Signs Of Things To Come
Tom Bevan, writing in the RCP Blog notes the signs of things to come in the Democratic party. He takes note of an attack by Matt Stoller on Rahm Emanuel. Stoller calls Emanuel an extremist ideologue and recommends cutting him loose and developing "progressive" party strategists.
Excuse me while I wipe down my computer keyboard. I spit Diet Coke all over it after reading Stoller, of all people, fingering Rahm Emanuel an "extremist ideologue." This is the sort of stuff that should scare sensible Democrats out of their minds. Rahm is a centrist. He's a Clintonite. Six years ago years ago that wasn't a sin. Now to a growing portion of the party, it's grounds for excommunication. Apparently, unless you've taken a heavy pull from the nutroot Kool-Aid, you're not welcome or wanted.
Which should put a lot of people on alert that there is a major problem brewing. Some of us have been saying this all along. If the netroots continue on the path they appear to want to follow, they will drag the Democrats into territory where they cannot win nationally. Purges of moderates will lead the party to that place.
That is not good for either party, frankly.
UPDATE: Black Hawk sends this link in the comment section. It is well worth reading Joshua Trevino's analysis of a very similar situation in American political history.
Sound familiar? It is — to us. To the left, it’s all very exciting, and all very new. And so we see the self-proclaimed netroots go through a trajectory very much like what the Birchers went through, albeit in highly compressed time. The elements are all there: the resentment, the conspiracy-mindedness, and especially the leaders with stupefyingly poor judgment married to Napoleon complexes. I’ve noted before that they are “frank proponents of outright mimicry of the mechanisms of GOP ascendacy.” Add to this the horrifying, alienating statements ranging from the mockery of dead Americans at war to the derision of political opponents’ personal sorrows. Add to this the demonization of the very people who should, in a sane world, be their friends — The New Republic chief among them — and the formula is complete. Messianism and paranoia marry to make this.
Blogosphere, Politics | Gaius August 29, 2006
By Blackhawk, August 29, 2006 @ 7:22 am
Gaius, check this article out.
http://joshua.trevino.at/?p=135 (h/t Joe Katzman at Winds of Change.net)
By Gaius, August 29, 2006 @ 7:33 am
Wow – thanks – great article.