long black republican — i’ve met plantation democrats who agree with me on issues — they need baby step)

  • Finrod

    .

  • TxCon

    sans Taylor and Minnick is no more. The last true ones joined the GOP after the 1994 election. The so called “Blue Dogs” just act folksy but vote the liberal party line. Why their constituents still fall for it is beyond me.

  • Princeliberty

    Palin is a conservative populist. There are a number of democrats esp.
    in 2006 and 2008 who at least ran as conservatives (and some are actually going against all Obama’s agenda like Bright in Alabama) who defeated pro-big buiness big government Republicans.

    The reason some of them may have democrats is that the elitist nature of some
    Republican states parties and the desperation of Democrats to find anyone who can win lead a conservative populist to run as Democrat.

    Again, Bright in Alabama is a classic example – he almost ran as a Republican party but he was not pro big business enough and by that I mean willing to support TARP and junk like that.

    So Palin has real point.

  • lthurwitz

    both share a trait – opportunism. To keep politically alive, they will stab their supporters in the back. I’d rather see a known quantity than clowns like these in office.