Republicans the party of name calling

by: Hopeful

Fri May 15, 2009 at 11:46:07 AM EDT

To be sure, Norcross is from the extremist wing of the Republican Party.  In this 2001 NY Times article he denounced moderates and blamed them for Republican losses in New Jersey:

David Norcross, a former state party chairman, said in a telephone interview on Election Day that in some ways the race showed the ''fallacy of the moderates in talking about a big tent.''

''They're the ones who always said it was a big tent, but when it came time to let the conservatives in, they didn't want to do it,'' Mr. Norcross said. ''That is a problem that will be front and center and that will have to be dealt with.''

Most now think Norcross's strategy of excluding moderates led to losses first in New Jersey and then nationwide, so he's not exactly the brightest bulb in politics. As for the socialist name, a few months ago conservatives tried to name George W. Bush a socialist in another RNC resolution.

Of course it's completely appropriate for the Republicans to pass resolutions showing how they differ from Democrats (or even their own leader.) It's the name-calling that is an expression of a party that can't be trusted with government... Iraq and New Orleans taught us that.  For all that the right made up the term "Bush Derangement Syndrome," here is my account from 2007 of how the DNC passed resolutions:

The DNC Resolutions, co-chaired by Maria Echaveste and James J. Zogby, had a surprising atmosphere:  Throughout the meeting, loud jazz music from the neighboring room made it hard to hear.  I was struck that many of the resolutions could have come from the blogs:  "Calling for the Restoration of Habeus Corpus,"  "Stressing the Need for Action in Sudan," "Supporting Accurate, Open Transparent Elections in the United States of America," "Commending Howard Dean for the 50 State Strategy," and, of course, "Expressing Deep Concern with the Bush Administration's Performance in Iraq."  Well, that last was kinder than any blog title would be, but the resolution clearly condemns every aspect of Bush's policies and his attempt to escalate the war.  When the resolution opposing escalation came up, the chair asked "Are there people opposed to this?"  Everyone laughed.

"Expressing Deep Concern" vs. calling the people names. I hope for the country's sake Republicans find themselves some new RNC members who don't have the maturity of five-year-olds.