Even The New Republic Now Calls for a Party Purge of Corporate-Owned 'Centrists'

[Joanne98]

by Glenn Greenwald

The New Republic, 2004, endorsing Joe Lieberman for President:

But one day, Joe Lieberman's warnings in this campaign will look prophetic. And the principles he has espoused will once again guide the Democratic Party. It will be the work of this magazine, to whatever small degree possible, to hasten that day.

TNR's Jonathan Chait, in The Los Angeles Times, 2006, viciously condemning those who mounted a primary challenge against Lieberman (an "anti-Lieberman jihad"):

he anti-Lieberman campaign has come to stand for much more than Lieberman's sins. It's a test of strength for the new breed of left-wing activists who are flexing their muscles within the party. These are exactly the sorts of fanatics who tore the party apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They think in simple slogans and refuse to tolerate any ideological dissent.

TNR's Chait, last month:

A few weeks ago, Senator Dianne Feinstein announced that she and other Senate Democrats harbored reservations about President Obama's plans to overhaul the health care system. . . . The reaction from the left was swift and, by the standards of such things, furious. Which is to say, not very furious. . . .

I have a suggestion for something that would be productive: run a primary challenge against her. . . . The possibility of a primary challenge could balance out Bayh's incentives, thus aligning them more with those of the national party. . . . Primary electorates consist of a small, highly partisan subset of the electorate, and the prospect of submitting themselves to a partisan loyalty contest terrifies centrists like Bayh.

TNR's Chait, this week:

But if health care reform fails, liberals need to understand who to blame and how to fix it. They need to start knocking off Democrats like Conrad and Joe Lieberman, who seem to be trying to kill health care reform, even if this temporarily costs the Democrats some seats. . . . If health care reform can't pass now, then a filibuster-proof Democratic majority isn't worth having. At that point you have to consider blowing up the party and waiting a decade or two to rebuild a new one that's able to address the country's actual needs.

___________

My, what a rapid and total reversal -- one effectuated without the slightest acknowledgment that it even occurred. But that's just the accountability-free nature of Beltway punditry. There's a more important point highlighted here: namely, it is a sign of how dysfunctional the Democratic Party is -- and how meaningless is their glorious super-majority -- that even The New Republic, which long prided itself on safeguarding the Party from nefarious left-wing influences, is now calling for "centrist" Democratic Senators (even including Joe Lieberman) to be thrown out of office by means of primary challenges (I believe that was once called a "purity purge"), even if doing so results in a loss of Democratic seats. Chait's rationale is that allowing "centrist" dominance within the party means that the same corporate interests (rather than the interests of constituents) and the same political agenda end up being served regardless of which party is in control, meaning that -- as he put it -- even "a filibuster-proof Democratic majority isn't worth having" because nothing meaningful changes. You don't say.

Continued>>>
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/28

[Vincardog]

1. DUH where have I heard this before? Oh yeah I said it. K & R

[Recursion]

2. Wow, that was a great sentence

If health care reform can't pass now, then a filibuster-proof Democratic majority isn't worth having.

A-freaking-men.

[subcomhd]

3. doesn't sound appealing

"At that point you have to consider blowing up the party and waiting a decade or two to rebuild a new one that's able to address the country's actual needs."

Surely something that won't take 20 years is possible?

[malletgirl02]

4. I agree

That doesn't sound good. So while the Democratic party is rebuilding the Republicans will be wrecking the country even more. I'm glad you pulled that quote out, so many people don't think about the entire picture. I really don't trust the New Republic anyway I question their motives.