A missed opportunity on both sides
Looking for further evidence of the disintigration of the Moderate wing of the Democratic party? Of course you are. Well, it’s easy to find. Today brings us a missed opportunity of epic proportions. You’ve heard, I expect, of the outrageous anti-John Roberts ad by NARAL, essentially accusing him of supporting domestic terrorism. Decried by media outlets from Captain’s Quarters to the Washington Post, the field was ripe for a Sistah Souljah moment by any one of a number of Democrats.
Hillary Clinton was the obvious candidate for such a moment–she’s been making the right noises about Roberts and abortion, as she blatantly moves to the center for her ‘08 run. But if any Moderates wanted to run in ‘08 as Moderates, they had a perfect opportunity to stake out the middle ground that has been so largely abandoned. But, no, the only Democrats to speak up were Walter Dellinger and Patrick Leahy. Neither did themselves much good, though they certainly did their best to save NARAL from itself.
There were plenty of Democrats in a position to gain from NARAL’s idiocy, but none did–too afraid of making enemies on the left than making friends in the center. And now, of course, it’s too late.
Of course, the missed opportunities aren’t just on the Democrat’s side of the aisle. Plenty of potential Republican 2008 candidates could have helped their stature a bit. Rudy Giuliani will need to move pretty far right on the abortion issue if he wants to get the nod anyway, and there’s no time like the present. McCain is, unlike Giuliani, avowedly pro-life, but he should be endearing himself to the base as often as possible. This was a low rent way to do so, and he let it go by. The only Republican to make good use of it was, again, someone without much to gain–Arlen Specter.
I half wonder whether some of the others were planning to make statements tommorow, but were outpaced by the crushing criticism that came so quickly. Politics hasn’t quite adapted to the vastly quicker news cycle, and here’s a reminder of that.
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