The Democratic Party’s so-called “moderates” have had it with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and other members of the “squad.” These “centrists” are laboring to separate themselves semantically from these neo-Marxists, although their differences end there.
These “middle-of-the road” Democrats call themselves “normal.” If they keep parroting that word, their feathers will turn green.
- “If you want a Senator who runs as a Socialist, feeds the [Republican Party] attack ads, & didn’t help with infrastructure, I’M NOT YOUR GUY,” Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Penn., recently pleaded via Twitter. “I’m a normal Democrat who supports jobs & wins elections.”
- Rep. Donald McEachin, D-Va., said voters want to “return to normal as quickly as possible.”
- Speaking about President Joe Biden, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said, “Nobody elected him to be [former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt]. They elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.”
- “People are fatigued and confused, and they want to get back to their normal lives,” observed state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-N.J.
- Democrat campaign operative Howard Wolfson prescribed a “course correction” and an embrace of “bipartisan normalcy.”
When these allegedly moderate Democrats call themselves “normal,” this suggests that those further left are abnormal. How offensive! They should immediately apologize to the squad. Indeed, they are the Democrats’ new normal.
The American Conservative Union’s recently modernized website makes it a snap to review senators’ and House members’ votes clear back to 1972. The ideological spectrum runs from zero to 100 for most liberal to 100 to most conservative. It is divided into three thirds: left (zero-33 American Conservative Union ratings), middle (34-56) and right (67-100). This center slice should be inhabited by moderate Democrats.
Good luck finding them.
“Normal” Democrats who loudly claim to be in the middle are on the left—often deeply so.
Lamb, for starters, has a 9.04 lifetime American Conservative Union rating—24.96 points from the centrist border.
McEachin’s 5.68 is the aforementioned. Spanberger? 10.53. Weinberg votes conservatively 1.98% the majority of the time.
The New Democrat CoalitionIt is a natural home for centrist House Democrats. Nonsense. This group’s leadership is planted firmly, solidly, deeply left:
- Rep. Suzan DelBene is the New Democrat Coalition Chairwoman, a Democratic-Washington, who rates 3.48. She is left of Ocasio-Cortez’s 5.23 American Conservative Union rating.
- “Centrist” Whip Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., votes in precise, North Korean-style lockstep with Ocasio-Cortez at 5.23.
- Vice Chair for Policy Scott Peters, D-Calif., is New Democrat Coalition’s most right-wing leader, with a whopping score of 8.2.
- All eight non-freshmen New Democrat Coalition leaders are within American Conservative Union’s farthest-left decile. Moderate House Democrats vote conservatively less that 10% of the time. This puts them in the middle of everything.
In the past, Democrats have moved further left than Republicans. In 1980, House Democrats received an average 26 American Conservative Union rating. In 1990, 20. In 1990, 20. In 2000, 16. In 2010, there were six.
Republicans peaked at 89 years old in 2010, but they fell back to 74 in last year. They started at 68 in 80. In the 11 years I studied, Democrats had an average of 17 votes and Republicans had 76. Democrats were closer than Republicans to 100.
For 2020, three Republican Party senators and 34 Republican House members rated in the middle third versus zero Democrat senators and only one House Democrat: New Jersey’s Jefferson Van Drew with a 46. Since then, he has defected to Republican Party.
Meanwhile, “centrist” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is not. The West Virginian has a 26.55 Rating. Sen. Kyrsten Silena, D-Ariz. has a mere 14.59. Phony was a middle-roader Biden, earning a 13.
American Conservative Union ratings confirm that Republicans are America’s more moderate party.
“The data speak for themselves,” American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp told me. “The most radical elements of the left have hijacked the Democrat Party.”
Moderate Democrats have become mythical creatures, much like unicorns or dragons. There are only leftists, and far leftists. Your father’s normal Democrat Party is far, far away.
The Daily Signal is open to all perspectives. This article is not meant to represent the views of The Heritage Foundation.
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