Purity vs. Victory is a false dichotomy.

[DireStrike]

The Republicans won where it counted by being radical, divisive, and catering to their ideological base.

There are lots of republicans in office - this does not mean there are lots of positions in the republican party. It is not a big tent.

Republicans are allowed to say whatever they want, as long as they vote the party line when it counts. Democrats can vote however they want all the time, as long as they don't say anything bad. Which seems better to you? Which is working?

It seems clear to me that we are losing not because we are trying to be centrist, but because we don't understand what a center is. You know those Bugs bunny cartoons where Bugs just keeps drawing a line, and Yosemite sam just keeps stepping over it? The right wing keeps moving further to the right, and the dems keep migrating to the new "center". Eventually we're both gonna wind up going over a cliff, although the republicans think they can avoid it somehow.

Thus I am mystified by people who insist that being centrist is a way to attract more voters. Is George Bush a centrist? Was Kerry? Which was more centrist? Who won?(yes, fraud people, I know...) Kerry got painted as a hippie liberal, which I find laughable. They are going to keep doing this no matter how far to the "center" you go. It is not a way to attract voters, it is a way to show that you care more about winning than about principles. And as long as that image dogs the Democratic party, it will continue to lose.

[Vickers]

1. I love your Bugs Bunny analogy, and agree with you

Fuck the center, let's do what's right.