"Americans are very lucky people...."

[babylonsister]

[treestar]

1. There is such a thing as former Republicans

[babylonsister]

2. Ha! Lots of them, and more are being created

daily!

[RC]

3. Yes. They are called Democrats.

Because the Democratic Party has moved so far to the Right.

[pnwmom]

4. The whole world took a step to the right

with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberalization of China.

[treestar]

6. It has not

It is pro choice, pro immigration reform, in favor of women's rights, gay rights, a social safety net. The Republicans are the ones that moved "far to the right." You're simply kvetching that the Democrats are dealing with these new Republicans and the results aren't to your liking. Not to my liking either. But the Tea Party is rabid and fanatic and doesn't just sit back and complain, and thus they win enough elections to have some leverage.

[RC]

7. The Republicans have moved to the far Right, that is true.

But there is no gap between the Republicans and the Democrats, because the Democratic Leadership has moved over to the Right to fill that gap, dragging the Democratic Party and the country with it. The Democratic party now consists of the DLC, DINO's 3rd Way, New Democrats and former Republicans that have not changed their politics, because the Democratic Party has moved rightward to them.

[treestar]

8. The Democrats have not moved to the right

There is nothing on the platform any further to the right than there was in 1980. It is simply harder to accomplish it, due to the rabid nature of the Republicans.

[RC]

9. Yeah sure, it's all the Republicans fault.

Extending bu$h's tax cuts, bailing out the big money, over Main Street, the Chained CPI, Drones blowing up people in countries we are not at war with. This Administrations war against whistle blowers. The ACA was born in the Right wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation. Even the Public Option was nixed.
It is those already to the Right of Center that think the Democrats have not moved to the Right.

Democrats Have Moved to the Right, Not the Left

The Democrats, as far as I can see, have moved from their 40-yard-line to midfield, or their opponents' 45. As recently as the Clinton presidency, Democrats actively pushed for gun control, defence budgets under 3% of GDP, banning oil exploration off America's Atlantic and Pacific coasts, a public option or single-payer solution to universal health insurance, and...well, Clinton-era progressive income-tax rates. Today these positions have all been abandoned. And we're talking about positions held under Bill Clinton, a "third way" leader who himself moved Democratic ideology dramatically to the right, the guy responsible for "ending welfare as we know it". Since then, Democrats have moved much further yet to the right, in the fruitless search for a compromise with a Republican Party that sees compromise itself as fundamentally evil. The obvious example is that the Democrats in 2010 literally passed the universal health-insurance reform that had been proposed by the GOP opposition in the Clinton administration, only to find today's GOP vilifying it as a form of Leninist socialist totalitarianism.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/05/democrats-have-moved-right-not-left

Don't forget to read the comments.

[treestar]

10. Again, you are talking about bargains

to keep the government open, etc., due to rabid nature of the Republicans and their use of procedure. It does not mean Democrats stand for those things, but they were forced into them. The solution is fewer Republicans in office.

[RC]

11. The solution is fewer 3rd Way, DLC, DINO's and other Republican Lite..

[treestar]

12. No the solution is fewer rabid Republicans

Look at what they were able to do with the debt ceiling and shutdown. None of the sinners you mention in your subject line would have done that.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. Sad, isn’t it? …

I’m afraid there remains a fundamental lack of knowledge with respect to governing.

[freshwest]

5. Love, love love this picture and sentiment.

[freshwest]

13. Kicking because I love seeing it that much.