I’m not going to make much of a deal about this until after the election, but this post by Chris Bowers (as well as this one by Matt Stoller claiming some sort of conspiracy to sabotage the Lamont campaign, or this one hitting DC Democrats for not being sufficiently Lamontish) likely foreshadows upcoming fights - should the Dems win the House - within the Democratic party for just how liberal/centrist/progressive the leadership will be going forward.
People who have read this site long enough can probably figure out where I stand on this. But we’ll see how it all shakes out.
I kinda hope that the much left of Oliver crowd and Pelosi/Conyers wing of the party overplay their hand.
It would mean a new landslide and permanent majority for Republicans in ‘08.
The more centrist wing of the party (even co-opting political centrists- i.e. Clintonesque) is the only hope for Democrats. The slash and burn far left is the only group that is seen as nuttier than the slash and burn far right.
For Example:
http://billmon.org/archives/002900.html
Well, how about we put ideology aside and just clean up the mess the GOP made? Pelosi, while too liberal for my liking, is an honest, reform-minded Democrat. Hoyer is a solid moderate.
Jack Murtha, on the other hand, I don’t trust at all. He’d strangle reform in its cradle to keep his perks.
Right now, ethics reform is what 90% of Democrats can agree on. Anything else would just get vetoed by Bush anyway. Plus most of these new Democrats are going to be blue dogs. There’s just no point in trying to do anything on health care or any other big ideas.
Just raise minimum wage a little and clean out the trash in Congress for the next two years. Then maybe there will be a bigger mandate in 2008 as a reward.