Nathan Newman wrote:
>Why folks are looking to tear apart the most leftwing person ever to lead
>the House Democrats is beyond me. The rightwing is pulling out the knives
>to do her in. They don't need more help.
-Which right? Reps say they're happy she's there - it makes it easier -for them to campaign against Dems because they can paint her as a San -Francisco Democrat, out of touch with the masses. I'm not sure I -believe them when they say this - if they really thought that, would -they be saying it so loudly?
Oh I think they have mixed feelings, since they have some sense that a little passion of the left could be dangerous, but that doesn't mean they don't want to demonize her as much as possible. Check out freerepublic and much of the conservative media. They are laying out the knives to take her out as much as possible.
It's not that I think criticism is necessarily bad for her-- a few lefties attacking her as a rightwinger could give her some centrist cred. But too much of the left has lost the old skill of critical support-- pressuring publicly from the left while working your ass off to keep the best people there. Too often it seems like the left and right spend their time jointly trashing liberals, much to the benefit of conservatives who get far less flack on their flank.
Not that this was always true-- part of the genius of Reagan was calming the internal warfare on the Right, his so-called 11th commandment, to make a more disciplined army, with Newt continuing it to a certain extent on the ground game. Bush has largely benefitted from riding that more unified support to office--- and it's not because there aren't lots of things for rural southern pro-lifers to argue over with pro-capital gains tax cut urban gays.
-- Nathan Newman