The Political Spectrum

Haroly Meyerson evidently assumes that his audience is full of people who will just blithely accept what he writes without bothering to do research.  Unfortunately for him, some of his readers have access to research tools like Lexis-Nexis, and as such can quickly point out contradictory statements.

Take today's article in the Post, for example.  In it, Meyerson excoriates Joe Lieberman, particularly for Joe's assertion that parties should welcome diversity of opinion.  Lieberman is in trouble in the upcoming Senate primary, primarily for supporting the Iraq War.  Well, ole Harold is having none of that:

That's a rather stunning assertion. If parties were based on the acceptance of diversity of opinion on the most important issues of the day, they would lack the definition to be parties at all. And the conduct and duration of our involvement in Iraq is, by the measure of every single poll, the No. 1 issue in the minds of the American people -- a majority of whom believe that the Bush administration has botched the war about as badly as a war can be botched.

So, according to Meyerson, the members of a party ought to vote in lock step on the major issues of the day.

Funny, but Meyerson didn't seem to have a problem with a group of moderate Republicans when they caused problems for President Bush last Fall.  In fact, Meyerson praised the moderates for raising a hue and cry when Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act.  In an article from November 3, 2005, Meyerson writes:

Which makes the Republican moderates understandably nervous. Life is unfair, and it's their seats, more than the more secure ones of their hard-right colleagues, that are being added to the Democrats' list of districts to contest in next year's elections. And who knows? Maybe courage, or judgment, is contagious. Having stood up to the president on Davis-Bacon and lived to tell the tale, they might just tell their colleagues who want to cut back on medical assistance to the poor to take a hike. Over in the Senate, they might even reject a Supreme Court nominee who could imperil a woman's right to reproductive choice. Because one thing is certain: Whatever ails the Republican Party, it's not that it's insufficiently right-wing.

Ignoring the idiotic blather about "reproductive choice," it seems Meyerson has no problem whatsoever with dissidence, just so long as the dissidents are all in the Republican party and steer it in a direction Meyerson approves of.  As for the Democratic party, no insubordination from the leftist dogma will be tolerated.  How open minded of him.

# posted by Paul Zummo : 10:19 AM