No matter how you cut it, there's no such thing as a national party that doesn't inclued moderates o

[cali]

centrists or whatever you want to call them.

Yes, there really are plenty of places in this country where an out and out liberal cannot win. Yes, there are places in this country where an out and out conservative can't win.

The problem is how do you keep dem centrists/blue dogs from hijacking the agenda in a dem controlled Congress? That takes strong leadership, something we surely don't have in the Senate.

[OHdem10]

1. Could the problem be--not that there are Moderates in a party--but

rather the party can have problems when Moderates control
everything therefore canceling out Progressives.

Who is Moderate?? I can identify many many many conservatives.

The frustration and anger arise when Progressives are consistently
pushed aside in order to appease Conservatives.

[Richardo]

2. My bet is that many of those you call 'conservative' are merely 'not progressive'

There are your missing moderates.

[OHdem10]

5. I am not a purist, more a Classical Liberal but Liberal all the way

to the bone. Just so you all know from whence I speak.

When Representatives and Senators consistently vote with
Conservative Republicans I can only see them as Conservative.

Also, I consider Economic Issues the Priority. Most of these
"moderates" are to the right of Atilla the Hun.

[cali]

3. I think the Senate is a lot bigger of a problem than the House and

as I said, I think the big problem is with leadership.

[knixphan]

4. most of the folks I know who call themselves moderates...

...aren't really mods, but just people who don't keep up with the goings-on. Saying they're neither left nor right is a way to avoid taking our conversation into subject matter about which they haven't read enough to have a strong opinon. Right up there with 'I'm just not into politics'.

[OHdem10]

6. They vote for Business Interests and throw Middle Class under

the bus.

[Xolodno]

7. Whats needed is...

a viable third party that fits the bill for those who had to toss a coin to decide if they were Republican or Democrat. What a lot of people here don't realize as much as say Schwarzenegger, Snowe, etc. are detested here, they are also detested in their own party. The Blue Dogs could all join the Republican Party and they would get much of the same warmth and kindness they would get here. They are all in a pejorative political limbo.

You could say then "Why don't they just form one?" Easier said than done. The infrastructure, media, election laws, etc. make it a nearly impossible undertaking. Hence, no viable third party.

The only way this could be done would be for both the Democratic and Republican parties to get behind it and give away some of the infrastructure, reform election laws, etc. But in reality, neither party wants to do that. Why? Suddenly you have two negotiating partners to deal with instead of one. If one party doesn't have the votes they have to directly engage the other to come to a compromise. But if a third party exists, then they can blow one off and work with the other and form a coalition of sorts. Leaving the other party in the dark.

[TexasObserver]

8. Agreed. Which is why party purists are ultimately self defeating.

And that little mini drama plays out over and over in our party. There's never been a time the past 40 years that a handful of Democrats on the left weren't about to jump ship and find some pure party to carry their ideals. There is such a party, of course. The Socialist Workers Party, and it gets about zero percent of the vote.

[TheKentuckian]

9. The moderates and the centrist aren't the same folks

Centrists are the people who are actually Republicans but got pushed out by the Confederates. Amy Klobuchar=moderate, Ben Nelson=centrist, Chuck Schumer=moderate, Olympia Snowe=centrist and so on.

The moderates are pretty well on board with a real public option, even if they aren't ready for single payer the centrists are against even a sliver of an option.

The moderate description is purely to frame the left as fringe and puts the Conrads of the world in "the middle". Please stop mixing these folks up into the same thing as it helps the right frame everything.