Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Scarborough Fair?
This strikes me as being pretty accurate. Furthermore, I don't think this is a "too-cute-by-half" bit of advice that Scarborough is giving Democrats. He's been disgusted with the GOP Congress -- particularly on spending -- for some time. While supporting Bush on "War on Terror" grounds, he's irritated that the party has wandered away from its own philosophical moorings and has totally surrendered the concept of being the part of "reform.""I spent most of 1994 fighting Republican bureaucrats on the local, state and federal level who did everything in their power to elect my very moderate opponent in the GOP primary. A week before the primary, the Republican Congressional Committee campaign director let me know that I might as well give up. 1994 would be the year of the Moderate.
"Yeah, right.
"Within a few months of that conversation, scores of right-wing, knuckle-dragging, spear-carrying conservative barbarians like myself ran through our moderate Democratic opponents like Barry Bonds through a bottle of roids. It was ugly.
Darting to the base was the ticket to victory for the Party of Reagan."Fast forward twelve years and now we find many making the same misguided arguments, except this time they are giving their stupid advice to Democrats generally and Connecticut voters specifically.
"Ned Lamont may be a pencil-necked geek, as Imus claims, but he is the type of candidate that will bring out the Democratic base in an off-year election. That is especially true this year because George W. Bush is even more unpopular than Clinton was when the GOP swept into power.
"My advice to Democratic voters this year is 'Go left, young man!'
"There may be hell to pay in 2008, but for now the only thing that should matter to you is seizing control of Congress. Do that for the first time in a decade and then you can start worrying about swing voters in the suburbs."
He may well want to see Republicans get a good spanking this time around.
Regardless, his viewpoint strengthens my gut feeling of why why a Lieberman loss could well augur a GOP headache a couple of months from now.
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