Thursday, April 23, 2009

from NY to Israel Sultan Reveals The Stories Behind the News







"Extremists" and "Moderates" and the Future of the Republican Party


Posted: 22 Apr 2009 07:07 PM PDT






For 7 years after 9/11, American concerns about "extremism" were usually
preceded by the word, "Muslim". Today the Dems are back in power and
"extremism" is once again preceded by "Right-Wing". But buying into the
notion that our focus should be on "Right-Wing Extremism" means buying
into a 9/10 mentality. And for anyone regardless of their political affiliation,
who had their eyes opened on 9/11, this cynical attempt to divert attention
from the real threat of Islamic Terrorism, in order to scapegoat the
political opposition should be easy enough to reject.

From early on part of Obama's strategy has been to pit the so-called
moderate Republicans against the party's conservative core. This has been
less of an electoral strategy, than one focused on getting his political
opponents to fight among themselves. Liberal Republicans form a small
part of the party'selectoral base, but a large number of its public face.
Conversely Conservative Republicans form the broadest part of the party's
electoral base, but a small part of its public face. Pitting one against the
other has meant pitting a vocal and public minority against the party's
silent majority. All the while Obama's tame press corps could stand
back and pen articles on how the Republicans were tearing themselves
apart, knowing that some of the dimmer Meghan McCain Republicans
would happily come on board to give them some choice quotes.

But the Republican party isn't tearing itself apart. Neither is the blogsphere.
There is a division happening between those who are getting back to the
issues and standing up to a corrupt out of control administration-- and
those who are spending all their time criticizing them for it.

That division is between the relevant and the irrelevant. The mitosis
that leaves one dead cell and one active and living cell. That is of course
what grass roots movements are all about.

Contrary to the official press coverage, this isn't a split between the right
and the left. It is a split between the self-defined moderates who have
nothing to offer but alarmist campaigns against the "right wing threat"
and a grass roots movement that is sick of an out of touch Republican
party that has swung too far to the left and compromised core beliefs
on government spending, government power, immigration, individual
freedoms and the war on terror.

Grass roots means a public movement pushing for reform. The so-called
"moderates" by contrast represent the old way that has failed, resistant
to change and incapable of rationally arguing their position, they instead
resort to mud slinging and demonization of their opponents as
dangerous and violent.

The 2008 Republican candidate gave the "moderates" just about everything
they could want. McCain was socially liberal, pro-illegal immigration, opposed
to the religious right and could easily pass as a Conservative Democrat at
a casual glance. And he failed and the way of the moderates failed with him.
No one can forget McCain repeating "My friends" over and over again, or going
on about bipartisanship. And few really want a repeat of that in 2010 or 2012.

The "moderates" had their chance and they blew it. Now the Meghan McCain
side of the party, rather than meaningfully participating in resisting the
wrongheaded policies of the Obama Administration, is busy trying to
delegitimize those who are actually returning to the roots to build a
movement that can reshape the party and give it the edge it needs to
take back America from big government spending, terrorist appeasement
and politically correct tyranny.

But all that the Meghan McCain side of the party has accomplished is to
make themselves irrelevant. The only people listening to them now are
fellow liberals and whoever still watches CNN. Their regular denunciations
have no meaning because they are destructive, rather than constructive.
The only thing their rhetoric accomplishes is to marginalize them from
any role in the party's future. And while the grass roots may often be
abrasive or vocal, if you have to choose between the Glenn Beck side of
the party of the Meghan McCain side of the party. It's not a very difficult
choice.


There is a far right, but it doesn't consist of Beck or Limbaugh. It consists of
people who may occasionally play Republicans on TV, but who are little
more than fascists and terrorist supporters in suits and ties. Their actual
views overlap heavily with their left wing counterparts.

The likes of Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan have more in common with Ward
Churchill and Ed Schultz, than they do with where the Republican party is
headed. Their supporters have big plans to infiltrate, manipulate and
control-- but just as in the primaries their reach has a way of exceeding
their grasp.

"Right Wing Extremism" is of course a threat. But it is a threat mainly to
the political establishment that led the Republican party to defeat. It is a
threat to the Obama Administration and to his cronies.

It is mainly a threat to those who insist that Republicans be Democrats
with more homey appeal and slightly tougher rhetoric. That worked
well enough for Bush, but the people demand more.

In 2008 it wasn't the moderate Democrats who won. It was the
extremists. If the Republicans win in 2012, it won't be the moderates
who will win either.

That is why responding to the Meghan McCain side of the party is a waste
of time and a distraction. It accomplishes nothing except to give Obama's
people another victory. The future will not be built through civil war, but
by those who see the issues that matter and fight for them.














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