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Tom Perriello and the Myth of the Moderate Democrat
THE FREEDOM FIGHTER'S JOURNAL ^ | August 29, 2010 | Robert Tracinski

Posted on 08/29/2010 7:54:20 AM PDT by Ronbo1948

Thursday night, I witnessed an unusual sight: a Democratic incumbent speaking to a local Tea Party group. Tom Perriello, the congressman for Virginia's fifth district, spoke to a monthly meeting of our local Charlottesville group, the Jefferson Area Tea Party.

I almost had to give Perriello credit for courage, for having the guts to venture into the lion's den while other Democratic congressmen are scrambling to evade their constituents. Almost. But when I saw Perriello at work, I realized that this wasn't the courage of a principled leader who is willing to go forthrightly into the enemy's camp and defend his principles. It's the brazenness of a practiced card-sharp who is confident he can shuffle the deck fast enough to fool the suckers.

But I took the opportunity to ask the congressman one simple question that, in my mind, cuts through to the core issue, reveals the real radicalism of Democrats' attack on liberty, and exposes the myth of the moderate Democrat.

Perriello's whole method was not to answer our questions or address the ideological differences between us. His method was to evade our questions and defuse any sense of confrontation, to mollify us with soothing sounds while disguising his real intentions. I found myself chuckling part-way through his opening presentation when I realized how crudely, childishly obvious his method is. The formula is to emphasize areas of seeming agreement with his audience—even with a Tea Party audience—but always to keep his answers vague, general, up in the clouds. After all, if he was forced to get down to specifics, the illusion would vanish.

(Excerpt) Read more at ronbosoldier.blogspot.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Politics
KEYWORDS: democrat; donkey; hypoicrites; liars; perriello; tomperriello; wellformedquestion

1 posted on 08/29/2010 7:54:22 AM PDT by Ronbo1948
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To: Ronbo1948

Great article!

I hope they throw that snake out of office in November.

I regret that I don’t live in his district, just so I could vote against him!


2 posted on 08/29/2010 8:10:15 AM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Ronbo1948

Ladies & Gentlemen of voting age, there is no such thing or animal as a good Democrat. They all hate America and love theri failue POTUS and America hater Barack Hussein Obama!!!


3 posted on 08/29/2010 8:13:26 AM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX
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To: Ronbo1948

Moderate Democrats are like moderate muslims—traitors to the faith and not long for this world.


4 posted on 08/29/2010 8:17:42 AM PDT by Happy Rain ("K Marx had 7 kids-only 3 lived to maturity-of those 2 committed suicide-1st children of the Left.")
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To: Ronbo1948

Excellent article!!


5 posted on 08/29/2010 8:19:28 AM PDT by Howie66 (I can see November from my house.)
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To: Ronbo1948

There is really no such thing as a moderate Democrat. The most vital vote they cast is for leadership, and any congress person whom votes for a liberal for Speaker can not possibly be a moderate.

It is true that they may not be far leftists and are just using the Democratic party to get into office, but doing that means they are beholden to their far leftist leadership.

Yet, sadly, people do not realize this and will almost certainly keep electing these “moderates”.


6 posted on 08/29/2010 8:25:40 AM PDT by Longbow1969
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To: Ronbo1948
Here is the KeyHouseRaces.com "Race at a Glance" for VA-05. The polls are looking pretty good for Hurt.

VA-05   Virginia District  5    Hurt (R) vs. Perriello (D) Updated: Aug-21-2010
INCUMBENT
CHALLENGER
The District & The Race
YouTube - Recent Polls - Ratings - History
 Robert Hurt on YouTube

SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA, 18 COUNTIES & LARGEST VA DISTRICT

After winning by a 727-vote margin in 2008, Tom Perriello returns this fall to face Republican State Senator Rob Hurt in what is clearly an uphill battle for the incumbent. In this Republican-friendly year, Perriello’s liberal voting record puts him at a distinct disadvantage against Hurt, a Virginia State Senator, who stands for fiscal responsibility and strong conservative values. (bw)

Hurt  (R) 49% Aug-01-2010
Perriello (D) 43% Ayers-McHenry
Hurt (R) 58% Feb-10-2010
Perriello (D) 35% SurveyUSA
Hurt (D) 444% PPP
Tom Perriello (D)
Perriello (D) 44% PPP
$2,300,606 Total $770,882 Total Avg-Presidential-Vote R+10
$1,723,210 Cash $215,954 Cash KeyHouseRaces Rating TOSS-UP-R

7 posted on 08/29/2010 8:41:24 AM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: Happy Rain

I hadn’t thought of that parallel with Islam, but it’s right on!


8 posted on 08/29/2010 8:42:20 AM PDT by Ronbo1948
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To: Howie66

My good friend Robert Tracinski has been a contributor to my blog for the last five years, and although I don’t always agree with him, he’s a highly intelligent man and first rate writer.


9 posted on 08/29/2010 8:46:33 AM PDT by Ronbo1948
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To: InterceptPoint

Thanks for posting the article.

It looks like another Democommie bites the dust!


10 posted on 08/29/2010 8:49:15 AM PDT by Ronbo1948
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To: Ronbo1948
They can argue that they are "moderate" Democrats because they have renamed everything. If something is even remotely not liberal it is "extremism from the Right." And if it is super, ultra liberal it is "moderate." In their view of the world there is no such thing as the "extreme Left" or "extreme liberalism." That is moderate after all.

