Kathianne
07-18-2019, 11:56 AM
I watched him for years on the McLaughlin group, I really don't know if he leans right or left-sort of what one expects from a reporter.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/07/18/democrats_far-left_lean_risks_more_than_the_presidency_140803.ht ml
Democrats' Far-Left Lean Risks More Than the PresidencyCOMMENTARY
. By Mort Kondracke
If the Democratic Party keeps surging to the left and nominates a 2020 candidate who can be credibly labeled “socialist,” “radical” or just far out of mainstream, it will not only reelect Donald Trump, but unleash a cascade of nightmares on itself and the nation.
Unpopular as he is, President Trump likely would win narrowly, but whatever the margin, he will feel vindicated and unleashed. To do what? For sure, to continue treating unwanted immigrants with systematic cruelty, claiming to help the working middle class while further (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/feature/analysis-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act)enriching the wealthy (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-poor-gap-getting-worse-trump-193238702.html), offending foreign allies while coddling dictators, dividing the nation and demeaning political discourse.
Other dire scenarios await if the party keeps heading left, responding to its liberal base and the pressure of TV debates. One possible outcome is that Democrats will lose what slim chance they have of retaking the Senate. Then Trump will be able to nominate and confirm probably at least one more and possibly two more conservative Supreme Court justices, plus lower court justices and executive branch officials who’ll carry out his will.
It gets worse. Democrats recaptured the House in 2018 because 40 moderates took seats Republicans won in 2016. If the party is deemed far-left in 2020, Democrats could lose control of the House and Trump could once again operate without any serious congressional oversight.
No one seems to realize the danger more than Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been resisting liberal pressure to begin impeachment proceedings that would inflame Trump’s base.
And she has been trying to tame the most left-wing elements of her caucus, the four-member so-called “Squad” led by first-term socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been lionized by the media and is being used by Trump to brand the entire Democratic Party as radical.
Pelosi clearly is motivated by her past experience as speaker from 2007 to 2011, when she acted as a “San Francisco liberal,” epitomized by her forcing Obamacare through the House on a party-line vote. As a result, Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010 and she lost her speakership.
Besides Trump unleashed, chances of winning the Senate lost, a more conservative Supreme Court and loss of the House majority, a fifth potential nightmare scenario for Democrats is another decade of GOP domination at the state level.
In the post-Obamacare Democratic wipeout election of 2010, Republicans gained 680 state legislative seats, control of 19 legislative bodies and won a net six governorships. In the following year’s reapportionment, they used their authority to gerrymander U.S. House and state legislative districts to give themselves commanding advantages through the current decade.
If the same thing happens in 2020, not only would the gerrymandering continue in 2021 — making it harder yet for Democrats to win back the House -- but GOP-dominated legislatures could further restrict abortion, block gun control, impose new voting restrictions, and cut back on Medicaid and other social programs.
Various commentators, including Thomas Edsall of the New York Times, GOP political guru Karl Rove and Democratic centrist William Galston in the Wall Street Journal have described how perilously far Democrats are heading out of the mainstream of American opinion.
...
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/07/18/democrats_far-left_lean_risks_more_than_the_presidency_140803.ht ml
Democrats' Far-Left Lean Risks More Than the PresidencyCOMMENTARY
. By Mort Kondracke
If the Democratic Party keeps surging to the left and nominates a 2020 candidate who can be credibly labeled “socialist,” “radical” or just far out of mainstream, it will not only reelect Donald Trump, but unleash a cascade of nightmares on itself and the nation.
Unpopular as he is, President Trump likely would win narrowly, but whatever the margin, he will feel vindicated and unleashed. To do what? For sure, to continue treating unwanted immigrants with systematic cruelty, claiming to help the working middle class while further (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/feature/analysis-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act)enriching the wealthy (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-poor-gap-getting-worse-trump-193238702.html), offending foreign allies while coddling dictators, dividing the nation and demeaning political discourse.
Other dire scenarios await if the party keeps heading left, responding to its liberal base and the pressure of TV debates. One possible outcome is that Democrats will lose what slim chance they have of retaking the Senate. Then Trump will be able to nominate and confirm probably at least one more and possibly two more conservative Supreme Court justices, plus lower court justices and executive branch officials who’ll carry out his will.
It gets worse. Democrats recaptured the House in 2018 because 40 moderates took seats Republicans won in 2016. If the party is deemed far-left in 2020, Democrats could lose control of the House and Trump could once again operate without any serious congressional oversight.
No one seems to realize the danger more than Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been resisting liberal pressure to begin impeachment proceedings that would inflame Trump’s base.
And she has been trying to tame the most left-wing elements of her caucus, the four-member so-called “Squad” led by first-term socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been lionized by the media and is being used by Trump to brand the entire Democratic Party as radical.
Pelosi clearly is motivated by her past experience as speaker from 2007 to 2011, when she acted as a “San Francisco liberal,” epitomized by her forcing Obamacare through the House on a party-line vote. As a result, Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010 and she lost her speakership.
Besides Trump unleashed, chances of winning the Senate lost, a more conservative Supreme Court and loss of the House majority, a fifth potential nightmare scenario for Democrats is another decade of GOP domination at the state level.
In the post-Obamacare Democratic wipeout election of 2010, Republicans gained 680 state legislative seats, control of 19 legislative bodies and won a net six governorships. In the following year’s reapportionment, they used their authority to gerrymander U.S. House and state legislative districts to give themselves commanding advantages through the current decade.
If the same thing happens in 2020, not only would the gerrymandering continue in 2021 — making it harder yet for Democrats to win back the House -- but GOP-dominated legislatures could further restrict abortion, block gun control, impose new voting restrictions, and cut back on Medicaid and other social programs.
Various commentators, including Thomas Edsall of the New York Times, GOP political guru Karl Rove and Democratic centrist William Galston in the Wall Street Journal have described how perilously far Democrats are heading out of the mainstream of American opinion.
...