I'm noticing a concerted effort lately by a lot of Leftist groups to try to clean up their act...for the public. Daily Kos was one and recently we read about how the MoveOn.Org folks tried to tone down their normal wackiness at a House Party they sponsored in D.C. that was covered by the Washington Post. This effort reminds me of a movie I saw recently on cable called, "The Madness of King George." What happened is that King George III went bonkers and his oldest son attempted, with the support of Parliament, to take over the reigns of power and to make sure his father was permanently institutionalized. So after a period of acting completely wacky, George III realized he needed to SEEM sane to retain power so he put on a public mask of sanity. It was a funny scene in the movie. People were thinking he was sane but it was really an act. George III was REALLY wacko but knew enough to SEEM sane for public consumption.
BTW, ultimately this act didn't work out. Eventually George III was institutionalized for good and his worthless son became Regent.