ARRA News Service
News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles. Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used.
Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year]
Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)
    Home Page
   

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato (429-347 BC)

Monday, November 11, 2019

The Democrats’ Civil War Is Over Before It Began

. . . But political journalists are refusing to jump on the peace train.
Jack Schafer
by Jack Shafer: Some reporters—especially those who have never seen a mortar round fired in anger—love to describe politics as “war” and portray any contentious intraparty dispute as a “civil war” or a “battle for the soul of the party.” Even before the November elections, which sent a majority of Democrats to the House, our political war correspondents were filing dispatches from the purported conflict being waged inside the Democratic Party between the upstart progressives led by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the party’s establishment.

Presenting the clash in combat terms, a bevy of recent pieces carries headlines like “There Is Going to Be a War Within the Party. We Are Going to Lean Into It,” “The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party Has Begun,” “House Democrats Get Ready to Fight Trump. And Each Other,” “How Democrats Can Avoid Turning Their Presidential Primaries into a Circular Firing Squad,” and “Will 2020 Democrats Help Trump by Destroying Each Other?” The image of a fracturing, fratricidal party likewise stands at the core of my colleague Tim Alberta’s recent piece, “The Democrats’ Dilemma.”

Are the Democrats really waging war on each other? Is Bernie Sanders about to loot and pillage Joe Biden’s nascent campaign? And is Elizabeth Warren getting set to sack Amy Klobuchar’s Iowa headquarters? Or is all this noise just politics by the usual means? The voters don’t seem to be preparing for war. A recent nationwide poll by Morning Consult of Democratic primary voters put centrist Biden in the lead with 31 percent, which is to be expected, given his name recognition, and self-described democratic socialist Sanders second, with 27 percent, also a gimme considering voter familiarity with him.

But the answers to a second question asked in the poll suggest a degree of unity among primary voters not very well captured in the war dispatches from the Democratic front. Among Biden voters, the No. 2 choice for president is Sanders. Among Sanders voters, the top No. 2 pick is Biden. Kamala Harris supporters pick Biden second. Warren supporters pick Sanders second, and Beto O’Rourke supporters pick Sanders, too.

The Democratic Party is obviously split along progressive and establishment lines, but the polling data render the brother-against-sister hysterics of a civil war as overblown. Warren, one of the most progressive candidates, labels herself a capitalist! Democratic voters appear to be much more open to candidates from other wings of the party and political compromise than you’d expect given the raucous combat reports.

If the presidential race isn’t riven with internecine bloodshed, Congress' hallways must be red and moist, right? Wrong. Ocasio-Cortez and several other newly elected lefty members have captured the media with their “Green New Deal” proposal. Their resolution has attracted 100 congressional co-sponsors, but party stalwarts who control the flow of legislation have stalled the policy smorgasbord without igniting much unrest in the party. I’ve witnessed food fights that were more vicious.

It’s true that progressive candidates are clotting the presidential contest, that Ocasio-Cortez and her compatriots are hogging headlines and that the Democrats now control the House. But if we’re really going to posit a war within the Democratic Party, we should be careful about overestimating progressive power, especially in Congress. A Pew Research Center study from December found that 23 of the 30 defeated House Republican incumbents in 2018 were more moderate on average than reelected House Republicans.

These electoral results signal a shift by voters in most of the formerly Republican districts, not necessarily a leap. Nor are most of these seats now solidly Democratic. “Most of the freshmen come from swing districts,” said Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, who beat four-term incumbent Republican Rep. Leonard Lance by 5 percentage points in November. (Lance, like at least seven other Republicans who lost their seats, belonged to the centrist Republican Tuesday Group.) These swing seats could easily rebound in a Republican direction in 2020, returning Democrats to minority status in Congress and perhaps putting a brake on fervid Democrat-against-Democrat politicking.

Democrats have always fought one another. The Southern Democrats fought the Northern Democrats. The rural Democrats mixed it up with the urban ones. But with genuine enemies in the Republican Party to contend with, today’s Democrats aren’t likely to start fragging one another, no matter their considerable policy differences. When you support more of your adversary’s positions than you oppose, peace has a way of breaking out.
--------------------
Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) is Politico’s senior media writer.

Tags: Jack Shafer, Politico, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Democrats, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Fourth Estate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 4:20 PM - Post Link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home


View U.S. National Debt

Don't miss anything!
Subscribe to the
ARRA News Service
It's FREE & No Ads!

You will receive a verification email
& must validate you subscribed!

You Then Receive One Email Each AM
With Prior Days Articles / Toons / More


Also, Join & leave conservative posts & comments on
Facebook.com/ARRANewsService


Recent Posts:
Personal Tweets by the editor:
Dr. Bill - OzarkGuru - @arra
#Christian Conservative; Retired USAF & Grad Professor. Constitution NRA ProLife schoolchoice fairtax - Editor ARRA NEWS SERVICE. THANKS FOR FOLLOWING!

