Patterico's Pontifications

7/23/2010

Vodkapundit: The Democrats’ Gang of 4

Filed under: Politics — DRJ @ 4:02 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Vodkapundit says there are 4 moderate Democrats standing up to President Obama — Senators Evan Bayh, Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, and Jim Webb — and he believes their goal is to save their Party:

“Candidate Barack Obama ran as a moderate. He promised a “net spending cut.” Health reform was not, we were assured, intended to take over the insurance industry or feature an individual mandate. Taxes would go down for anyone making under $250,000 a year. “Too big to fail” was to be a thing of the past. Our nation was to become post-racial by the long-awaited election of a black man to the White House. And so it goes.

Instead, we got… more of everything. Taxes, spending, regulating, mandates, racial division — the entire liberal waterworks turned up to the max and pretty much all at once.

And moderate Democrats — genuinely moderate Democrats — like Messrs Bayh, Conrad, Nelson and Webb must be horrified. The candidate from 2008 who ran on the notion of returning us to Clinton-era surpluses has instead repudiated every policy and notion that made them possible.

Obama, they might rightly fear, is going to tarnish their party for a generation or more — and at the exact moment the Republican brand was so tarnished that the Democrats very recently were poised for a generation or more of national dominance.

So wish this Gang of Four the best of luck. Because we’re all going to need it.”

I don’t wish them luck because if they save the Democratic Party from Barack Obama’s liberal policies, that makes it more likely Obama will be re-elected in 2012. America doesn’t need a Democratic Party that is only moderate for a few months every 4 years.

— DRJ

44 Responses to “Vodkapundit: The Democrats’ Gang of 4”

  1. The Progressive Netroots are in Las Vegas right now plotting the imminent destruction of the gang of 4 and any fellow travelers bold enough to voice opposition to the most extreme elements of the hard leftist agenda.

    May the force be with them.

    ropelight (02fbf8)

  2. There is still time for the GOP to screw up the November elections, but having said that, I am absolutely riveted in anticipation of what direction Obama takes for his Presidency after the new Congress is sworn in this coming January. Does he continue along the leftward path and allow taxes to go back up, push cap-and-trade, come back with card check, reintroduce the public option to health care, play kissy-kiss with terrorist states while shunning Israel, and all the other unfinished business from his first two years? Or can he be convinced to try and steer a more centrist position and push for deficit reduction, continue to work for success in Afghanistan & Iraq, propose scrapping and rebuilding our ridiculous tax code, and start to help plan for the unfunded pension time bomb? I have convinced that he is an ideologue and will seek to codify his party’s leftward lurch, but perhaps he really is the pragmatist that David Brooks, Chris Buckley, et al., claimed he was back in 2008.

    JVW (a52530)

  3. My taxes went down under Obama. I dunno where the “tax increase” bit comes from.

    jpe (4a1f19)

  4. America doesn’t need a Democratic Party that is only moderate for a few months every 4 years.

    What America also doesn’t need is a Republican Party that makes conservative noises when they’re in the minority, then swings to the left when their ranks increase in number.

    Blacque Jacques Shellacque (cf2f34)

  5. “And moderate Democrats — genuinely moderate Democrats — like Messrs Bayh, Conrad, Nelson and Webb must be horrified.”

    I don’t buy this. They certainly weren’t horrified if their votes on those matters are any indication. They could have read the bills, oh wait, they didn’t do anything to force time be taken to do so. They could have voted the bills down. Even Alvin Greene could have told them these bills wouldn’t get us back to the time of Clinton-era surpluses.

    They made their beds and now they can sleep in them.

    Vote ’em all out.

    Dusty (109a16)

  6. Congrats, jpe. You are one of the few.

    JD (0e735f)

  7. Maybe jpe lives in New Jersey.

    DRJ (d43dcd)

  8. My taxes went down under Obama. I dunno where the “tax increase” bit comes from.

    Comment by jpe — 7/23/2010 @ 5:41 pm

    Right. Looking forward to hearing from you after you file your taxes for the year 2011.

    A Balrog of Morgoth (bf2f7d)

  9. My taxes went down under Obama.

    You got laid off?

    Subotai (fadb4b)

  10. it’s important to remember that not increasing taxes doesn’t mean taxes go down… not like how they should when unemployment is a million percent… they just stay the same… it’s just… if they don’t raise taxes … it’s not some kind of rah rah victory to not to something butt dumb I don’t think.

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  11. Indeed, Subotai. My federal taxes decreased this year. Mostly because my income decreased as well.

    The state/local taxes went up, but that’s more to do with Crist and Rubio.

    kishnevi (fb9343)

  12. While I would enjoy dancing on the grave of the Liberal/Wacko wing of the Dems, I fear the swing back in the range of the Republican to the same degree. While the nanny state is the hallmark of the Left, we seemed to end up with the mommy state with the right.

