When Moderates Do Well

It seems recently that the voices congressional moderates on both the Republican and Democratic side of the aisle have been largely disregarded as meek and wishy washy. But today, moderate Democrats took a stand for which I must give them applause.

Politico reports...

'A White House effort to undermine conservative critics is generating a backlash on Capitol Hill — and not just from Republicans.

“It’s a mistake,” said Rep. Jason Altmire, a moderate Democrat from western Pennsylvania. “I think it’s beneath the White House to get into a tit for tat with news organizations.”

Altmire was talking about the Obama administration’s efforts to undercut Fox News. But he said his remarks applied just the same to White House efforts to marginalize the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobby targeted for its opposition to climate change legislation.

“There’s no reason to gratuitously piss off all those companies,” added another Democrat, Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia. “The Chamber isn’t an opponent.”'

While the extreme left "progressive" wing of the party is applauding the White House's divisiveness, I'm glad to see the moderates taking a stand in favor of civil dialogue and debate. Even members of the "mainstream" press corps are taking a stand against the White House's media war.

It's interesting that in their criticism of Fox News and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, David Axelrod and Rahm Emmanuel use Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity as examples. While no one will dispute their overtly displayed political leanings, it's important to distinguish between their shows and the news. Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly (and Limbaugh, Ingraham, etc. on the radio) are news opinion shows. To parallel, it would be like criticizing a newspaper editorial for being biased. It's supposed to be!

In comparison, say what you will about the Bush Administration's policies and press accessibility, they never overty demonized left-leaning news stations for their biased news opinion shows. Despite venomous rhetoric continuously being streamed by commentators like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow, not only did Bush Administration officials not attack them, they repeatedly met their attacks head on, participating in televized debates.

My respect goes to the moderate Democrats in Congress who stood up to the divisive, partisan politics of the Obama Administration.