Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The Fallacy Of False Equivalences: "Ideological Purification"

Former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, now a Washington Post columnist, takes a look at yesterday's primary results, and finds that his suspicions have been confirmed.
"Last night two centrist Democratic incumbents failed to stave off challenges from the left in Democratic Senate primaries. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter was defeated by left-wing challenger Rep. Joe Sestak. And Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln was forced into a runoff by her left-wing challenger Gov. Bill Halter [sic].
But don't hold your breath waiting for commentators to decry these shameful efforts at the ideological purification of the Democratic party. When Sen. Bob Bennett is challenged from the right, it is an ideological purge. But when centrists like Specter and Lincoln are challenged from the left, it's democracy in action."
The fallacy of false equivalences. Specter and Lincoln were not loyal Democrats, Specter [80 years old!] just flipped a year ago from Republican. They needed to go. Whereas Bennett was a loyal Republican but was voted out because he was not extreme enough. The GOP base decided they wanted someone even less open-minded.

The Democrats voted for mainstream candidates. The Republicans purged and voted for less mainstream candidates. Not the same.

The "ideological purification" which Thiessen tries to paint broadly really only applies to his own party. Look at a guy like John McCain. He is trying so hard to re-brand himself, going against his own immigration stance he had for years, to appeal to the anglo-racists of AZ.

Always the victim, the Republican mindset is forever pointing out how unfair everything is. Republicans get heat for going far Right, but Democrats get a free ride in their primaries. Well, that is what you call reporting and not changing the facts to fit your predetermined narrative. Deal wit' it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of politics, what is your opinion on Richard Blumenthal?

Is his shameless lie of claiming to have served in Vietnam when he hadn’t an instant disqualification for the office he seeks or not?