    I would love to see limited government lived out by the Republicans, but I am afraid they would be just as drunk with power were they in charge. For the overwhelming number of Republicans, the tendency of “I know best…” is highly evident in such things as the Meese commission, Iran-Contra trades, and ear mark spending. Thank God, no national initiative program exists, but the earmarks and pork barrel projects are just as bad, and every national level Republican is stained with pork fat. All tu quoque roadapples aside, gridlock is the best way to save this country right now, not swapping one pseudo-feudalism master for another.

    MunDane68 (54a83b)

  13. ah, a concern troll arriveth

    elissa (ac36f5)

  14. Insty has a note that suggests this was a bit of prep work by Webb to get his numbers up. Whether he gets nailed for thoughtcrime, dunno. Pass the salt, please.

    BTW, is there really such a thing as a moderate democrat, nowadays?

    Red County Pete (fc9208)

  15. Actually, elissa, MunDane68 sounds a good deal like Conservatives and TEA Partiers. When 3/4 of the Republican base say the Republican power-brokers are too liberal and out of touch, and the Independents agree, there is a point to be made. In an obviously Republican year, RNC is having income problems they did not foresee and Steele might very well get the RNC a huge SEC fine (orders of magnitude higher than Biden’s fine).

    The TEA Party and Conservatives have been saying for the past couple years to pump money into specific candidates’ coffers and to dry up the RNC RINO machine. The problem with the election cycle this year is that, while Democrats are up for a clobbering never before seen, the Republican power structure is too blind to see the opportunity.

    John Hitchcock (9e8ad9)

  16. People will lie when everyone knows they’re lying. The only people who got a tax cut under O’Dumbo were those who lost their jobs under O’Dumbo. Massive tax increases are coming in Jan along with the current fees and charges we got zapped with in the past 18 months. A 40% increase in sin taxes (booze, firearms, and ammo) was a major tax increase last year. I think it was around $20 billion (extra) the democrats got their hands on so they can make it disappear.
    Webb a moderate. That’s a belly laugh. Webb is a child preditor who wrote about it in his own book and tried to point the finger at someone else. His only reason to visit Thailand is to molest children without going to jail. Meanwhile he sticks his head out of the slime to position himself for some leadership role in congress.

    Scrapiron (4e0dda)

  17. I actually liked Webb’s WSJ article. I agreed with a large portion of it. But, of course, Democrats are known to voice Conservative values on election-eve in order to be elected, so there’s that grain of salt.

    On the other hand, I don’t see Virginia sending a Pelosi to the US Senate. I don’t see Virginia nominating a Pelosi for the Democrat option for US Senate without a lot of “help” from ACORN/COI/whatever they’re called now. I just don’t believe Virginia has that left of a Democrat Party base.

    John Hitchcock (9e8ad9)

  18. John, I understand what you are saying and agree completely that the RNC leaves much to be desired. But when someone states this:

    –and every national level Republican is stained with pork fat–

    I have to call BS. That’s not analysis. That’s a talking point.

    elissa (ac36f5)

  19. For the overwhelming number of Republicans, the tendency of “I know best…” is highly evident in such things as the Meese commission, Iran-Contra trades, and ear mark spending.

    Yes, nothing says “nanny state” like the Meese commission, Iran-Contra, and earmarks.

    Really, that’s dreadful quality mobying. D-.

    Subotai (fadb4b)

  20. the Associated Press only calls it pork when Team R is in charge… when the dirty socialists are in power it’s “pet projects”

    happyfeet (19c1da)

  21. Actually, elissa, MunDane68 sounds a good deal like Conservatives and TEA Partiers. When 3/4 of the Republican base say the Republican power-brokers are too liberal and out of touch, and the Independents agree, there is a point to be made.

    This is true. Even now, we’re witnessing Meg Whitman’s two-faced transformation. During the primary, she opposed illegal immigration, and said sanctuary cities made her “blood boil.” Now she’s saying (in Spanish) that her views on illegal immigration are not that far from Jerry Brown’s. That doesn’t make me very confident of her integrity on other issues.

    John & Ken on KFI have been hammering away at Whitman’s duplicity for a couple of weeks now. They don’t want to see another Schwarzenegger-type governor. Neither do I.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90)

  22. I’m betting my “SEC fine” thing is misnamed. Whoever that election bureaucracy thing is, that’s the fine.

    John Hitchcock (9e8ad9)

  23. Just to clarify, I don’t endorse the anti- legal immigration in the Web site I linked to. In the “about” section, the proprietor, “a feminist environmentalist pro-gun sovereignty enthusiast,” wants to end all immigration, legal and illegal.

    I support legal immigration; indeed, I’d like to see the limits raised. Legal immigrants have to fulfill criteria for learning about American history and our political system, useful for making them good citizens. It’s the illegal immigration that needs to be stopped.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90)

  24. My sister-in-law is a Czech citizen and a legal immigrant to the US. I don’t know what all was involved in getting legal permission to permanently move to the US and work here, but she and my brother failed the first time around and succeeded the second time around, taking over 2 years en toto. And they didn’t get married for another year or two, while she was legally working here.

