The media hearts Moderation

The Republicans and their media enablers are so used to being in attack mode and thinking they set the agenda that they're already telling the Dems how to run things. And the Senate isn't even decided yet!

The Los Angeles Times has an editorial today that at least had the virtue of recognizing that Cheney and Bush are going to keep on being the jerks they are for the next two years: ... and the loser 11/08/06 (Did Cheney shoot anybody on his hunting trip yesterday?) But they couldn't help invoking the media Holy Grail of Moderation. And what do they mean by Moderation? This:

One of the ironies of Tuesday's results is that it increases the leverage of moderate Republicans such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Even as this election claimed so many of their kind, such moderates have the upper hand heading into 2008.

Let's see, that marvelous Maverick McCain is a prowar, pro-escalation-in-Iraq, pro-torture, anti-labor, anti-gay-rights hardliner with one of the most conservative voting records in the Senate who panders to the Christian Right and neo-Confederates. And the press has annoited the Maverick as a "moderate"?

I've noticed how the Republicans these days use language more and more in a magical way. But I think "witchcraft" would be a better term for this kind of word transformation.

And how does it stand with that new model "moderate" Republican, the newly-reelected Arnold Schwarzenegger? You know, Mr. Bipartisan who loves the environment and is best buddies with the Democratic leadership in the legislature.


Here's a look at how he's already planning to use his "moderate" mandate: Republican governor likely to clash with Democrats in 2007 by Marc Sandalow San Francisco Chronicle 11/08/06.

That didn't take long, did it? Sandalow reports:

After a year in which the governor and majority Democrats came to consensus on ideas they largely agreed on - addressing global warming, for example, and building more roads and schools - next year's hot topics are much more fraught with partisan pitfalls and may highlight core value differences in the Capitol. Administration officials say Schwarzenegger will tackle health care, prison reform and water supply, and also will face what is expected to be a $5 billion budget deficit.

Schwarzenegger escaped this year's anti-Republican trend at the polls and was crushing state Treasurer and Democratic candidate Phil Angelides 58 percent to 37 percent with nearly half of the votes counted. (my emphasis)

Schwarzenegger is also hinting about running for the Senate in 2010. He won't be able to win a Senate race with a gimmick like the 2003 recall vote that put him in the Governor's chair. He'll have to win a primary of the notably conservative California Republicans to do that. And that means he'll feel the need to play heavily to the rightwing base for the next four years.

The Chronicle's David Lazarus has the reputation of being a standout among business columnists, which I think for many papers is a pretty dull beat. But I can hardly believe he wrote down the "let's be bipartisan" conventional wisdom hooey in his column today: Real work begins for both sides San Francisco Chonicle 11/08/06.

Lazarus' suggestions for the Dems the next two years include:

* Balance the budget (Republicans are free to borrow as much money and spend as recklessly as they like but the Dems are obligated to be Fiscally Responsible.)

* Cut Social Security benefits and raise Social Security taxes (Did he just sleep through the last two years?)

* Cut Medicare benefits and raise Medicare taxes (Can you see a pattern emerging yet?)

Oh, yeah, that's what the Democratic Party exists for: to slash Social Security and Medicare and clean up the federal budget so the Republicans can come in later and run up huge new amounts of debt to finance more tax susidies to the very wealthy.

This is just the beginning. The Democrats will be deluged with idiotic "advice" like this for the next two years. And soon the pundits will be outraged that the Dems aren't acting on such wise advice. "Later" being probably a couple of days from now.

A more sensible set of three priorities would be:

* Investigate

* Investigate

*Investigate

Tags: democrats, election, mccain, schwarzenegger

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