Moderate, Moderate, Moderate

That's the rallying cry barked by some in the Republican Party -- and by many Demorats or Media Hounds who enjoy criticizing the GOP. Things like: "The GOP is attempting to kill itself by refusing to place more people of moderate values under the Republican Tent."

Critics of the GOP invariably point to Barry Goldwater, for Christ's sake, waaay back in 1964 as THE prime example of "too far." Oh, please.

It would seem to me that the current problem with the GOP is that it has lost its way, had its rudder ripped away by persons laboring under the GOP label who are pretty much nothing of the sort -- that is to say, truly Conservative.

Yes -- some naysayers may be indicating -- you must realize that every Republican voted down ObamaKare. But that, in my mind, is because even a dead clock carries the proper time twice a day.

Let's examine, for a moment, some of that Big Tenting advocated by -- uh, let's see: the RNC and Michael Steele. How about:

- Pennsylvanian Arlen Specter;

- The lovely and dashing Olympia Snowe;

- Lindsay Graham;

- Tim Pawlenty;

- Even Mr John (Gang of 13) McCain.

And in my neck of the woods, how about Mr Green Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger?

True Conservatives all, yes?

Uh, no.

Now, even the Demorats are having their issues with "moderates." They think they need more. William Daley wrote in The Washington Post:

The announcement by Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith that he is switching to the Republican Party is just the latest warning sign that the Democratic Party -- my lifelong political home -- has a critical decision to make: Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come.

All that is required for the Democratic Party to recover its political footing is to acknowledge that the agenda of the party's most liberal supporters has not won the support of a majority of Americans -- and, based on that recognition, to steer a more moderate course on the key issues of the day, from health care to the economy to the environment to Afghanistan.

The party's moment of choosing is drawing close. While it may be too late to avoid some losses in 2010, it is not too late to avoid the kind of rout that redraws the political map. The leaders of the Democratic Party need to move back toward the center -- and in doing so, set the stage for the many years' worth of leadership necessary to produce the sort of pragmatic change the American people actually want.

While I would wholeheartedly agree that as the Demorats lean further Left, they are virtually assuring greater losses -- I wholeheartedly disagree with its opposite contention: that the GOP needs to lean further Left as well.

In my opinion the Demorats want the GOP tent to be sufficiently large so as to eventually "become" the Demorats themselves. You could start with the above-mentioned individuals.

And a final question: do you see Demorats and "Progressives" (whatever in the hell does that mean anyway?) opening their tent flaps wide for Conservatives?

I might leave you with one quote from Mr Barry Goldwater:

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

BZ