Saturday, April 02, 2005
 

Let 'em in, please

Christie Whitman knows her party's been hijacked by radical fundamentalists, but she can't say who they are because she can't bring herself to break from the party. (Steve Gilliard calls her on it.)

This is her dilemma, hers and every other moderate Republican (the few that are left in positions of power or influence) -- if the party's salvagable, they don't want to jump ship, they want to, in some way, save it, but the stranglehold the radical right has on the party is so damn strong that if the moderates say anything too specific, if they actually name names they'll get greased, but good. (DaLay's people have made that entirely clear.)

So, what's a moderate Republican to do?

I wish I had some more soothing advice for them, or a quick fix they could use, but given the realities of the situation, either they shut up and hang on by their fingernails, gritting their teeth until the time when their party is open to more moderate voices (if it ever comes, that is -- the current change could, after all, be a permanent radical transmutation of the character of the party; it's been in process for over 30 years now, after all, and the entire infrastructure of the party is imbued with the new radical philosophy), or else they've got to suck it in and leave the party behind.

Given that, it really would be a good idea if the Democratic party, either private or publicly, explicitly or by implication, would start making some noises about how our big tent welcomes honest, hard-working, ethical and well-meaning politicians of many different views into its fold.

Do you hear me, Governor Dean? Please make an effort to let these people know that we're open to having them join us.

I don't mean we should throw open the doors and let in anyone who's skulking out there in the dark, but surely a case can be made that it's better to have many of them officially with us than it is to have them aligned with the organization that's diametically opposed to us, and if that means forgiving a few of the slings and arrows thrown around in the course of normal political skirmishing -- well, then we need to suck it in and let it go.

I've been on this for a while now -- (this, this and this are from a year ago) -- thinking of the great strategic and tactical value these kinds of defections would have for us, how they could significantly help to tip the balance in our direction, and I've yet to see any indication that it's something the party is taking seriously. Of course, since I'm a rank outsider and a complete neophyte, if these things were going on in some kind of deep background, there's no reason that I would know about it, but you'd think that along with back-channel communications there'd be some public component as well, a piece of ice on the water that would suggest there was an iceberg underneath it.

But, as far as I can tell, nada. My fear is that this is another great opportunity that the party is letting pass by. I wish someone could allay my concern. I'm interested in winning elections, especially for the Presidency, and I want to break the radical right's iron grip on the American government, moderate Republicans leaving their party and becoming Democrats will help accomplish that, at very little cost to us. Why aren't we pursuing that?

Update: More in Gilliard's comments thread.

Ed Fitzgerald | 4/02/2005 04:39:00 AM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE







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