Hey, Democrats, you’ve got some differentiating to do!
Recall how the unhappy Barney Frank, after leaving on a (bailout recipient’s) jet plane to the Virgin Islands, insisted that Republicans “need to do more to ‘differentiate themselves’ from the hateful speech spewed in the healthcare debate’s final hours“? Seems this mean-spirited Massachusetts Democrat wants to tie his partisan adversaries to the fringe elements of the Tea Party (while they, in Barney’s fervid imagination, want to tie him to the train tracks).
Well, Barney, like most things you try, this, well, this strategy isn’t working:
Despite 18 months of the media calling tea partiers frothing rabble and angry extremists, a new poll shows precisely the opposite. More people perceive the Democratic Party to be dominated by the fringe. Of course anyone with functioning synapses has recognized this for the past few decades.
The Democratic polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland “found that 44 percent of likely voters say the Democratic Party is more dominated by its extreme elements; whereas 37 percent say it’s the Republican Party that is more dominated by extremists.”
(H/t: Instapundit.)
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I don’t know who’s fringe and who’s not. I suppose I am fringe. I am a bisexual Baptist, ultra-conservative, pro-life Latino who publicly supports pornography, low taxes, cuts in welfare spending, tough immigration policy, and Sarah Palin; I think gays are fabulous but don’t need to flaunt their fabulosity in military uniform. I joined the Army but did terribly as a Soldier and changed my mind about Afghanistan. Yes, yes, I know, I have to run a whole blog with eight co-bloggers just to sort through all those contradictions.
Am I fringe? I think the notion of extremism and fringe-ism is a counter-productive notion. Issue by issue, I agree with large chunks of the US population, probably the majority. But all of us, if you combine all the things we believe, form a party of one. Give me two choices and I’ll go with Republican. Give me ten choices and I’ll go with Republican. I belong in that party. I feel bad, I suppose, for Independents. To be open to the Democrats must be tiring.
Comment by Coco — October 14, 2010 @ 9:39 pm - October 14, 2010
[...] recipient’s) jet plane to the Virgin Islands, insisted that Republicans “need to do more to ‘differentiate themselves’ from the hateful speech spewed in the healthcare debate’s final hours’?” asks B. Daniel Blatt at GayPatriot. [...]
Pingback by Are the Democrats the True Extremists? - NYTimes.com — October 15, 2010 @ 10:11 pm - October 15, 2010