In his discussion with Scott the other day, Freddie wrote, in a since-much-cited quote:
When conservatives argue, they say, “my position is the really conservative one.” When liberals argue, they often still say, “my position isn’t too liberal, don’t worry.”
Over at Balloon Juice today, mistermix has what could reasonably be Exhibit A1 of this phenomenon, a direct mail piece, paid for by the Democratic Governors’ Association accusing the Republican governor of Iowa (who is facing a primary challenge) of being “One of the best liberal governors the state has ever had.”
I say only “could reasonably be Exhibit A1” rather than “is Exhibit A1” because this is far from the first time that the Democratic establishment has done this sort of thing. Indeed, back in 2008, I documented a pair of Dem Party funded direct mail pieces attacking a local GOP Congressional candidate (now Congressman), Leonard Lance, as a “Trenton insider” for some liberal-ish position Lance had supposedly taken, while pumping for a third party candidate as the “Fiscal and Social Conservative.”
Perhaps providing further support for Freddie’s point (and really the point of other passionate and proud liberals/progressives/lefties): Lance won that election, and the aforementioned mail pieces that I received from the Dems ultimately clinched my vote for Lance by reinforcing that Lance is relatively liberal (by GOP standards, at least) on social issues, and far from a zealot on a lot of other issues where I may differ from the GOP. Indeed, the subliminal message it sent proved pretty crucial to me: the Dem candidate and the GOP candidate were more or less indistinguishable on issues where I think Dems are supposed to be better (ie, more libertarian or classically liberal).
I’m sure that people in plenty of other districts could document similar phenomena going back years. I’m having a hard time remembering something similar being done by the GOP establishment in the last five or six years (with the notable and obvious exception of some pro-Nader ads in the 2000 elections, which, not coincidentally came at a time when the GOP candidate was campaigning as a “compassionate conservative” as opposed to a “true conservative”).
Why do you think liberals are reluctant to proudly proclaim their liberalism? In the media, in univerisities and in hollywood, in just about all of popular culture, it’s more uncool to be a conservative than liberal, so, it appears all liberals would wear pins on their shirts advertising their liberalness.Report
Because liberals know or inherently sense that most of their ideas are devoid of principle (in fact that’s the point of most of them). Therefore they look to provide some reassurance that what they are suggesting is not recklessly radical.Report
/eyerollReport
@Koz, that ranks up there with your comment of a few days ago,
“Paul Krugman is Exhibit A for the proposition that liberalism is a mechanism for turning otherwise intelligent people into drooling idiots.”
I’m getting the picture.
BTW, do you also post under the name Bob Cheeks?Report
@Bob, Bob, don’t go slandering Brother Cheek with association with Koz. Bob is at least creative with his polemics. Koz only has like four lines. Wait until he pulls out his “Republicans are the last best hope for the future of the country.” line on you.Report
Right. When you’re dealing with dim bulbs you don’t take chances with bad memories if you can avoid it.Report
@North, oh I gotta disagree. A lot of “commie” “dem” god stuff with BC. Pretty one note in my book.Report
@Bob, Cheeks has his moments of unexpectedness. I was impressed by his knowledge of vintage R&B records not too long ago.Report
@Bob, Bob is deeply knowledgeable about a lot of interesting things, and his polemics are so over the top it’s hard to believe that he seriously believes what he says. It always sounds cheerful and somewhat tongue in cheek. Koz in contrast sounds deadly earnest. He seems to genuinely believe that the entire history and edifice of liberalism is utterly without principle. Plus Br. Cheeks is venerable and therefore irascible and eccentric. I have no idea what age Koz is but he sounds like a true dogmatic believer and they’re not typically old.Report
@Mike Farmer, Old white people are conservative. Young people, the poor and minorities are liberal. Old white people vote. Young people, the poor and minorities don’t. Add to this the fact that young people, the poor and minorities tend to be more transient than old white people, and I imagine that the mailer money flows towards knocking liberals.
Add to this that I think your framing is radically skewed. From where I’m sitting, the media isn’t liberal and hasn’t been for a long, long time. From where I’m sitting, acceptable discourse in the mainstream media in the US runs from the moderate, squishy left-of-center to wild-eyed, gold standard crazies.Report
@Aaron,
I said it’s uncool to be conservative in the media — just look at all the flack Fox gets. Pay attention.Report
@Aaron,
Old white conservatives voted for Obama and Democrat controlled congress? Damn, I didn’t know that.Report
@Mike Farmer,
Who do you think normally votes Blue Dog?Report
@Mike Farmer,
Because strong, proud liberalism requires two things even less cool than conservatism: earnestness and sincerity.
That’s why being a libertarian is the coolest thing of all.Report
Perhaps it’s a hold over from the days when the genuine threat of communism lurked beyond the leftward border of leftwing discourse in America.Report
Another thing that made me think of Freddie’s comment was the Democratic politicians coming down hard on Michael Steele for his comments on the war. Okay, I get that they’re pissed at the suggestion that Obama started the war, and that’s fine. But listening to a bunch of Democrats pulling the I’m-hawkier-than-thou-and-if-you-don’t-support-this-war-as-much-as-I-do,-you-hate-America crap was pretty revolting, especially since- aside from the fact that Obama didn’t start the war- most of what he was saying was true. I don’t know; maybe we could call this Freddie’s Rule.Report
Sadly the “pulling the I’m-hawkier-than-thou-and-if-you-don’t-support-this-war-as-much-as-I-do,-you-hate-America crap ” hasn’t ever seemed to lead a pol to lose an election. I used to blame repub’s for that and while they have perfected that art form, to many independents and Dem’s seem to go for it. The sad truth seems to be that a lot of american’s go for it.Report
(with the notable and obvious exception of some pro-Nader ads in the 2000 elections… )
They’re actually funding the Green Party in Texas as we speak. They’re not running ads, but I doubt it’s due to a love of the Green Party platform.Report
@Trumwill, This may or may not be a good distinction, but for me there’s a big difference between funding of ideologically opposite fringe parties and active running of advertisements (with your side’s name attached to them). The former, to me, is basically an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” sort of thing, whereas the latter has a tendency to actively distance yourself from what you are theoretically supposed to represent.Report