APP - Should Democrats Move Left or Center?

Which way?

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DamnYankee

DamnYankee

Loyal to the end
After last weeks stunning defeat in NJ and Virginia, should Democrats move Left to shore up their base, or move to the center to try and win back the moderates?

Which way and why?
 
To accomplish what? To win, they should stay where they are. They just need to get some balls.

I would personally prefer a more left-wing major party though.
 
Health Care Reform will probably die in the Senate by the End of the year and when Dems give up hope on that, they'll go storming back towards the center. The House leadership will agitate for liberal legislation but the Senate and White House will largely ignore them. Considering the far left is almost as clueless as the far right, screw the base.
 
Are you sure they won't go rushing towards some "cap and trade"? You know the modern Ds, they are always good at ensuring they don't retain power long.
 
I'm asking this question because its been the defacto response from conservative thinkers that the Democrats would benefit themselves if they moved towards the center. After all, candidates in VA and NJ won with relatively conservative platforms, and races seem to be decided by the center.

But when Bush won a second term in 2004 the Democrats went further left, selecting Nancy Pelosi as their leader, and since then they've made gains.

Would the Democrats make further gains by staying left, or going even further left?
 
they might as well move left as a group since they will not have a chance to do so for a while (until the reps that follow them screw up again)
 
Southern Man said:
But when Bush won a second term in 2004 the Democrats went further left, selecting Nancy Pelosi as their leader, and since then they've made gains.
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Massive, uneducated over-simplification. Sure the leftist Pelosi became Majority Leader, but far more important to their gains was the plethora of centrist and conservative candidates like Heath Shuler, Jim Webb, and Brad Ellsworth the Democrats ran.
 
Give people the choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican and they'll choose the real Republican every time.

The most conservative Democrat who ran for the senate was in South Carolina. By many accounts he was more conservative than Lindsey Graham. He got annihalated. You never win the center by being centrist.
 
Big Brother said:
Give people the choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican and they'll choose the real Republican every time.

The most conservative Democrat who ran for the senate was in South Carolina. By many accounts he was more conservative than Lindsey Graham. He got annihalated. You never win the center by being centrist.
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sure you do....NY 23...

he ran on a center platform, then switched it right before the election
 
Big Brother said:
Give people the choice between a real Republican and a fake Republican and they'll choose the real Republican every time.

The most conservative Democrat who ran for the senate was in South Carolina. By many accounts he was more conservative than Lindsey Graham. He got annihalated. You never win the center by being centrist.
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Well Conley wasn't really a centrist. He just held extreme views from both sides. He was a Republican until Bush. He said the invasion of Iraq and Bush's tolerance of illegal immigration made him switch parties. He hates the Patriot Act and gay marriage with equal fervor.
 
Epicurus said:
Massive, uneducated over-simplification. Sure the leftist Pelosi became Majority Leader, but far more important to their gains was the plethora of centrist and conservative candidates like Heath Shuler, Jim Webb, and Brad Ellsworth the Democrats ran.
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Wow so you think that five years ago the Democrats moved not left, but to the center?
 
Big Brother is right, the first thing they need is a pair.

Left, on the optional occupations for decades.
 
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