On Aug 7, 2007, at 11:44 AM, Michael Smith wrote:
> The fact that they never get
> sanctioned for breaking from what the party supposedly advocates
> suggests to me that, far from contravening the actual will of the
> party, the aisle-crossers in fact *represent* the actual will of the
> party
Do you have any sense of political geography? A lot of the new crop of Dems elected last November came from conservative districts whose voters were fed up with Bush, but think Nancy Pelosi is some sort of Bolshie. Ditto a lot of re-elected incumbents.
American parties have rarely been uniform or disciplined in the sense that they are in other countries - they've always contained a lot of tendencies (class, ideology, region, etc.). Today's disciplined Republican party - which is fraying at the edges - is an exception. And they seem to be paying a price for it.
Doug