    I’m all for legal immigration and four-square against illegal immigration. I have no opinion regarding limits on legal immigration or qualifications for such because I’m wholly ignorant regarding those subjects.

    John Hitchcock (9e8ad9)

  25. I have no opinion regarding limits on legal immigration or qualifications for such because I’m wholly ignorant regarding those subjects.

    JH,
    Such becoming candor about being ignorant means you’re totally unqualified to be a reporter. 😉

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90)

  26. Bradley, you made me chuckle. Besides, I don’t want to be a reporter; I want to be a wonk.

    John Hitchcock (9e8ad9)

  27. I’d buy the notion of moderate Democrats over 50 years ago, when the mid-point of the socio-political spectrum was further to the right. But not today.

    In today’s era, one need only be slightly right of ultra-liberal in order to fall into the category of moderate registered Democrat. So a “centrist” Democrat will proclaim: “I believe same-sex marriage is wonderful, but I’m a traditionalist when it comes to polygamy!!” “I believe carbon dioxide is horrible, but taxes to fight it should be no more than minimally excessive!!” “I believe affirmative action is wonderful, but try not to apply it in so many cases!!” “I believe condoms should never be handed out in schools, but encouraging kids in the classroom to use them is lovely!”).

    Mark (411533)

  28. I believe I’ll have a scotch. Oh, I already have one.

    John Hitchcock (9e8ad9)

  29. Boycott scotch whiskey till they come clean on the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

    ropelight (3203bf)

  30. In the recent past, Democrats and their NAACP arm have shamefully raised racially-charged allegations that black churches were being torched in the South, that George W. Bush’s lack of support for a hate-crimes bill meant he was coldly indifferent to the dragging death of a handicapped black man, and did all of this to solidify and energize the minority vote.

    All of this kerfuffle is simply Democrat chickens coming home to roost, the Obama administration’s on-going display of Herculean levels of incompetence and their media water-carriers frantic efforts to have attention focused elsewhere.

    GeneralMalaise (6d95fe)

  31. Boycott scotch whiskey till they come clean on the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

    I’m boycotting haggis.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90)

  32. Ropelight – How bout I keep the whiskey and boycott haggis instead. 😉

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  33. Oops wrong thread must have
    another cup of coffee
    and piece of peach pie

    GeneralMalaise (6d95fe)

  34. Bradley – I had not refreshed the page, thus did not see your comment before I made mine.
    Great minds and all that.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  35. Have Blue,
    When I visited Scotland many years ago, I enjoyed the whiskey, but passed on the haggis. A friend who was traveling with me had what was called vegetarian haggis, which kind of destroys the point.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (fb9e90)

  36. ==was called vegetarian haggis==

    I believe you should be cross-posting this on the other thread, Brother Bradley.

    elissa (ac36f5)

  37. boycott the Colonel
    Sanders put stuff on chicken
    make crave forthnightly

    ColonelHaiku (6d95fe)

  38. Really, that’s dreadful quality mobying. D-.

    Well played!

    Old Coot (fc2376)

  39. The gang of 4 bullsh*tters you mean. Please refresh my memory and tell me which one of these 4 stooges voted for Obamacare among other Democratic disasters?

    These 4 are more desperate than all the other Dems to hold on to their power and kickbacks. Corn husker ben realizes his fannie is gone when he got a kickback in excahnge for his vote came to the publics attention. That was one the media hid unsuccessfully.

    Boot them (c720d2)

  40. First off, I am not a ‘concern troll’, I have never trusted the government to do anything that diminishes its power over the common man. Second, ok, so I was accused of painting with too broad a brush…name me six representatives of congress with NO earmarked expenditures in their district. Why six? Well, that was all Abraham sought from his visitors about Sodom…

    MunDane68 (54a83b)

  41. Those 4 aren’t moderates. They are progressives. And dumb ones at that.

    If they were moderates they would have thought like the majority of us and would have saved us from Obanunism.

    I wish those 4 only ill will just like the rest of progressive swine.

    Carol (cad073)

  42. This gang of four are liars. They voted for Obamacare. They voted for Frank-Dodd Financial takeover. They voted for Porkulous. They voted for the takeover of the student loans. They voted for the wise Latina liar. They voted for the junker fiasco. They voted for Eric Holder, who said he was sorry about his Clinton shenanigans. They allowed Obama to takeover GM and Chrysler and give it to his Union thugs. Finally, they voted for Harry Reid and his uber liberal agenda.

    jkstewart2 (68e3be)

  43. There are no conservative Democrats.
    There are no moderate Democrats.

    Democrats come in four flavors.
    Liberal
    Very liberal
    Extremely liberal
    And so corrupt that no philosophy applies.

    The gang of four has no objection to the far left agenda of their party other than it endangers their careers.

    Ken Hahn (6bf860)

  44. Its dawning on Democrats who are not in completely safe seats that in November voters are going to realize just how high their taxes will be in 2011.

    I think some of them are starting to panic.

    SPQR (26be8b)


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