Why Does The Corporate Media Call Reactionaries "Moderates?"

Reactionary Allen Boyd finds a kindred spirit in Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, another Bush supporting Democrat

This morning the McClatchy papers ran with a decent enough article about how Obama is having a hard time with his plans to rebuild the middle class because of conservative Democrats. The problem with the piece is in the headline, Greatest Threat to Obama Spending Plan? Moderate Dems. [UPDATE: McClatchy has now removed the word "moderate" from the title!] "Moderate" is a word that most people-- like almost all people other than Rush Limbaugh, who detests and reviles moderates-- think of positively. Calling someone a "moderate" bolsters them and their positions.

The very first example of a "moderate" that David Lightman, the McClatchy reporter, uses is one of the most far right reactionary Democrats in Congress, Florida kook Allen Boyd. When George Bush sent about to destroy Social Security and sell it off to Wall Street, he knew exactly where to turn for "bipartisan" cover. In fact, the only Democrat he could find to co-sponsor his privatization bill for Social Security was... Allen Boyd. Boyd consistently crosses the aisle to vote with Republicans, not necessarily on the small mundane issues Congress addresses, but on the highly charged, partisan issues that separate Democrats from Republicans.

Boyd and two dozen other Blue Dogs-- anti-working family conservatives like Dan Boren (OK), Heath Shuler (NC), Joe Donnelly (IN), Travis Childers (MS), Gene Taylor (MS), Bobby Bright (AL), Collin Peterson (MN), Chis Carney (PA)-- are so far to the right that calling them "moderates," forces media to refer to actual moderates, like Loretta Sanchez (CA), Adam Schiff (CA), Michael Michaud (ME), and Michael Arcuri (NY)-- all also Blue Dogs-- as liberals. And then what about progressives and liberals like Donna Edwards (D-MD), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jesse Jackson (D-IL), and Linda Sánchez (D-CA), real progressives who fight for Democratic values and principles and for the aspirations of working families every single day? What are they-- communists?

Lightman mentions that "if all 47 Blue Dogs joined the House's 178 Republicans, they could deny Democratic leaders a House majority of 218." True enough, but the fact of the matter is, the actual "moderates" in the Blue Dog caucus are Democrats first and they do usually stand up for working families over corporate interests. The reactionaries among the Blue Dogs have been crossing the aisle all year-- and can be expected to continue-- but they can't do it on their own and, ocassionally, there are enough mainstream conservatives in the Republican caucus who cross over to the Democrats to balance out the far right Blue Dogs.

And speaking of Allen Boyd, looks like even in his own very conservative Panhandle district, people are getting fed up with him. The dean of the Florida state Senate, Al Lawson, who is a conservative Democrat himself-- but, unlike Boyd, still a Democrat-- is going to be challenging Boyd in the primary this year. Lawson's senate district and Boyd's congressional district are largely filled with the same voters. The problem for Boyd is that in the Democratic primary, he won't have Republicans able to come out and vote for him. The looming primary battle against Boyd is seen in Florida as one of the state's hottest races for 2010 and national groups are talking about helping Lawson get the funding he needs to take on the execrable and treacherous Boyd.

Oh... and back to that word thing again. In today's Wall Street Journal there's a story by Charles Levinson in Jerusalem titled, Netanyahu Strikes Deal With Rival's Far-Right Party. Isn't Netanyahu's own Likud party the far-right party? A more descriptive and accurate headline might have been, "Netanyahu's Far Right Party Links Up, As Expected, With Lieberman's Neo-Fascist Party."