2009-11-03 07:21:08

ELECTION DAY 2009: PUSHING FURTHER TOWARD THE EXTREME

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Bishop, Books, Democrats, Purple State Of Mind, Reasons To Believe, Republicans, politics
Posted by: John

When Americans go to the polls today, most of them will have financial concerns on their minds, but you wouldn’t know it from the political news. The ideological wars within the GOP are dominating talk of the election.

Salon tells us that “crazy” people are taking over the Republican Party, citing the ouster of New York’s Dede Scozzafava in her run for a U.S. House seat in the 23rd District by rightwing hard-liners as evidence of same. Scozzafava was scotched because she is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.

What the Salon writer means by “crazy” is that people who take Glenn Beck seriously and have traditionally been considered beyond the pale of acceptable political discourse now seem to have won the soul of the GOP.

The Wall Street Journal says that Republicans are poised to win three big victories: the New York race in the 23rd, which abuts Canada, and has been Republican majority for two and a half decades; the New Jersey gubernatorial race (NJ seems to be turning into a swing state in the north, just as Texas is turning battleground in the south); and the Virginia governor’s race, which most analysts now expect to be a lock for the Republican Bob McDonnell.

What concerns me is the step-by-step movement toward the extreme in the GOP, which portends a further polarization, and the end of any real notion of a large and varied opposition to the Obama administration. Obama needs a real and vital opposition to govern well. All presidents do.

The purging of Dede Scozzafava sends the classic Big Sort signal—no room for alternative views when entire groups of people are heading in the opposite direction. In that sense, the Scozzafava ouster is a supremely logical development and not crazy at all, because it merely reflects what has been happening on the ground in majority Republican voting districts for years for decades.

Her replacement is a religious conservative named Doug Hoffman, who has all the right positions, and in every sense of the word. Yet the switch pushes the Republican Party further away from any hope of engagement with the current policies of the White House and deeper into the war room mode of outright confrontation.

If we thought the healthcare debate was bad, what can we expect from the fight over cap-and-trade legislation or financial regulation, especially if the GOP base feels that it has been rewarded for its behavior? Nothing good.

The only way that we will get a workable relationship between the White House and Congress is if next year’s mid-term elections turn out to be a rout for the hard right of the Republican Party. Moderates must take back the GOP or we will be in a situation where millions of independent voters have no party at all, and one of the two major American parties is essentially theocratic.

Happy Election Day!

Comments (3)

3 Comments »

1. Gee….your post seems remarkably one sided. I enjoy your writing most when you seem able to see the other side. To be quoting Salon about how the Republican Party is being taken over by extremists is very ironic. Any day now, the New York Times will decry the politicization of the mainstream media. Speaking of that….did you read Frank Rich’s recent column on the GOP? Between him and Dowd and Salon…where are all the moderate Democrats hiding? I assume Frank Rich is not going to be wanting to buy an NFL team anytime soon? Glen Beck has gone over the edge…no doubt about it. However, to make Scozzafa out to be a moderate Republican is interesting. She ended up endorsing the Democratic Candidate and is now reportedly thinking about registering as a Democrat. Perhaps some people were simply ahead of the curve in recognizing her political leanings. I have seen no lack of extremists rearing their heads in the Democratic Party. The GOP…yes they have some whackos also…but “let he/she whose party is without extremism, cast the first stone”.

   Comment by Fraulien — November 3, 2009 @ 10:23 am

2. Fraulien, I hear you, but I hope you notice that I then referenced the Wall Street Journal, which takes a very different tone, which is why I placed it right after the Salon commentary. My point is not that Scozzafava is a moderate. My point is that there was once room for people like her in the GOP, and there no longer is. Te Democrats have become the party of the big tent. One need only look at the fact that Obama has appointed Republicans—something Bush never did–to his cabinet and to important ambassadorships. The most moderate Dem is now in the White House, and that’s one reason, I think, why the Republicans have gone so far to the right edge. Obama has absolutely stolen the middle ground.

   Having said that, as I say in the piece, he needs a real opposition. That’s the whole point. Without a real opposition, he can’t govern well, and right now, the GOP is not offering a real opposition. Finally, the more extreme the GOP, the more energized the extreme end of the Democratic Party. It’s bad all around.

   Comment by John — November 3, 2009 @ 11:55 am

3. John,
   I think the genesis of the rub with the republicans was the candidate, as I understand it, was selected by party leaders and not elected by primary vote as this was an off year special election. It would be a different story, and one that may be in the works somewheredown the road. Also, the President and Democratic party may alsoface that ” our way or on your way” mentality over the President’s decision re. Afganistan if he decides to extend the US military presence. Also conversely, if the healthcare reform is viewed to be too big and expensive, it may be a line in the sand between blue dogs and more extreme members of the party.

   Comment by Kenny Dickson — November 5, 2009 @ 12:59 pm

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