despite the media's conclusion that the recent election is a victory for centrism, the progressive caucus is the congressional organization that's getting the biggest membership boost because of the recent election. after January 1st it will be the largest caucus in the house,not centrist caucuses like the DLC.
for some reason the media is quite happy to proclaim a conservative victory when it happens, but if conservatives don't win they spin whatever else happens into a victory for centrists. there were certainly centrist elements of the victorious democrats in the last election. but its not at all clear if that's an accurate description of most of the newbies. indeed, the increase in the number of progressive caucus members suggests just the opposite.
it's also interesting watching the national media deal with bob casey, the guy who kicked rick santorum's ass last week. casey's victory is often cited as exhibit A for this new democratic centrism. sure, casey is not a progressive. but his victory does not indicate that a progressive couldn't have also beat santorum.
a while ago the kingmakers in the state democratic party decided that santorum could only be beat by a conservative democrat like casey. they didn't ask pennsylvanians for their opinion of who they liked better, they just decided casey was the way to go and then worked their ass off to make sure that the people of pennsylvania were forced to choose between casey and santorum, and not santorum and anyone else. because santorum was viewed as vulnerable, a lot of PA democrats were expected to run for the seat, but party leaders got most of them to drop out. the only ones who were left, chuck pennacchio and alan sandals, were virtually unknown to the general electorate. there was a primary challenge to casey's presumed nomination, but it got little coverage until the very end. and even then, casey's main argument in favor of his candidacy was "i am the best man to beat santorum", he generally didn't talk about his centrist views. indeed, in the weeks leading up to the vote, getting rid of santorum was on everybody's minds, not getting a "centrist like casey" in.
in other words, our local senate race didn't represent the public choosing a centrism over conservatism, they chose anyone else over santorum. i am convinced that the state democratic party screwed up a perfect opportunity to elect a real progressive--a "moonbat" if you will--to the senate, just because no one really liked santorum anymore and the public was itching to vote for someone else almost anyone else.
so maybe exhibit B, C and D for the centrism thesis are more convincing. i know less about the local politics surrounding other races around the country. but to the extent they rely on casey as an example, i don't buy it.
