Thomas Friedman on Americans Elect.
It’s a great idea. But can a great political idea survive without media support? And is the media beyond supporting great political ideas?
Comments
Ugh. Friedman is the consumate Beltway media idiot. Constantly calling for some third party that he wants to just meet in the middle and choose a little from column a and a little from column b, not do anything that makes anyone feel too uncomfortable or icky, and if only it could be like it was when Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill went out for beers together after a hard day of negotiating everything would be great.
This is all predicated on the notion that the Democratic party has not gone radically to this mythical center. They are now only slightly less pro-corporation carte blanch, only slightly less pro-military industrial complex than the Republicans are. They are constantly trying to “compromise” and reach some “middle ground” and in return the Republicans keep shifting the debate and the goals left.
What we need is not some mythical “centrist” party. We already have that party. It’s the Democrats. What we need is the old Democratic party back and let the current crop of gutless, mealy mouthed Republican-lite Democrats form their own “third way” “both sides are too extreme” BS party and run with it. If they win, great. But this notion that somehow far left extremists are holding the Democratic party hostage as much as the far right ones are the Republicans is a pure BS media play.
In this whole debt discussion, Democrats at their most steadfast have still more or less agreed to 90% of what the Republicans want and they’re still being portrayed as being too hardline because they don’t want to cut Social Security or Medicare at the expense of no tax increases on any person, or any corporation anywhere, ever. And way more than half of the population in every single poll agrees with them.
So exactly how would some mythical middle of the road centrist party handle this particular situation differently.
Sorry for the rant. Also, have I ever formally apologized to you for being wrong about giving you grief about your Nader vote? Because I do. You were right. He was right.