Action Links!
State Upper & Lower House Members
State Attorney Generals
State Governors
The White House
US House of Representatives
US Senators
GrassFire
NumbersUSA
Ballotpedia

Facebook Accts - Dr. Bill Smith
Pages:
ARRA News Service
Arkansans Against Big Government
Alley-White Am. Legion #52
Catholics & Protestants United Against Discrimination
End Taxpayer Funding of NPR
Overturn Roe V. Wade
Prolife Soldiers
Project Wildfire 4 Life
Republican Liberty Caucus of Arkansas
The Gold Standard
US Atty Gen Loretta Lynch, aka Eric Holder, Must Go
Veterans for Sarah Palin
Why Vote for Hillary (Satire)
FB Groups:
Arkansas For Sarah Palin
Arkansas Conservative Caucus
Arkansas County Tea Party
Arkansans' Discussion Group on National Issues
Blogs for Borders
Conservative Solutions
Conservative Voices
Defend Marriage -- Arkansas
FairTax
FairTax Nation
Arkansas for FairTax
Friends of the TEA Party in Arkansas
Freedom Roundtable
Pro-Life Rocks - Arkansas
Republican Network
Republican Liberty Caucus of AR
Reject the U.N.

Patriots
Exchange
Links

Request Via
Article Comment

Links to ARRA News
A Patriotic Nurse
Agora Associates
a12iggymom's Blog
America, You Asked For It!
America's Best Choice
ARRA News Twitter
As The Crackerhead Crumbles
Blogs For Borders
Blogs for Palin
Blow the Trumpet Ministry
Boot Berryism
Cap'n Bob & the Damsel
Chicago Ray Report - Obama Regime Report
Chuck Baldwin - links
Common Cents
Conservative Voices
Diana's Corner
Greater Fitchburg For Life
Lasting Liberty Blog
Liberal Isn't Amy
Marathon Pundit
Patriot's Corner
Right on Issues that Matter
Right Reason
Rocking on the Right Side
Saber Point
Saline Watchdog
Sultan Knish
The Blue Eye View
The Born Again Americans
TEA Party Cartoons
The Foxhole | Unapologetic Patriot
The Liberty Republican
The O Word
The Path to Tyranny Blog
The Real Polichick
The War on Guns
TOTUS
Twitter @ARRA
Underground Notes
Warning Signs
Women's Prayer & Action
WyBlog

Editor's Managed Twitter Accounts
Twitter Dr. Bill Smith @arra
Twitter Arkansas @GOPNetwork
Twitter @BootBerryism
Twitter @SovereignAllies
Twitter @FairTaxNation

Editor's Recommended Orgs
Accuracy in Media (AIM)
American Action Forum (AAF)
American Committment
American Culture & Faith Institute
American Enterprise Institute
American Family Business Institute
Americans for Limited Government
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Tax Reform
American Security Council Fdn
AR Faith & Ethics Council
Arkansas Policy Foundation
Ayn Rand Institute
Bill of Rights Institute
Campaign for Working Families
CATO Institute
Center for Individual Freedom
Center for Immigration Studies
Center for Just Society
Center for Freedom & Prosperity
Citizens Against Gov't Waste
Citizens in Charge Foundstion
Coalition for the Future American Worker
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Concerned Veterans for America
Concerned Women for America
Declaration of Am. Renewal
Eagle Forum
FairTax
Family Research Council
Family Security Matters
Franklin Center for Gov't & Public Integrity
Freedom Works
Gingrich Productions
Global Incident Map
Great Americans
Gold Standard 2012 Project
Gun Owners of America (GOA)
Heritage Action for America
David Horowitz Freedom Center
Institute For Justice
Institute for Truth in Accounting
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Judicial Watch
Less Government
Media Reseach Center
National Center for Policy Analysis
National Right To Work Foundation
National Rifle Association (NRA)
National Rifle Association (NRA-ILA)
News Busters
O'Bluejacket's Patriotic Flicks
OathKeepers
Open Secrets
Presidential Prayer Team
Religious Freedom Coalition
Renew America
Ron Paul Institute
State Policy Network
Tax Foundation
Tax Policy Center
The Club for Growth
The Federalist
The Gold Standard Now
The Heritage Foundation
The Leadership Institute
Truth in Accounting
Union Facts



Blogs For Borders

Reject the United Nations

Presidential Prayer Team

Thousands of Deadly Islamic Terror Attacks Since 9/11


FairTax Nation on FaceBook
Friends of Israel - Stand with Israel
Blog Feeds
Syndicated - Get the ARRA News Service feed Syndicated!
ARRA Blog Feed

Add to Google Reader or Homepage

Add to The Free Dictionary

Powered by Blogger


  • To Exchange Links - Email: editor@arranewsservice.com!
  • Comments by contributing authors or other sources do not necessarily reflect the position the editor, other contributing authors, sources, readers, or commenters. No contributors, or editors are paid for articles, images, cartoons, etc. While having reported on and promoting principles & beleifs beliefs of other organizations, this blog/site is soley controlled and supported by the editor. This site/blog does not advertise for money or services nor does it solicit funding for its support.
  • Fair Use: This site/blog may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as provided for in section Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Per said section, the material on this site/blog is distributed without profit to readers to view for the expressed purpose of viewing the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. Any person/entity seeking to use copyrighted material shared on this site/blog for purposes that go beyond "fair use," must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
  • © 2006 - 2020 ARRA News Service
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.