Richard Hanna/Flickr
By the standards of some GOP moderates, the Republican Party is already "so far overboard that we are beyond redemption."
This is not an uncommon sentiment. As the radicalization of the Republican Party has intensified, some of the party's more notable moderates, including Arlen Specter and Charlie Crist, have been driven from the party, into retirement, or both.
But while a meeting of GOP centrists could be held in a phone booth, they apparently still exist, and they seem unhappy. Judd Legum flagged an interesting item in the Syracuse Post-Standard, in which Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) expressed his concerns.
"I have to say that I'm frustrated by how much we -- I mean the Republican Party -- are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in this moment in history," he told The Post-Standard editorial board. [...]
"We render ourselves incapable of governing when all we do is take severe sides.... I would say that the friends I have in the Democratic Party I find ... much more congenial -- a little less anger," he said.
Hanna's comments coincide with a new BuzzFeed piece, noting that House GOP leaders, bringing yet another anti-abortion bill to the floor today, are "facing a rising tide of frustration from Republican moderates angry over the rightward tack the conference has taken under his leadership."
The piece didn't specify exactly how many "Republican moderates" exist on Capitol Hill, and I'll concede it's a subjective question. By my count, the total of genuine GOP centrists struggles to reach double digits -- that's a combined total from the House and Senate -- and if we're evaluating Republicans' ideologies by the standards of a generation ago, even these moderates are pretty far to the right and only appear reasonable because of the broader trajectory.
What's more, as much as I'd welcome a forceful moderate contingent within the GOP reasserting some degree of influence within the party, I'm having a hard time finding much sympathy for Hanna and his allies.
Where were the Republican moderates during the debt-ceiling crisis, when their party threatened to crash the economy on purpose unless Democrats accepted non-negotiable demands? They were silent. Not one was willing to step up and say, "What we're doing is wrong."
Where were the Republican moderates during the repeated threats of government shutdowns? Where were the Republican moderates when the House voted 32 times to destroy a moderate health care reform law?
Where were the Republican moderates when President Obama pleaded with Congress to engage in some bipartisan policymaking? Where were the Republican moderates when GOP leaders prioritized abortion over job creation? Where were the Republican moderates when the GOP decided it was against its own proposals on immigration, energy, health care, and the economy?
These centrists have been a non-entity because they've chosen to go along with an extremist agenda, sitting on the sidelines and voting how they're told to vote.
If they're frustrated about the radicalization of their party, maybe they should have spoken up sooner.
Indeed, I suppose the question for Richard Hanna and those who share his concerns is this: are you genuinely disappointed by the extremism that dominates the modern GOP or are you looking for some positive election-year headlines that puts some distance between you and your unpopular party?
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But ..but.... how will we get reelected if we voice our opinions?
You do know our primary mission is to get reelected .
Oh and get that socialistcomiiefacicistislamokenyan mfer out of the white house
Cry me a river A$$hole
Kiss the White House good-bye; between the war on women, voter supression, the hate the republicans have shown for the middle class, the lies, and what they plan to do with medicare, social security, and Health Care, and of course the drama created on his little trip; I doubt if anyone in the GOP would be hired as dog catchers assistances lol a big old mwahhhh to you.
None of this extreme rightward lurch could have happened with the spineless cowardice of the Democratic party. None of it.
Totally agree. President Obama has bent over backwards to try to appease these idiots. When is he going to learn that they will never work with him on any issue?
The spineless cowardice of the Democratic party? What was the Democrats supposed to do? Invade the GOP and clean house?
no no..the spineless cowards are the moderate GOP's who have sat on their asses for the last 30 years while their own party tilted to the far right.
It goes back WAY, WAY, WAY farther back than Obama to at least the mid-80's. But Obama's outright stupidity in allowing the Republicans back off the mat when he could have extincted the sorry basturds for two generations is close to unforgivable. Especially given that the consequence of Obama's going all Lincoln on us is that the country is fighting to avoid erasing the 20th century and avoiding making this century a New Gilded Age that puts the original to shame.
Yea and verily, the Dems TOLERATED the "crazy," credited that "crazy," with collegiality, and "called that crazy out" in no shape, way, manner, or FORM. You sold us OUT, "Democrat Party!"
