Democrats muzzled Bob Casey, Pennsylvania's pro-life governor, when he tried to speak at their convention in 1992. Fourteen years later, they begged his pro-life son to run for the Senate. Years in the political wilderness will do that to a party. Once crusaders for purity, liberal Democrats have opted for pragmatism in unseating Republicans.
In Virginia, liberals have put much time, energy, and money into replacing conservative Republican George Allen with conservative Democrat Jim Webb. They'll like Webb if he benches the former quarterback Allen. But will they like Webb if they get to see how he votes in the Senate? David Brooks noted last week on NPR that if elected Webb may not just be the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, but the most conservative in the Senate.
Heath Shuler has one of the best shots of capturing a Republican House seat. He's pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-border enforcement, and not sure whether he'll vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House. Indiana Democrat Brad Ellsworth, pro-life and against gay "marriage," runs ahead of GOP Rep. John Hostettler in polls. In Kentucky, Democrat Mike Weaver, a retired Army colonel, proclaims "Faith, Family, Freedom" as his campaign slogan. He promises not to vote for Nancy Pelosi should he win tomorrow.
America is fundamentally a conservative country. Dissatisfaction with one Republican president does not undo the inherent traditionalism and spirit of free enterprise. Deluded liberals who believe Democrat victories are tantamount to liberal victories are, well, deluded. Since Republicans are practically an endangered species in places like Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey, Democrat pick-ups necessarily have to come disproportionately from places like Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Nine of the thirteen GOP-held districts that Real Clear Politics deems as leaning Democrat are in red states. Those Democrats, should they win, are going to reflect, more or less, the values of the districts they represent. Sure, they will be more liberal than the Republican incumbents. But they won't be as liberal as Pelosi, Kerry, Clinton, and company. If they are, they won't be there for long. Democrats already represent San Francisco, Cambridge, and Greenwich Village. Democrats elected tomorrow won't represent those places, either in fact or in spirit.
The folks who put the kibosh on the New Deal in FDR's second term, voted for the Reagan tax cuts, and defected to the GOP during Bill Clinton's tenure are making a comeback. If the Democrats win big Tuesday, the barkers and droolers will add a new enemy: the conservative Democrat. Reports of that species' death, apparently, have been greatly exaggerated. Or, perhaps more accurately put, the conservative Democrat is back from the dead.
What the Democrat Party needs is a return to mainstream common sense candidates. The party has been high jacked by the loony way left and most of their candidates are unelectable outside of extreme and solidly blue locales.
A return to the JFK type of Dem would be refreshing. Ironically, with the condition of the Dem party as it is today, he might have a hard time getting elected and would probably be considered too conservative by many.
You have it all backwards.
Men like Jim Webb were purged out of an extreme Republican party.
The Democrats are looking more moderate, only because the Republicans are now so extreme.
I'm curious, what's the difference between a conservative Democrat and a conservative Republican?
