×
PUTTING PRINCIPLES OVER PARTY. Over at The Swampland, the Other Klein is unimpressed with efforts to primary centrist Democrat Ellen Tauscher and suggests, by way of a Robespierre reference, that such efforts will shed a lot of blood for no good reason. But recent history doesn't back Klein up. As the article relates:
[Jane] Harman used to be a constant irritant, a go-to quote for reporters looking for a Democrat to tweak liberals -- until she had to fight off a primary challenge from the left in 2006. "She's been great ever since," [Kos] said. Now Harman even writes on the liberal Huffington Post blog.Kos can imagine a day when Tauscher still holds her seat but is no longer distasteful to the left. "That's what victory would look like -- a more responsive representative," he said. So when Tauscher praises Pelosi as "perfect on substance, perfect on optics," it's hard to know if that's a result of personal evolution, political trends, or blogospheric pressure, but it's music to Kos's ears. It's helpful to Democratic leaders, too.That all seems like a model worth following. Tauscher's voting record is certainly troublesome to anyone with firm progressive beliefs. She supported the loathsome Bankruptcy Bill, happily voted to slash the estate tax, and prided herself on her ability to compromise and accept Republican legislation -- and she did all of this from a safe, Democratic district. So why shouldn't left-leaning activists exert the sort of pressure that leads her to think twice before she next betrays their beliefs? She can certainly ignore their warnings and demands, and then can present herself and her beliefs in a primary before voters. Alternately, she can reform a bit. But the very fact that she's a Democrat shouldn't stop progressives from criticizing or opposing her. Such ideological fights are healthy in a polity too monomaniacally focused on party affiliation already.--Ezra Klein
