Can’t you just picture Joe Biden saying that at one of his speeches, then pausing. The crowd goes silent too, because everyone knows what Joe the Gaffer is thinking.

“Oh Sh&^%”

Then a left over Operation Chaos operative yells out “Stand up everyone! Stand up all you wheel chaired masses!”

Joe joins in of course because he can’t help himself.

PS. Could you imagine Joe and Howard Dean on the same stage. That would be awesome.

It is so easy to see why this hasn’t happened and you make a very good case why it may never.

Moderate Republican leaders want the political weight and energy the conservative base is capable of, while not offering the base anything. They won’t leave if the chance exists that they can have the best of both worlds.

Didn’t the selection of Palin seem like a calculated effort to have the political might of the base without having to run a conservative campaign?

But I think the key is not the leaders but the masses of moderate republicans who don’t seem to be really attached to their leaders, (ex. McCain).

What if the moderate voters bypass their leaders?

Do you think they could break if another Ross Perot type spurns the aforementioned leaders and provides an opportunity for the moderates to organize. Isn’t that how Perot did it, coupled with “Read my Lips” of course?

See Lizzie in the previous post to explain the chance of a moderate Democrat break.

You’d think if a leader were to emerge right now, that this could happen.

Don’t the Blue Dogs already vote together on issues? You’d think the Democrats would pull out all the stops not to lose all those congressmen and women. But if they are given little to no influence over House business, who knows?

The moderate Republicans can sense that McCain was their chance and many of them, (especially the Fox media) are obviously preparing for the political wilderness. The conservative base hates the Republican moderate Senators, but are afraid to lose the ability to filibuster.

Add to that our political system and how “objects at rest tend to stay at rest” and you’d think something significant would have to happen for politicians and voters to bolt parties.

But if they did, wow, could you imagine the political turmoil in this country? Especially the Democrats would raise holy h@$%&#$. Could you imagine the MSM reaction?

…and got no response. I think this would make a good primer for understanding conservative thought and a good source to reference.

Perhaps a book should be compiled of the best diaries/posts.

To use a football analogy, it’s like we are preparing to blitz and the opposition knows this because we did it in 1994, so they are preparing to throw a screen pass.

They have also paid off the refs (MSM) with the promise of the fairness doctrine, so all of their blockers are going to be illegally holding our tacklers, while our side has to worry about bad calls.

Meanwhile we can’t even decide who should be in the game. The first string, who just got steamrolled in the second straight election or the young second string rookies who may or not be ready to handle this.

The opposition has already chosen Rahm Emmanuel to quarterback their team.

Finally our coaches are arguing amoungst themselves and the head coach has unofficially retired so he can appear on Leno and Letterman.

Namely, that a Party of the Center could have a larger majority in New York, Massachusetts, etc than the Democratic Party.

I wrote in my diary that the Northeast and South would be in play with a three party system. I do not want us to lose the South, but I would be happy if Democrats lost the Northeast.

My Father-in-law who lives in Mass., hates taxes and believes in personal responsibility, but has bought hook, line, and sinker all the lies the MSM says about Republicans. He would definitely consider leaving the Democrats, if given a viable 3rd option.

I could see huge numbers of Democrat voters leaving the left for a Center party, which when combined with moderates from our party, could tip the balance of power. Heck if former Republican Governor Weld can win convincingly over Democrat opponents, (twice), than there are votes to be had.

However much Republicans wouldn’t like to lose the moderate wing of the Party, it might be worthwhile if the Democrats lose control of the Northeast and West Coast.

I agree it is unlikely the Northeast will elect a Republican, especially after the mostly moderate side of the party just lost big in the last election.

But in the states you mentioned an organized Center Party, having candidates like Pataki, Weld, or Lieberman (without the Republican Brand), could pull off the less liberal Democrats (plus the more moderate Republicans) and win.

Moderate Republicans, Independents and Conservative Democrats would give a Center Party candidate enough votes to win. Thus diluting the Democrats overwhelming strength in the Northeast.

Of course the same thing could happen all over the country. You’d either have mass chaos, a debate between all 3 parties with possibly less party infighting, or a little of both.

It is in my nature not to shy from anything. I wrote a diary I thought few would recommend, and no one has. But I have gotten a lot of feedback, and I thought I might because I believe this train is coming.

I also believe the number of people who identify themselves as moderates is growing, although I don’t count myself amoung them. If Moderates weren’t a political force then there would not be peace in our Party, and Democrats wouldn’t have gone out of their way to recruit Conservative Democrats to retake the majority in congress.

I see Moderates in both parties being treated 2 ways.

One, the Conservative Base wants to win Moderates support with its ideas and values and change the country back to the way it was, and…

Two, the Liberal Base wants to use and control Moderates in order to maintain power and change everything to..?

What the heck do they want? Obamagrad instead of Chicago?

Like everything given to me, I will read what you suggested, so long as you realize I am suspect about most everything.

I would like to offer you some reading in return. Probably the most influential book on my early adulthood was “Radical Son” by David Horowitz. It tells of growing up in Liberal New York as a Socialist.

PS. Weapons of Mass Destruction, over 300 metric tons of yellow cake uranium were found in Iraq, and are currently being used in a Nuclear Power Plant in Canada (reported by the AP this year). We knew about this over 4 years ago, but didn’t tell the world because we had to get all this radioactive material out of a very hostile region of Iraq by truck and by airlift. As a Marine who just finished his career a month ago, I appreciate President Bush taking one on the chin politically so the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force would have an easier time transporting it. One roadside bomb, suicide bomber, or shoulder launched rocket would have created the largest dirty bomb in the history of the world.

I have heard your argument before, that moderates positions are easily changable. I have heard it repeatedly on Rush Limbaugh.

I honestly couldn’t tell you if moderates are that way, because I personally only know 4 or 5, and most of them don’t discuss politics. It’s too small a sample, in my opinion, for me to know who’s right or who’s wrong.

I also haven’t spent too much time wondering what a center party platform would be, usually because I am busy arguing for the Republican Platform to remain conservative.

If I had to guess, I’d say that a Center Party Platform would include a focus on fiscal issues, while staying away from social issues.

They would want to defend the country, but would not want to really influence the world in general.

I could see the Center Party wanting to do something about the illegals in our country by deporting them, then relaxing the legal ways of entering our country.

I could see the Center Party NOT wanting to touch the Life/Abortion issue, (with the exception of Partial-Birth Abortion).