No, Kirien, this goes back much farther than recent history since the beginning of the Obama years. And it takes in many policies that Democrats had the public on its side but refused to use it. The extremism just couldn't have happened without Democrats bending over and inviting the Republicans to do what they pleased.
I think the big failure of the Democrats and President Obama was believing that they could find some common ground. I think they wanted to believe that the Republicans in congress would actually put the good of the country ahead of stoking the culture war and pandering to the extreme right of the party. I don't see a place in the current Republican party for old mainline Republicans.
The big failure was not recognizing the complete malignancy that is the Republican party. The big failure was simply not destroying the Republican party. Even everyday Republicans were becoming ashamed to be Republicans. But Obama and the Democrats simply failed to recognize that it was only because of 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies that resulted in the inequality, immobility, and a worldwide Great Recession. This is because some Democrats were co-opted by the stupidest of those failed conservative ideas, the primary one be the Awesomeness of unfettered markets and deregulation. Obama listened to some of the Republican Trojan horse bankers like Tim Geitner and ruined the country's chances of ridding itself of the cancer that is Wall Street and the disgusting Robin Hood act that is the Republican party. Obama can never be forgiven for this.
But you better damn work like he11 to get Obama re-elected, or this country is sunk.
@Peg -- In as much as Moderate Republicans can't identify with their own party and Democrats are now, at best, Eisenhower Republicans... they should join the Democratic Party. I mean, lets face it... Clinton and Obama have been the best and most successful Republican Presidents... ...ever!
DisgustedWithitAll . . . well said my friend!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with you but I honestly couldn't conceive of what the Democratic Party could've done than what Peg said they were doing. I fumed and grit my teeth every time in the past Pres. Obama pandered to the GOP, just so he can get things done, and that anger wasn't exclusively directed at the GOP, either, but I accepted it as that--a strategy to get the GOP to compromise on other things, but that didn't work, and now the Democrats are just stuck with 'em. I still wonder at how the Democrats lost their seats in Congress, and how they got nothing done when they had the majority. While the problems of congress these days can be blamed on the GOP holding everything up, we're just complaining louder this time. Why wasn't the volume as turned up when the Dems had all the seats?
(That said, I still hate the GOP a whole lot more)
I still wonder at how the Democrats lost their seats in Congress, and how they got nothing done when they had the majority.
Drives me nuts that my fellow Democrats so easily forget recent history:
http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/223795-360-senate-filibusters-by-the-gop-since-2007-gasp.html
A "majority" doesn't get you jack squat with the current crop of Senators in opposition.
THAT's why a Democratic majority gets nothing done.
So get out there and work for Democratic Senators to get elected so that we can get 60 again.
In the meantime, let us just appreciate what would have happened if the GOP had 51 Senators to pass everything the GOP Congress passed.
Maybe they didn't get much done, but they silently stopped a steaming tidal wave of legislative turds.
Keep your Dem Senators, or else!
The term "moderate conservative" is equivalent to the term "moderate terrorist": there is no such thing.
I'm not even looking for it! They toed the party line and deserve what they get for it. Get a clue:
in·teg·ri·ty
/ɪnˈtɛgrɪti/ Show Spelled[in-teg-ri-tee] Show IPA
noun
1.
adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
I am genuinely disgusted by both parties extremism. The hate and the absolute viciousness with which politics is conducted these days is disgusting.
Your back-patting false equivalency is precious. Go give yourself a lavender-scented bubble bath. Then read:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story.html
The Democrats are not steered by their "extreme" members. In fact, I would ask you who you think the extreme Democrats are. Alan Grayson is not there, nor is Dennis Kucinich. And I don't even consider them extreme. Only the Republicans have members who that are extreme in their viewpoints.
And yet, Getyourleash, if you were asked what extremism the Democrats have engaged in...you couldn't name an example I bet.
So please..why don't you try.
Get ready for an -ism spasm. (Socialism, Communism, Marism, Facism,..., all synonymous in Wingnut World.)
There are some of us, including probably some members of Congress (I think I've read that Bernie Sanders identifies as a socialist, even?), who hold extremely liberal views. But I'm not aware of any who are infantile ideologues, stomping our feet and holding our breath when we don't get what we want.
Leftists have seen the consequences of the long decades of their own ideological rigidity, extremism and purity, and have learned the appropriate lessons. Those being that ideological rigidity, extremism and purity are very bad things.
