UPDATED: Houses of the holier-than-thou
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UPDATED: Houses of the holier-than-thou
Smerconish is joining a political movement called "No Labels":
"No Labels isn't saying you have to compromise on everything. People have strongly held beliefs, and they should hold to their beliefs. But we are saying that if we want to make progress for our country, if we want to solve the big problems facing us, we're going to have to find common ground," cofounder Jonathan Cowan told me.
"Look at the Constitution itself and the Constitutional Convention. . . . There's a lot of common ground. There [are] a lot of compromises. . . . That's the lifeblood of a democracy."
To be successful, No Labels will need to reshape not only elected officials' behavior, but also the conduct of those who provide their talking points.
Tomorrow, we'll give them a label. Tonight, savor another Eagles' victory.
UPDATE: OK, so the thing is, I don't have a problem with people declaring themselves centrists and fighting for middle-of-the-road policies with all their heart and soul, but what truly drives me crazy is their holier-than-thou notion that centrism is, by definition, better than people with ideologies (which is just a high fallutin' word for people's ideas) on the so-called right or so-called left. In fact, the whole right-left spectrum is just something we crazy humans made up to simplify complicated notions of limited government or social justice or personal freedom. Declaring what you think is the middle of two ideas doesn't make you more virtuous, and often it makes you maddenly inconsistent or incoherent. See "Obama, Barack."
There are two politicians out there right now who are garnering an enormous amount of respect right now -- no easy task. One of them happens to be conservative, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and one of them happens to be liberal, and that is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. That's not because they're trying to find some mythological middle ground, but because both are political figures who say what they think, and let the chips fall where they may. Meanwhile, centrists who convince themselves they're better than anyone else may indulge their elitist and even authoritarian tendencies -- look at New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the guru of the "No Labels" movement, and the way he's cramming some unqualified rich person down the proverbial throats of that city's schoolchildren and parents.
I guess I saying I'd rather have politicians with a label -- honest -- than the bland stew that the likes of Smerconish, Bloomberg and friends are cooking.
I am all for civility, but I think it needs to start with the President not calling the Republicans "hostage takers", and the "enemy". ALso, I notice minimal respresentation by the Republicans. I am for civil discourse, but Smerconish is not willing to take on the President, nor any of his MSNBC colleagues(Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow). I am sure it is because he does not want to lose the White House access or his occassional gigs filling in on Hardball. At the end of the day, his motive are purely for himself. Sad 1210 allowed him to take Hannity's spot.— Bush3
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"I think it needs to start with the President not calling the Republicans "hostage takers", and the "enemy". "...Sorry bush3 but you have to go further back then that. Lets start by not calling the President a Liar at a joint session of Congress. Then lets have DeMint, Bachmann and others quit the socialist/Hitler theme they have been screaming about over the last 2 years.— Les Ismore
I just read the op ed piece. What a bunch of hog wash! There is an extreme left and an extreme right in American politics and they won't compromise? Give me a break! There is an extreme right and a not as extreme right. That's all there is. Anyone who calls Obama or the vast majority of the Dems on Capitol Hill “leftists” or even liberals is a blithering idiot.— Hamlet- RG - This is for you
http://www.slate.com/id/2277521/— Les Ismore - From Tragedy and Hope, p.1245, published in 1966 by Prof. Caroll Quigley of Georgetown U: "The two parties should be almost identical so that the American
people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to
any profound or extensive shifts in policy. The policies that are
vital and necessary for America are no longer subjects of significant
disagreement, but are disputable only in details of procedure,
priority, or method"— Hamlet 
Anyone not for Obama's policies are the enemy and hostage takers of democracy, when will they stop acting stupidly. Big ears should be working as one of santa's elfs in the mall.- Smerconish talked this morning about partisan hacks seeing this movement as an attack on their gig. Based on the headline here, sounds like he was right. BTW, what's more holier-than-thou than referring to your actions as patriotic, while your opponents actions are racist?— A Friend
- "The middle of the road is for yellow lines and dead armadillos." –Jim Hightower— mellowjohn
- Hey Les...how about your party calling President Bush a liar about WMD? Obama was lying at the time. I agree that calling him that during the speech was over the top, but accurate.— Bush3
If people wanted civility the most watched news show in America would be the Jim Lehrer Newshour.— bird11- "Hey Les...how about your party calling President Bush a liar about WMD?" I'm so glad we turned out to be wrong. Otherwise the loss of over a $1 trillion and thousands of American servicemen's lives would be for nothing!BTW, wasn't Bush's jokes about trying to find WMDs under the podium at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner cute? He's so adorible!— Hamlet
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