> Don't we think this reverses the cause-effect relationship? Dems have
> to move into old R territory in order to appear (or, heaven* forfend,
> be) something like moderate.
I don't think the causal arrow runs just one way. They're like a pair of ballroom dancers, twirling and pirouetting toward a precipice. (Not that most ballrooms incorporate a precipice, but hey, if you want unmixed metaphors, you gotta pay for 'em.)