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The self-correcting conservative Democratic liar problem.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  February 8th, 2012 at 09:30 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

In today’s Morning Jolt Jim Geraghty observed, while implicitly dismissing former (involuntarily) Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper’s (D, PA) sudden getting religion over Obamacare for the cynical political move that it probably is, that the myth of the conservative Democratic Congressman was, well, a myth – and that he’s been saying that since 2010. Well, I’ve been saying that, too – so I decided to look at all the examples of so-called conservative Democrats found in that article, and where they are now. The results were amazingly gratifying:

  • Bart Gordon (forced to retire, 2010)
  • Bobby Bright (removed, 2010)
  • Dan Boren (cutting and running, 2012)
  • Gene Taylor (removed, 2010)
  • Heath Shuler (cutting and running, 2012)
  • Joe Donnelly (switching out to lose Senate race, 2012)
  • John Barrow (going out fighting [cruelly redistricted], 2012)
  • S.H. Sandlin (removed, 2010)
  • Walt Minnick (removed, 2010)

In other words, it turns out that they really are a myth, now. It used to be that they were a myth because you couldn’t count on them to vote conservative when it counted; now they’re a myth because it’s getting harder and harder to find them in their supposed natural habitat. Which is a shame, but then nobody forced them to keep supporting a party leadership that pretty much hates everything that conservative Democrats supposedly stand for…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

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  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    We have heard ad nauseum that the Republican party was becoming more radical and right wing.

    But the truth is that the Democrat party has become so left wing that there literally is no place left in that party for a moderate.

  • http://www.baseballcrank.com Dan McLaughlin

    Oh wait.

  • jakeofalltrades

    :twisted:

  • powertothepeople

    and this very thing should have been said many times over for many years now.

    The actual existence of a so called conservative democrat is about as plausible as…..well….. a version of me that is not a smart ass who speaks kindly to all who live. Just does not exist.

  • renl57

    …in which the GOP base attempts to kick moderates out of the GOP, the ideological sorting out of the two parties is nearly complete.

    Time was when there was significant overlap between the two parties. The GOP had some genuine liberals (Jacob Javits, Ed Brooke) and plenty of moderates. The Dems had a powerful Southern conservative wing (notably John Stennis).

    Now you have total polarization, in which the most moderate Dem is to the left of the most moderate Republican.

    This chart shows how the polarization has increased in recent decades:

    http://i40.tinypic.com/2l4yuw.jpg

    That makes steady governance very difficult. The government’s policies swing wildly back and forth depending on which party won the last election.

    Since neither party is ever in power forever, I don’t see how a nation can adopt a steady course if it’s constantly swinging between a hard-left party and a hard-right party.

  • johnt

    They’re so unused to it.
    “conservative Democrats”, I keep hearing that phrase, where are they, in the Smithsonian?

  • http://www.plumbbobblog.com Plumb_Bob

    The Constitution’s authors did not anticipate this.

    I remember back in the 1980s reading Jefferson’s words on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in Wash, DC: “I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.”

    I knew that our nation was in trouble when I read that. The founders anticipated that people would continue to agree regarding right and wrong. They thought that though strategies might vary among politicians, goals would remain more or less the same.

    What was happening even back then (the 1980s) was that the left was developing a new moral code, based entirely on political preference: “good” was supporting government initiatives to throw money at the poor, empower women and gays, keep abortion legal, and protect the environment, “evil” was opposing those things.

    There can be no reconciliation between two, opposing moral codes from competing religious systems, which is what this is, in effect. Our laws are falling into a permanent state of schizophrenia as they increasingly attempt to balance, not competing strategies, but competing goals.

    The only solution is to partition the nation into two nations. The alternative is that one side will oppress the other, possibly after a bloody and debilitating civil war. I’ve been saying this since the 1980s.

  • Martin Knight

    That’s all I can say.

  • icesweeper

    and the list goes on……

  • acat

    IIRC, the congress flipped back and forth between two ideologically rigid poles for several elections prior to the Civil War.

    I didn’t say it was a comfort.

    Mew

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    And good to see you. Hope all is well.

  • acat

    Ironically, it was forgetting Jimmy Carter that got us to where we are today.

    Mew

  • uncledave

    Authenticity is good.

