Where Are They Gonna Go?
At this point, I just have to officially register the fact that I am sick of hearing about the problems conservatives are having with John McCain. It is my opinion that there should be no more airtime or column inches spent interviewing media lowlifes such as Glenn Beck or people like Rick Santorum, or representatives of the American Conservative Union, or talking about all the things that McCain 'needs' to do to win the conservative vote.
For campaign cycle after cycle, voices on the left who have been dissatisfied with a long string of centrist Democratic candidates, have been rudely and quite openly tuned out of the debate. "Sure," the Common Wisdom has said, "they may not think he's liberal enough, but hey, where are they gonna go? The Democratic Party is the only place they have a hope of making some progress toward their goals, even if it isn't as much as they want."
And, typically that's how our system works, through compromise. I realize that the political group that now calls itself 'conservative' tends to have problems with such basics of the historical American system, and they've certainly had a chance to run around loose for a couple terms, so it may be hard for them to adapt. But I'm tired of listening to them whine about it.
People on the left end of the spectrum have had to repeatedly suck it up and vote for a candidate who wasn't their ideal, or just stay home. And, if they stayed home, they might ensure the victory of a candidate who was even less their ideal. Often, they've had to vote against the other guy.
Worse, when they've tried to speak up and pull their candidate leftward, to make them more reflective of their values, they've seldom gotten coverage in the major media. It's been 'obvious' that they'd want more, and listening to them ask for it wasn't news. They've had to print their articles in The Nation, and speak on low-power public radio stations in college towns.
So I'm unwilling to listen to mainstream interviews with conservatives complaining about McCain. Conservative loons don't think he's one of them. They want more. No kidding. Exactly why is that news? How does it deserve space?
John McCain seems to be finding a robust population of Republicans who are willing to vote for him. If the conservatives don't find him conservative enough, well, too bad for them. I don't care. Where are they gonna go?
For campaign cycle after cycle, voices on the left who have been dissatisfied with a long string of centrist Democratic candidates, have been rudely and quite openly tuned out of the debate. "Sure," the Common Wisdom has said, "they may not think he's liberal enough, but hey, where are they gonna go? The Democratic Party is the only place they have a hope of making some progress toward their goals, even if it isn't as much as they want."
And, typically that's how our system works, through compromise. I realize that the political group that now calls itself 'conservative' tends to have problems with such basics of the historical American system, and they've certainly had a chance to run around loose for a couple terms, so it may be hard for them to adapt. But I'm tired of listening to them whine about it.
People on the left end of the spectrum have had to repeatedly suck it up and vote for a candidate who wasn't their ideal, or just stay home. And, if they stayed home, they might ensure the victory of a candidate who was even less their ideal. Often, they've had to vote against the other guy.
Worse, when they've tried to speak up and pull their candidate leftward, to make them more reflective of their values, they've seldom gotten coverage in the major media. It's been 'obvious' that they'd want more, and listening to them ask for it wasn't news. They've had to print their articles in The Nation, and speak on low-power public radio stations in college towns.
So I'm unwilling to listen to mainstream interviews with conservatives complaining about McCain. Conservative loons don't think he's one of them. They want more. No kidding. Exactly why is that news? How does it deserve space?
John McCain seems to be finding a robust population of Republicans who are willing to vote for him. If the conservatives don't find him conservative enough, well, too bad for them. I don't care. Where are they gonna go?
posted by Paul at 6:23 AM |
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