Right wingers don't learn. They don't reflect on their experiences, they're not very self-aware, and there is nothing however catastrophic that will make them question the rightness of their course.
Give the extreme conservatives "credit" for using the electoral process to take control of the GOP. This is a democracy and they have taken advantage of both the primary and general elections to get people with crazy views elected. I don't wonder why "moderate" Republicans didn't speak up, I wonder why voters elected these folks in the first place.
Can't bear to watch these moderates beat themselves up? They were more than happy to take the money of these right wing groups, align with their troglodytic policies, and lo and behold, they are now essentially at the mercy of these extremists which of dominated the GOP since they had a nervous breakdown when Bill Clinton was first elected president.
I look forward to the impending Civil War within the GOP.
There aren't enough Rockafeller Republicans left to wage a civil war in the party. The moderates lost any intraparty war long, long ago in what was essentially a bloodless coup with minimal resistance.
There is no such thing as a "moderate Republican." It is a wholly mythical creature. There are Republicans who may privately hold positions that are not quite as extremist as the majority of the GOP death cult, but they dare not speak those beliefs too loudly lest the mob turn on them, and on no account should those beliefs ever translate into action that is contrary to the cult's overarching agenda of death and destruction.
The Republican moderates sat on their hands when Gingrich became Speaker of the House and Rupert Murdoch started his incessant attacks on Clinton and the Dems. Gingrich and Murdoch were happy to supply fodder and keep moving the party further to the right. The big clue was Glen Beck became the spokesperson for the radicals, Tea Party, conspiracy theorists and the rest of the kooks. The Republicans got in bed with the Tea Party which took over the regular Republican party. The moderates cowered and now they are wondering how all this happened. Duh.
The old-style Republicans thought that they could use the extremists to cement their hold on power, never dreaming that the extremists might want to wield power themselves. It's not the first time conservative elites have made that particular mistake.
Al Gore called it back in the early 2000's when he noted that conservatives were engaging in a "kind of cold civil war." Now, with wizened old coots bankrolling the dregs of the party, I have to admit, I fear that the "cold civil war" is warming up. Even though I'm a staunch Democrat, I often ponder that the only thing that will really make me feel comfortable in this country again, is to see non-extremist Republicans start getting elected in their districts. Every single election we have now is for the highest stakes. Because to let the GOP gain control of anything is to doom all progress. Look at how the Tea Party house has sabotaged the economy - blocking job-creation legislation, threatening the full faith and credit of the U.S., costing taxpayers tens of millions to "play House" (passing useless legislation that's going nowhere), and it goes on and on. And instead of substantive discussion of issues from GOP candidates, all we get are loon rants, big lies and Koch/Adelson/Rove-bankrolled smear campaigns. I hope this country comes to its senses.
They need to walk out en masse (pardon my French). Either join the Democrats or join form a third party and caucus with the Democrats. At with point the POG's goal of destroying our form of gov't would be complete and we'd now have a parliamentary system--many parties, shifting alliances, etc.
Talk is cheap. The Senate right now provides a fairly easy way for the moderates to have power. McConnell's strategy depends on the power of absolute unity -- both from a PR standpoint against Obama, but also because it creates the most "surface tension" on the cesspool of his caucus. Once one Senator breaks ranks, it becomes easier for others to do so. And it would only take a handful to break filibusters and let the Senate function as it had for generations. Which actually gives the moderates a lot of power behind their demands, as the party can either accede to them behind closed doors, or see the mods break and go with the Dems in public.
I'll believe they are serious once they've played this card a time or three.
Absolutely correct. If a few moderates in the Senate bolt, they can pass legislation with the Dems who will be more than happy to negotiate with willing partners. The same thing is true in the House.
and it's only going to get worse...check this lead from the ap
"Frustrated by their inability to achieve some policy goals, conservatives in Republican states are turning against moderate members of their own party, trying to drive them out of state legislatures to clear the way for reshaping government across a wide swath of mid-America controlled by the GOP."
http://www.southernminn.com/ap/state/article_4fa55faa-4071-5803-b1bd-ca12aab5d09c.html
sigh. the republicans have an record of corruption, incompetence, and radicalism that goes unbroken back to the days of richard nixon. each cycle brings more profound ventures into greed and delusion. sadly, i am coming to the conclusion that the republicans are so successful because they mirror what a majority of the electorate really admires.
