A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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July 24, 2004Convention Delegates PolledThe NY Times has done some polling of convention delegates as part of its convention special coverage.
Is active centrism an unnatural act? Posted by rickheller at July 24, 2004 11:02 PM Comments
Is active centrism an unnatural act? For convention delegates centrism is definitely an unnatural act. Delegate seats are plums for local party activists and favored local politicians. Naturally this means that those chosen as delegates are going to be solidly party-base conformist in their views, and the bases lie to the extremes, not the middle. Only senior party statesman with clout can afford to be centrist and still get an invite. I just looked over my own area's delegation, and found the county party chair (a rabidly left-liberal tort attorney), a "rising star" young-pup state legislator who was appointed to a retiring legislator's seat with no real-world experience except as a hack and has yet to face the electorate (full disclosure--I'm working for his opponent this cycle), a union rep known for following orders but not for being very bright, and a couple of state legislator/party attorneys from "safe" districts. Party hacks and zealots, all. I'm pretty sure that when the GOP convention rolls around, I'll find the same thing. I'm not surprised they all think of themselves as moderates--in their circles they are. It never occurs to them that their circles may not be in the least centrist, but definitively one direction or the other. We're ALL moderates, right? [G] Posted by: Tully at July 25, 2004 11:52 AM |
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