Posted on 11/29/2010 7:28:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In a political culture where moderation is the new heresy, centrism is fast becoming the new black.
Political outliers - not quite Republican, not quite Democrat - are forming new alliances in a communal search for "Home." Exhausted by extremism and aching for real change, more and more Americans are moving away from demagoguery and toward pragmatism.
Soon they may have options. A new political group, No Labels ( www.nolabels.org ), is hoping to mobilize and support a centrist political movement. Led by Republican strategist Mark McKinnon and Democratic fundraiser Nancy Jacobson, the organization has raised more than $1 million so far - and the formal launch isn't until next month. Backers include Andrew Tisch, co-chair of Loews Corp.; Ron Shaich, founder of Panera Bread; and Dave Morin, a former Facebook executive.
The group hopes to attract politicians who feel that they've lost elections for being too moderate and voters who feel homeless. There are plenty of each.
SNIP SNIP
When the porridge is either too hot or too cold, the moment for something in between is ripe. More Americans now self-identify as independent rather than Republican or Democrat, even though they may be forced by a lack of alternatives to vote in traditional ways.
But what if there were an alternative? There's little appealing about either party dominated by a base that bears little resemblance to who we are as a nation or the way most of us live our lives.
Yet moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans alike have been banished. Purged, really. Some of them have landed in the No Labels camp.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
On one extreme you have people who want you to eat ice cream for desert.
On the other extreme you have people who want you to eat dog crap for desert.
The moderate/centrist wants you to eat half a bowl of each.
How does that moderation sound?
Then let's agree that in 1992 NO "conservative" ran for Prez.
;-)
Socialism and freedom are incompatible. If you mix them, you get more of the former and less of the latter. I guess that’s too complicated for Ms. Parker and her crowd to understand.
Lol, nice.
Btw, what do the "Apathetic Voters of America" lobby for?
Leave it to the Washington Post to try to push this kind of B.S. even after the middle and left got hell beat out of it in this last election.
If Ms. Parker likes centrists, she can go join them. No one is stopping her!
No.
There is no “central” ground left. They want A, we want not-A, and there is no “sort-of A.”
Polarization is one reason our elections have been so bouncy for the past few cycles. There is a large group who don’t much care for either extreme, and pull the lever for “whoever we didn’t vote for last time.” Unfortunately, this leads to results as summed up in my tagline.
Or democrats looking for advantage. Or both.
41% of Americans refer to themselves as conservative and only 20 % as liberal. That's good enough Kathleen. Take a seat and shut up.
He worked for Texan Democrats Governor Ann Richards, Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, Congressman Charlie & Wilson. Also Louisana Governor Democrat (when he worked for him) Buddy Roemer.
When he did agree to work for for GW Bush here's his stated reasons:
"...this Governor Bush was doing some things that really got my attention. He was talking about education reform. He was talking about immigration reform. He was talking about issues that had typically been Democratic issues. He was talking about them in a really compassionate way.’’When he worked for McCain in the 2008 primary, he only did so on the condition that if Obama was the Democrat nominee, he would quit McCain, because he would not work against Obama. And he did so.“{I was particularly}...impressed with how he’d gotten ahead of the Republican Party.”
Some "centrist" "Republican" strategist! Works for Democrats unless a Republic behaves like a Democrat (RINO) and only as long as he doesn't oppose a Democrat McKinnon favors - like Obama.
Didn’t work too well in 2008.
How about a “center of mass” movement?
The whole reason they are trying to avoid labels is that a label contains information about the “product” it is attached to.
Leftist ideology, in order to attain power, must obfuscate their goals and beliefs.
That leaves the 40% in the middle - the moderates. And they tend to go with whomever least terrifies them...
Yes, and leftists looking for re-branding.
The public is noticing our impending insolvency so it's time to throttle back and destroy America somewhat more slowly for a while.
A centrist party without an ideology. Just what does it mean to be a moderate? What are your core beliefs? That’s question that needs to be put to them.
Absolutely. What can be more vague than a ‘movement’ based on nothing? A ‘new political group’ promoted by the compost is astroturf. Astroturf in plain English means ‘democrat strategy’. This is nothing more than obama looking toward 2012.
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