# Democrats Moving Left vs. GOP Moving Right **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 26, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725 "2016-05-26T03:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/21 "2016-05-26T18:57:03Z")
Loose should have been lose in my above post 😂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/22 "2016-05-26T19:19:44Z")
You’re too loose, Lautrec. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/23 "2016-05-26T19:27:36Z")
So don’t be short with anybody. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/24 "2016-05-26T20:00:02Z")
French Impressionists were inspired by the Satanic conspiracy! Remember your Scripture: A love of Monet is the root of all evil! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/25 "2016-05-26T20:47:59Z")
Monet monet monet monet…monet! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/26 "2016-05-26T21:05:46Z")
Every Democratic presidential nominee from 1992 to 2016 has been an economic neoliberal. We can’t fairly say the party has moved left until that changes. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/27 "2016-05-27T00:49:21Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > It’s a stretch to define ‘striving to preserve and defend traditional Judeo-Christian American Values’ as “bigotry”. Not if you actually take a look at them, it ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/28 "2016-05-27T01:33:56Z")
As of 2012, political scientists Thomas E. Mann of Brookings and Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute believed that while both parties had moved further from the center, the Republican Party had gone off the rails. And there really wasn’t an equivalence between the two. The GOP had become [INDENT]an insurgent outlier- ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. … Both sides in politics are no more necessarily equally responsible than a hit-and-run driver and a victim; reporters don’t treat them as equivalent, and neither should they reflexively treat the parties that way. [/INDENT] [It's Even Worse Than It Looks - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_Even_Worse_Than_It_Looks) The authors couldn’t get booked on television for this book. They had little difficulty with earlier books: their centricism and establishmentarianism was actively sought out on the Sunday talk shows. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/29 "2016-05-27T02:33:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Every Democratic presidential nominee from 1992 to 2016 has been an economic neoliberal. We can’t fairly say the party has moved left until that changes. “neoliberalism” is a European political term, not an American. Dem party has moved left on social policy, which is good on LGB rights, but they’re really risking things with the transgender bit, Dem voters are even less willing to use force than during the Bush years (why Obama pulled from Iraq prematurely), and gone far-left on race, given how people actually use the term “white supremacy” outside of discussions about the Klan, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/30 "2016-05-27T02:50:35Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > “neoliberalism” is a European political term, not an American. Dem party has moved left on social policy, which is good on LGB rights, **but they’re really risking things with the transgender bit,** Dem voters are even less willing to use force than during the Bush years (why Obama pulled from Iraq prematurely), and gone far-left on race, given how people actually use the term “white supremacy” outside of discussions about the Klan, etc. Emphasis mine, as usual. You mean last desperate acts of the Republican Party? At least they maintained some strained credibility with abortion, which they’re still trying to pen in as much as possible. None whatsoever with the NC bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/31 "2016-05-27T04:14:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Emphasis mine, as usual. > > You mean last desperate acts of the Republican Party? At least they maintained some strained credibility with abortion, which they’re still trying to pen in as much as possible. None whatsoever with the NC bullshit. I don’t condone banning abortion, but they’ve been at that forever, which is one of the big reasons I’ve not become a Republican. But the many Democrats seem to now call anyone who publicly isn’t into the transgender thing “bigot,” at least prominent activists, websites, etc. It’s only a matter of time before moderate Dems ones follow suit, if they haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/32 "2016-05-27T05:11:49Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > French Impressionists were inspired by the Satanic conspiracy! Remember your Scripture: A love of Monet is the root of all evil! The love of Monet is the [route of all evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevard_des_Capucines_%28Monet%29). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/33 "2016-05-27T05:29:19Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > …(why Obama pulled from Iraq prematurely)… They told us to go. They established a government, which we recognized, then negotiated with over terms of our semi-permanent residence. They said no. Thanks but no thanks, here’s your hat. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/34 "2016-05-27T09:19:04Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I don’t condone banning abortion, but they’ve been at that forever, which is one of the big reasons I’ve not become a Republican. But the many Democrats seem to now call anyone who publicly isn’t into the transgender thing “bigot,” at least prominent activists, websites, etc. It’s only a matter of time before moderate Dems ones follow suit, if they haven’t. No, we just say that calling trans people “repulsive” and “disgusting”, as you have done, it’s a bigoted thing to say. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/35 "2016-05-27T13:26:06Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > No, we just say that calling trans people “repulsive” and “disgusting”, as you have done, it’s a bigoted thing to say. I didn’t mean actually to say it in public, I meant to merely think it. Some progressives out there do mind when people “think bigoted things,” which is what I was referring to. back to the point of the thread; [http://www.gallup.com/poll/188129/conservatives-hang-ideology-lead-thread.aspx](http://www.gallup.com/poll/188129/conservatives-hang-ideology-lead-thread.aspx) thats a good example of what I mean ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/36 "2016-05-27T13:58:51Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I didn’t mean actually to say it in public, I meant to merely think it. Some progressives out there do mind when people “think bigoted things,” which is what I was referring to. Does it bother you that you said something that you appear to understand is bigoted? Don’t you want to improve yourself? > [@](#): > > back to the point of the thread; [http://www.gallup.com/poll/188129/conservatives-hang-ideology-lead-thread.aspx](http://www.gallup.com/poll/188129/conservatives-hang-ideology-lead-thread.aspx) thats a good example of what I mean A good example of what? Something that hasn’t changed much (and if, at all, shifted slightly in the favor of liberals) at all over the last several years? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/37 "2016-05-27T13:59:21Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > “neoliberalism” is a European political term, not an American. [Neoliberalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism) is what it is, and what it is, is no good. This is a **lot** more important than the social-cultural issues you keep focusing on. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/38 "2016-05-27T15:04:55Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > “neoliberalism” is a European political term, not an American. Neoliberalism originated in Europe. But so did America itself, if you think about it. Each has changed quite a bit over the years and now have new meanings apart from their European origins. > [@](#): > > and gone far-left on race, given how people actually use the term “white supremacy” outside of discussions about the Klan, etc. No, they use the term “white privilege.” That’s a wholly different term. If terms mean anything to this discussion, then the proper current use of them is critical. “White supremacy” as a term is sometimes used in discussions of Donald Trump, because his pronouncements are often not that dissimilar from those of the Klan (which he hesitated to condemn or distance himself from, until some handlers poked him hard). The Gallup Poll article you linked to says that Republican are far more conservative than Democrats are liberal, BTW. Conservatives are the same percentage of Republicans they were in 2004 while liberals are all of three percentage points higher. Your own cite confirms what I said, somewhat hyperbolically, in post #12. If your own cites refute you, isn’t it past time to concede the point? All that is assuming that terms are important in this thread, rather than insults and the insistence that bigotry against a group you dislike isn’t bigotry. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725/39 "2016-05-27T16:09:36Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I didn’t mean actually to say it in public… Except you _did_ say it in public. On this board. In a thread where you knew there were trans people reading and participating. You effectively said it to their face. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-moving-left-vs-gop-moving-right/755725.md?page=1)