At this point, with the GOP proudly flaunting every one of its obnoxious colors, we have to assign corruption, incompetence, and radicalism to the American people. We simply have a sorry-a$$ citizenry that is irresponsibly inattentive to its own governance, and it going to deserve every bit of the upcoming Gilded Age and banana republic it gets for its lack of concern.
The author makes some good points about the silence of the less extreme Republicans which should be a good lesson to those eligible to vote and are keeping their wallets and their mouths shut in the most important election since GWBush stole the election from Al Gore and gave us this monstrosity of a bad economy and of course, the Iraq War. Will those lessons be taken, or will we hear crying and gnashing of teeth of the poor and middle class if the Republicans win in November?
It's easy to talk the moderate talk, but do you walk the moderate walk? Voting in lockstep with other republicans makes you extreme. You aren't paid to talk moderate and vote extreme.
I registered as an independent when I saw that Obama, the man I voted for, wasn't going to be the president I voted for. I'll vote for him again because he will make a better president than Mitt, not because he is a democrat. I want good government, i don't care who gives it to me. I want single payer health care, I want the rich to pay their fair share, I want a world class leader in the White House so they can speak with other world leaders in an intelligent manor. Most of all I want leaders not panders.
Time for some of these GOP moderates to switch party affiliations. Their voices are drowned out by the Tea Baggers. Christie Todd Whitman wrote a book called "It's My Party Too" Sorry Christie, it ain't.
I know, carping about typos is ridiculous and petty, but I think I'd really like the political coverage at a site like Buff Feed...is that a tumblr about protein shakes or something?
Nothing prevents the moderates from speaking out. If they don't speak out, they will never have influence. They are acting scared.
For decades, I've listened to supposed "moderate" Republicans decry the growing extremism for their party, and yet, every election no matter how moderate and competent the Democratic candidate and how extreme, how corrupt, or how incompetent the Republican, they vote for the Republican. There's always some deficiency about the Democrat that is just so horrible, that they can't contemplate the alternative. And then, after they're done celebrating with the extremists, they resume their handwringing over their powerlessness to stop the drift.
Yeah, I'm lookin' at you Bobo Brooks.
You have just put into words why I will NEVER vote Republican again. I am a registered Democrat but have always been one to vote "for the person not the party" and since my first election in 1972 I have usually voted with no regard for party affiliation. The way the ENTIRE party has rubber-stamped this determination to do anything, hurt anyone, destroy everything as long as they get back into power has told me all I need to know about the Republicans as a party. I would vote for a dead cockroach over anyone with an R by their name and that includes anyone related to me or even Jesus Christ himself should he return and run for office.
He wouldn't run as a Republican.
so, given how the GOP is stratifying itself (religious right, moderates, ron paul followers, teapartiers, etc), when do we see the party making a formal split? i'm thinking either after Romney makes his VP pick and PO's one of the wings of his party to the point of walking out of the convention or maybe causing a floor fight over the VP, after this election after romney blows it, or even in 2014 when the GOP ends up losing congress due to even the current GOP crowd sits out that election. but by 2016 I do somehow see at least 3 parties going for the presidency, maybe 4.
The original leadership and founders of the Tea Party, a grassroot organization at the start, have washed their hands of it. They weren't all Republican, beleive it or not. It was highjacked by the right wing bigots and extremists. The Republican leadership originally accepted this so called conservative movement because they were still reeling from the Bush Era fiasco and a humiliating defeat. Remember, the instant an Obama victory was declared, they met and vowed that they would make him a one term president and they would do ANYTHING to make that a reality. The old leadership opened a Pandora's Box and now there is no Republican Party to speak of, it is the Tea Party.
Is it just me or do I perceive Romney becming known as the presumptive nominee for the TEA-Republican party, FOX has actually begun spreading rumors that Romney is better for business and money management than Obama. It's just like blaming Obama for the debt ceiling after Bush started two unfunded wars and gave away lucrative tax deals to the richest in America. All these millionaires still haven't hired us out of the recession as they are purported to be in many TEA-Republican ads and presentations. The GOP, also know as TEA-Republican's are fully accepting TEA party issues as gospel to insure they get the TEA vote. So many Conservatives arguing they are more conservative than the other guy. These are the same people arguing against the PPACA, the Health Care Act, which is now called ObamaCare and renamed from RomneyCare.