This is one of my big problems with conservatives I see on TV, either hosting shows or involved in discussions and debates. They don't argue these terms and just let it stand. They counter what the person is arguing, such as taxes or health care, but too often they do nothing to really respond to these fictitious definitions of moderate and extreme. People keep hearing these ideas and they will eventually, if they haven't already, start to believe that "moderate" is a Left of center position rather than the opposite. We have to stop allowing the Left to set the terms in debates. It is a losing policy.

11 posted on 08/29/2010 9:27:16 AM PDT by cothrige
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To: sauropod

read


12 posted on 08/29/2010 9:30:30 AM PDT by sauropod (The truth shall make you free but first it will make you miserable.)
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To: Ronbo1948

Did you tar and feather the a$$hole on the way out?


13 posted on 08/29/2010 10:26:47 AM PDT by Mr. K (Physically unable to proofreed (<---oops! see?))
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To: cothrige

Back in the day when I was in politics, I never let the Left define the terms. I remember in the 1980s my Democrat opponent in a debate at a Community College in Florida kept called the Nicaraguan Resistance, “Contras” - and I refused to use the term.

I went on to paint the freedom fighters of Nicaraqua, as a contemporary French Resistance against the Nazis.

I won the debate.

It is truely written that if you let your opponent define the terms, you always lose the debate.


14 posted on 08/29/2010 10:48:21 AM PDT by Ronbo1948
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To: Ronbo1948
It is truely written that if you let your opponent define the terms, you always lose the debate.

Absolutely. We cannot let the other guys define the issues and the terms. But that is just what is happening, day in and day out, and we have to find a way to turn that around. I think the tea parties are a good start as they seem, generally, less willing to do this. Unfortunately much of what we hear about these events is being filtered through things like FoxNews, and they invariably concede the terms to the Left. Unfortunate.

15 posted on 08/29/2010 12:19:41 PM PDT by cothrige
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To: Ronbo1948

Mr. Tracinski is an excellent political analyst and he definitely has Perriello pegged.


16 posted on 08/29/2010 12:27:31 PM PDT by OldPossum
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To: cothrige

This is true for now, but we are witness to the birth of the New Media of the Internet and talk radio..Even now with Media OB (order of battle) against us, the Old Media cannot set the agenda. I’m an old timer, and can easily remember the 1970s when the only voice crying out in the wilderness was Buckley’s National Review and Firing Line.

Take Glenn Beck’s rally, for example. This would have been impossible to get off the ground without one cable television channel (Fox), the Internet and talk radio. The success of this rally is an important victory for the New Media.

So without all the new communications technology freedom would be dead in this country and the world. As it stands now, it’s Old Media that’s dying. I mean who reads the NYT, USA Today and the LA Times? They give away free copies at the colleges and the students won’t even pick them up unless they need something to wrap fish in.


17 posted on 08/29/2010 1:16:39 PM PDT by Ronbo1948
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To: Ronbo1948
Take Glenn Beck’s rally, for example. This would have been impossible to get off the ground without one cable television channel (Fox), the Internet and talk radio. The success of this rally is an important victory for the New Media.

Yes, I think you are right. Things are changing, and we can be very thankful of it. It spells disaster for the old liberal guard. But, that one cable news channel was very important in this rally as you say. And not only because of the size of the audience, but because of the subconscious legitimacy associated with major TV news networks. If something is big and important enough to be discussed on that outlet then it is, to many people watching, worth considering. More and more people are, as you say, looking to other places for their actual information and news, but they still get so much of their bias from TV. What they see there influences their foundational perceptions. That is why, IMHO, the birth certificate controversy never gained real traction with middle America. It never got reported enough on major outlets and so it was not seen as a real issue. It gave the impression of extremism and fringe activity.

Right now while we are seeing this paradigm shift in media delivery we are still tied to the Old Media, as you call it, in some ways. It influences people on a subconscious level. TV can give things a sense of legitimacy. I am hopeful that outlets like FoxNews, and conservatives on those outlets, will stop allowing the other guys from controlling and dictating the debate as they do now. People out there really do think that "moderate" is not conservative, and that is because of the insidious influence of these people on TV and elsewhere. We have to rejoin the debate and bring some truth back to it. To be moderate in America is to be right of center, not loony liberal.

18 posted on 08/29/2010 3:01:43 PM PDT by cothrige
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To: cothrige

Alexander The Great was confronted by The Gordian Knot:

“In 333 BC, while wintering at Gordium, Alexander the Great attempted to untie the knot. When he could not find the end to the knot to unbind it, he sliced it in half with a stroke of his sword, producing the required ends (the so-called “Alexandrian solution”). That night there was a violent thunderstorm. The prophets took this as a sign that Zeus was pleased and would grant Alexander many victories. Once Alexander had sliced the knot with a sword-stroke, his biographers claimed in retrospect that an oracle further prophesied that the one to untie the knot would become the king of Asia.”

My point is that the opposition could spend countless years attempting to untie the “Gordian Knot” of the Leftist Media, or by using a terrible swift sword, destroy it in one fell swoop.

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!


19 posted on 08/29/2010 4:21:05 PM PDT by Ronbo1948
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To: Ronbo1948
My point is that the opposition could spend countless years attempting to untie the “Gordian Knot” of the Leftist Media, or by using a terrible swift sword, destroy it in one fell swoop.

Yes, certainly, and I think we will. As you have noted there is a change happening that is undoing the current media model. And good riddance.

20 posted on 08/29/2010 4:51:03 PM PDT by cothrige
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