A rose by any other name…
March 31st, 2008 at 10:53am Pat Cunningham
Conservatives have had a certain amount of success in demonizing the word “liberal” in recent decades — so much so, in fact, that some people seem to think that merely calling a person or an idea liberal constitutes an effectively negative argument.
Ah, but labels aside, the truth is that Americans today are less conservative and more liberal than they have been at any time in the last 20 years.
Check it out HERE.
Entry Filed under: conservatives, liberals
12 Comments Add your own
1. Kaus | March 31st, 2008 at 11:48 am
Conservatives demonize liberals? Thin skinned. So you try to change to being called ‘progressive’ but it doesn’t stick because the only progress you make is making government bigger and bigger.
2. Mike Carroll | March 31st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Pat-you and I both know that a pollster can pretty much obtain the desired results depending on how the questions are asked. I have seen polls that purport to show exactly the opposite of what Ms. Cohen’s poll shows.
Let’s assume the poll is correct. How does that explain the Republicans winning 3 of the 5 elections during that 20 year span and the 2 Democratic victories coming from a candidate who pretended to be a Conservative Democrat (remember triangulation) and never achieved 50% of the popular vote in either of his two victories?
Correct me if I am wrong. I think Peanuts got 50.1 % of the popular vote in 76.
Yep, that Liberal thing is a winning proposition with the American public. I encourage you to continue to promote it.
3. Pat Cunningham | March 31st, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Mike: You seem not to understand what Cohen said. She said: “Americans today are less conservative and more liberal than they have been at any time in the last 20 years.” Repeat: Americans TODAY are more liberal than at any time in the last 20 years. The extent to which you point out any lesser degree of liberalism over the past 20 years only helps support her point. I notice that you don’t specifically dispute the numbers she includes in her argument: “64% of Americans believe it is the responsibility of the government to make sure Americans have health coverage. 70% believe that the government has a responsibility to take care of the poor. 89% support equal employment rights for homosexuals. 70% favor affirmative action for blacks, minorities, and women. 6 in 10 Americans think that the Iraq War was a mistake.” That all sound pretty liberal to me.
4. Pat Cunningham | March 31st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Kaus: I don’t why I even bother, but consider this: Government got a lot bigger, not smaller, in the first six years of the Bush presidency when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. Did you know that government also got a lot bigger under Ronald Reagan, despite all his hollow rhetoric? No, I didn’t think you did. It’s amazing how much you parrot the talking points of the Republican Party, no matter the facts to the contrary.
5. Mike Carroll | March 31st, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Pat-I think I tried to address her point in the first three lines of my post.
As an example-
Do you believe it is the responsibility of government to make sure Americans have health coverage?
Do you believe it is the responsibility of government to make sure Americans have health coverage even though your taxes would rise substantially to pay for that coverage?
And, BTW, what’s liberal about equal employment rights for gays?
I actually hire people and I can assure you that we don’t give a rat’s ass about whether or not they are gay. We only care about whether they can do the job.
6. Mike Carroll | March 31st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
And one more thing Pat (I always have at least one more)-let me know how you feel if and when your child gets sacrificed on the altar of Affirmative Action. Rich and influential liberals (think the Kennedys) can always avoid the consequences for their children but middle class liberals can’t. I know you are incredibly influential but I don’t think you are rich.
7. Kaus | March 31st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Pat, not all republicans are truly conservative. You have provided some good material in past posts to validate your point about Republicans raising taxes. However, both Obama and Hillary have some huge initiatives and no intention of lowering my taxes for paying for them. I will gladly point this out to you in 2010 if and when Obama can shake Rev. Wright and his platform of hate the white man / hate America.
8. Pat Cunningham | March 31st, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Once again, Kaus, you are flat-out wrong. Obama is proposing tax cuts for the middle class (unlike Bush’s cuts for the wealthiest Americans). And when are you going to let go of the Rev. Wright stuff? Everybody but you and Limbaugh have moved on. By the way, for every denunciation of America by Rev. Wright, I can cite denunciations of America by preachers who are favored among Republicans (like McCain’s pal, John Hagee). Obama has handled the Wright thing extremely well and has come out of it further ahead in the polls than he was when it started. Most Americans think Obama’s speech on race put the matter to rest. You don’t agree, I know, but then you are out of touch with the American meanstream on most matters.
9. Pat Cunningham | March 31st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Kaus: Obama unveiled his tax plan six months ago, but you’ve apparently been too busy obsessing about his race, his middle name, his preacher and god knows what else to pay much attention to anything else. Here’s the story:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/18/obama.taxplan/index.htm
10. Kaus | March 31st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Your link gave me the error ‘CNN page cannot be found’…just like your logic. I prefer the US News article…As part of his “Tax Fairness for the Middle Class” plan, Barack Obama is in favor of nearly doubling the capital-gains tax rate from 15 percent to 28 percent. ..Democratic candidates are all scrambling to figure out ways to plausibly pay for new healthcare, education, and infrastructure spending if elected.” http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2007/9/19/obama-pushes-for-higher-investment-taxes.html
Let’s face it…Obama has done nose candy in his prior life and it is affecting his brain. He is lying to his constituents to get their votes…just like his church buddies…use them for gaining access. He is a lawyer….a schister just like all the rest. Not audacity of hope….just audacity. But may the good Lord bless your agnostic heart. I still love you my progressive brother.
11. Henry | April 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
No doubt five years of torture has had more of an effect on McCain then Obama’s sampling of the ‘nose candy’.
12. Henry | April 2nd, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Correction: than not then
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