    I suspect that if there’s a true representation of constituents’ desires in Congress, then liberals will have a very difficult time acquiring power. They have always needed to lie about their intentions to win votes.

    Take a look at a map. It’s not hard to find 30 states that ought to be sending 60 GOP senators – which are trending more conservative due to RINO trade-ups – despite a few anomalies that can go either way (Brown, Landrieu, etc).

  • powertothepeople

    although while your name is beautiful, I do miss the previous one. Had its own flair.

  • Fla Mom

    Allen Boyd was a founding member of the Blue Dogs who loved to act like a good ol’ boy farmer in North Central Florida but vote like a liberal in DC. However, with the Florida constitutional amendment regarding redistricting (limiting ability to gerrymander), even though Republicans control both state houses, it looks like Boyd’s outstanding replacement, Steve Southerland, one of the few freshman to hold the line on virtually if not every vote, will lose the conservative east end of the district. That east end will itself lose Tallahassee (yea!) but gain Gainesville (yuck!).

    Fla Mom

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    I still answer to rightwingmom52, especially among friends, but using my real names keeps me honest, and quite often from saying things I should just keep to myself. LOL.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    in the 2010 GOP primary (51% to 33%) to Mo Brooks who answered “Yes, ma?am, I do. Highest honors” when Contessa Brewer asked if he had a degree in Economics.

    Griffith is running against Brooks in the GOP primary again. From an article here

    To win, Griffith is telling Republicans that Brooks’ confrontational style on national issues, such as the federal deficit, is putting the district’s defense and aerospace jobs at risk. He’ll dial down the rhetoric, work well with others and protect the jobs, Griffith says.

    I don’t think this is going to play well in AL-5. Brooks seems to be pretty popular and has become a Tea Party fave (despite many of us supporting Les Phillips in the primary last time).

    It’s interesting to note that almost 50 public officials elected as Dems across the state have switched to the GOP in the last couple of years.

  • earlgrey

    We haven’t gotten as many good zings on the MSM in recent months.

    I hope someone is watching those dem switchers to make sure they are true conservatives.

  • unclefred

    Unfortunately because both parties have moved further to the left. This moved the moderate line left so that fewer Republicans crossed it.

    This nation is a right of center nation, which increased its self identification as conservative over time. While it is hard to tell, I suspect that is because of the ever more strident leftism from the Democrats and the press. The consequence of this will be that the nation will return the majority to the Republicans. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have done immense damage to the Democrat brand. The nation will achieve a steady course by keeping the Republicans in control until the Democrats come to the center.

    Our job is to elect more conservatives among Republicans.

  • Repair_Man_Jack

    Recently here. The best and least destructive way to fix this is to end gerrymandering. That won’t happen, so we learn by doing. Hopefully, we’ll watch what the Left does while in charge and learn how screwed they truly are. As a result of this hard-won and painful knowledge, maybe friends will eventually not let friends vote for Liberals. Until then, we live with the deracinating effects of wide political swings.

  • Repair_Man_Jack

    It was worth a chuckle.

  • powertothepeople

    but my tendency to be open jawed and to the point in the harshest of ways would not change and I really do not feel like having target practice every day. Best to stay anonymous.

  • melbedewy

    will go down as the last truly right of center Congressional Democrats.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    reveal his liberalness. LOL. So difficult to change those stripes.

  • Repair_Man_Jack

    You’re Making me want to do an Alabama House Race Post. Both Pawkah Griwfith and Spencah Bacchus could become condign targets of ridicule.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    Brooks needs to use that in a campaign commercial. The only thing that would have made it better is if he’d said, “Well, bless your heart, Contessa,” but the “Yes, ma’am” did the trick. LOL.

  • keepcoolwithcoolidge

    Former-Congressman Arthur Davis, D of Alabama said the same thing. Holding a Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer up as your figureheads is a pretty poor way to paint yourself as anything but a party of leftist loons.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    Maybe somebody (you?) should reach out to Scott Beason and ask him to submit a diary or see if redstate would consider an endorsement. Just a thought. I know some Tea Party contacts who are working on his campaign.

  • sharrondeer

    Given that by today’s standards Reagan would be considered a RINO and Nixon a liberal by many Tea Party supporters, it suggests that the center has moved to the right, not the left.