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Tony_FLADEM

(3,023 posts)
Mon Sep 23, 2013, 03:00 PM Sep 2013

How Bad Is the GOP Rift? Worse Than Democrats in the 1980s

Political parties seem to suffer through internal battles periodically, but the current state of the GOP is much worse than what Democrats went through some 25 years ago, when organized labor and old-style liberals fought against the Democratic Leadership Council for the soul of the Democratic Party.

I still remember going to postelection events during the 1980s and watching Al From, then president of the DLC, blame his party’s presidential defeats on liberals and organized labor, only to have someone from the party’s liberal wing wail on From or Will Marshall, the DLC’s first policy director, as Republicans impersonating Democrats.

Now, libertarian and tea party elements of the GOP are in open warfare with pragmatists and institutionalists. Republicans in the House and Senate taunt each other on a daily basis in newspapers or on cable television, which is only too happy to provide a platform.

The structure of today’s parties and the way we consume news make it more difficult for the GOP to resolve its differences successfully.

Both Marshall and From agree that the biggest difference between the 1980s and now is that while the Democratic Party machine of the 1980s was controlled by liberals, the party’s grass roots was more politically diverse. Moderate and conservative Democrats in the South and in rural America knew that their survival depended on changing their party’s ultra-liberal reputation.

“People like Bill Clinton, Bruce Babbitt and Al Gore realized that if they wanted to be president, they needed to change the party. Otherwise, it would be an albatross around our presidential nominee’s neck,” From told me in a recent interview.

“We had some guys who were willing to take some heat [from party liberals]. Chuck Robb was not afraid to take on anyone in the Democratic Party,” continued From, who added that Democrats such as North Carolina’s Jim Hunt and Florida’s Lawton Chiles also “carried some weight in the party.”

“We could rally moderate leaders in the party because we had so many grass-roots moderates,” agreed Marshall, who quite rightly believes that the ideological sorting of the two major parties over the past two decades has created a very different situation now.

http://blogs.rollcall.com/rothenblog/how-bad-is-the-gop-rift-worse-than-democrats-in-the-1980s/

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How Bad Is the GOP Rift? Worse Than Democrats in the 1980s (Original Post) Tony_FLADEM Sep 2013 OP
Considering how Jamaal510 Sep 2013 #1
Corporatism as a "centrist" position is a non-starter for me. HooptieWagon Sep 2013 #4
Although the OP is about the gop … 1StrongBlackMan Sep 2013 #2
Don't worry, GOPee. The DC DEMS will bail you out blkmusclmachine Sep 2013 #3

Jamaal510

(10,893 posts)
1. Considering how
Mon Sep 23, 2013, 03:51 PM
Sep 2013

the demographics have changed since then and with people's opinions shifting on guns, gays, and tax fairness, I sometimes wonder if the Democrats could win with an ultra-liberal candidate today. I know that Bush ll got (s)elected twice, but I frequently contemplate whether a Warren or Sanders would have as much of a chance in the GE as someone more moderate like a Hillary Clinton or Obama.

 

HooptieWagon

(17,064 posts)
4. Corporatism as a "centrist" position is a non-starter for me.
Tue Sep 24, 2013, 10:40 AM
Sep 2013

Voting for the lesser of two evils no longer cuts it. Corporatism is destroying working and middle classes, no matter if it has an R or a D attached to it. TPP is not moderate, it is far-right, and will be the defining issue for D candidates. Any candidate in favor of such a travesty will not get my vote.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
2. Although the OP is about the gop …
Mon Sep 23, 2013, 10:03 PM
Sep 2013

There lies an important warning in there for the Democratic Party, as well … But only for those willing to listen, consider, and perhaps, not have to re-learn the lessons of the previous generation.

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