Yes, the all too personal affront to any Republican today is to call them a moderate. Apparently showing any reasoning power or governing capability through some compromise is too unbecoming for the base.

The Democrats’ ritual circular Firing Squad is loading its weapons. Progressives are angry at moderates over their votes on health care reform. Moderates think Progressives are going too far. And above it all stands a President who is unable to rein in his own party.

In all the stories about former GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava and why she pulled out the race, there has developed a certain meme as to why she did not win in a three way race: she was a bad candidate.

In more than a few blog posts not only from her detractors, but from those who say they want a more expanded GOP, this meme has stuck and it even has an image, one of Scozzafava going to campaign in front of conservative challenger Doug Hoffman’s headquarters surrounded by Hoffman supporters. For many this is proof positive that Scozzafava was a dunce, a weakling, an all around inferior candidate.

” The issue here is not race, it is civility!” This is not to say that we are suddenly racially pure, but constantly talking and reducing everything to black versus white is not helpful to the cause of restoring civility to our public dialogue.

There has been much weeping and wailing at the demise of the New England and/or Northeastern Republican and rightly so. What was once the geographical base of the GOP is nearly extinct.

But then again, it might be a bit to early to start writing an obituary. Dierdre Scozzafava, a Republican New York State Assemblywoman garnered the support of a number of GOP county chairs in her upstate Congressional district, which means she will run as a Republican in a special election to replace outgoing Representative John McHugh, who is being tapped by the President as Secretary of the Army.

 By Dennis Sanders Over the last few decades, an experiment has been taking place within the Republican Party. It has been conducted not by party leaders as much as by the rank and file or so-called base. It has been an experiment as to whether a politically pure party can be a viable party. To [...]