NEW YORK — The Democrat Party’s so-called “moderates” have had it with congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and other members of the Squad. These “centrists” are laboring to separate themselves semantically from these neo-Marxists, although their differences end there.
These “middle-of-the-road” Democrats call themselves “normal.” If they keep parroting that word, their feathers will turn green.
–“If you want a Senator who runs as a Socialist, feeds the GOP attack ads, & didn’t help with infrastructure, I’M NOT YOUR GUY,” Congressman Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania recently pleaded via Twitter. “I’m a normal Democrat who supports jobs & wins elections.”
–Congressman Donald McEachin of Virginia said voters want to “return to normal as quickly as possible.”
–Speaking about President Joe Biden, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger of Virginia said, “Nobody elected him to be F.D.R. They elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.”
–“People are fatigued and confused, and they want to get back to their normal lives,” observed State Senator Loretta Weinberg of New Jersey.
–Democrat campaign operative Howard Wolfson prescribed a “course correction” and embrace of “bipartisan normalcy.”
When these allegedly moderate Democrats call themselves “normal,” this suggests that those further Left are abnormal. How insulting! The Squad should demand an immediate apology. Indeed, they are the Democrats’ new normal.
The American Conservative Union’s recently modernized website makes it a snap to review senators’ and House members’ votes clear back to 1972. Running from 0 for most liberal to most conservative at 100, the ideological spectrum cleaves into thirds: Left (0 to 33 ACU ratings), middle (34 to 66), and Right (67 to 100). Moderate Democrats should inhabit this center slice.
Good luck finding them there.
“Normal” Democrats who loudly claim to be in the middle are on the Left — often deeply so.
Lamb, for starters, has a 9.04 lifetime ACU rating — 24.96 points from the Centrist border.
The aforementioned McEachin clocks in at 5.68. Spanberger? 10.53. Weinberg votes conservatively 1.98 percent of the time.
The New Democrat Coalition styles itself as the natural home of centrist House Democrats. Nonsense. This group’s leadership is planted firmly, solidly, deeply Left:
–NDC chairwoman Suzan DelBene of Washington state rates 3.48. She stands Left of AOC, who sports a more conservative 5.23 ACU rating!
–“Centrist” Whip Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania votes in precise, North Korean-style lockstep with AOC at 5.23.
–Vice Chair for Policy Scott Peters of California is NDC‘s most Right-wing leader, with a whopping 8.2.
–All eight non-freshmen NDC leaders are within ACU’s farthest-Left decile. Those who represent moderate House Democrats vote conservatively less than 10 percent of the time. In what world does this put them at the center of anything?
Historically, Democrats have marched further Left than Republicans have headed Right. In 1980, House Democrats averaged a 26 ACU rating. In 1990, 20. In 2000, 16. In 2010, 6. And in 2020, 3.
Republicans began at 68 in 1980, peaked in 2010 at 89, and fell back to 74 last year. Across 11 years that I sampled, Democrats averaged 17 and Republicans 76. Democrats were closer to 0 than Republicans were to 100.
For 2020, three GOP senators and 34 Republican House members rated in the middle third versus zero Democrat senators and only one House Democrat: New Jersey’s Jefferson Van Drew with a 46. He since has defected to the GOP.
Meanwhile, “centrist” Senator Joe Manchin is not. The West Virginian owns a 26.55 rating. Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema has a mere 14.59. Phony “middle-roader” Joe Biden earned a 13.
ACU ratings confirm that Republicans are America’s more moderate party.
“The data speak for themselves,” ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp told me. “The most radical elements of the Left have hijacked the Democrat party.”
Moderate Democrats are now mythical creatures, like dragons and unicorns. Nothing remains but Leftists and far Leftists. Your father’s normal Democrat Party is far, far away.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor, a contributing editor with National Review Online, and a senior fellow with the London Center for Policy Research. He has participated in numerous Conservative Political Action Conferences and other ACU events across the decades.
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