With nearly the entire Democratic 2020 field sprinting to be the closest to socialism without using the label, folks in the liberal media were busy trying to spin their radical policy positions as something palatable. A great example of this occurred during ABC’s This Week on Sunday, when two panelists tried to suggest that it was Republicans who were the radical ones with Democrats supposedly as the centrists.
During the “powerhouse roundtable” discussion late in the show, Republican strategist Alice Stewart noted that the candidates could “run away from the socialism label” all they wanted “but you can't deny the fact that the Democratic Party is moving very, very far to the left.”
“We're talking about a lot of policies that are extremely left. The Cortezs of Washington and the younger generation of Democrats are really causing a divide in the Democratic Party,” she added before triggered faux-Republican Matthew Dowd couldn’t hold back anymore.
Talking over Stewart, Dowd emphatically insisted it was the Republicans who were the ones who were out of touch with Americans: “The Democratic Party -- if you look at all the issues and where the public stands, the Democratic Party is actually closer to the center than the Republican Party is. The Democratic Party is much closer to the center.”
A few minutes later, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu added onto Dowd’s claims and wondered if the Republicans could get further out of touch.
“How much further to the right could the Republican Party go, than it is right now? And everybody is talking about the Democrats,” he opined. “When you think about where the Republicans are, and what their proposals have been for the country, there is a lot of room in the American political scope to talk about other issues.”
Seemingly looking to further press their assertions, host George Stephanopoulos questioned former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie about when President Trump was going to “move to the center” with his positions. Yes, they are still hung up on that.
Christie even pointed that out:
We were wondering that the last time too, George. We were wondering in 2016. When’s he going to move to the center? When is he going to do the traditional Nixon to the right in the primary, to the center for the general? He doesn't define himself that way. People don't define him that way. They don't look at him as an ideologue. Those labels don’t matter for him. It was incredibly frustrating running against him that those labels don't matter,” the Governor added. “But they don’t matter with him. People see him -- as Mitch said. They know who he is. He’s a personality. He ran as a personality and he's going to continue to run as a personality.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s This Week
March 17, 2019
9:40:36 a.m. Eastern(…)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You say watch for Mayor Pete Buttigieg, I agree, he seems to have a lot of talent. We’ve been talking about Joe Biden, we’ve talked about Beto O’Rourke. The surprising thing here, though, is those are all, Alice, white men in a party now where a lot of the energy is wanting to get behind a woman candidate.
ALICE STEWART: Certainly, and we’ve seen great strides in the most recent election. Certainly a tremendous number of women on the Democratic side now in Washington, which I think is great. I expect to see a woman on the ticket. Maybe not at the top of the ticket, but maybe as a vice presidential candidate, but you can run away from the socialism label. You can run away from labels, but you can't deny the fact that the Democratic Party is moving very, very far to the left. We're talking about the Green New Deal. We’re talking about free college education. We're talking about a lot of policies that are extremely left. The Cortez’s of Washington and the younger generation of Democrats are really causing a divide in the Democratic Party. Nancy Pelosi –
[Crosstalk]
MATTHEW DOWD: The Democratic Party -- if you look at all the issues and where the public stands, the Democratic Party is actually closer to the center than the Republican Party is. The Democratic Party is much closer to the center.
[Crosstalk]
CHRIS CHRISTIE: We'll see who the nominee is. Here’s the thing. The party – The party that does not have a president is nothing until it has a nominee, and then when it has a nominee, that nominee is everything.
(…)
MITCH LANDRIEU: Kamala Harris has been performing well, and Amy, et cetera. How much further to the right could the Republican Party go, than it is right now? And everybody is talking about the Democrats. When you think about where the Republicans are, and what their proposals have been for the country, there is a lot of room in the American political scope to talk about other issues.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Chris, that’s what I want to bring that to you. What is the issue that President Trump uses to move to the center? As Matt was saying, we haven't seen any major effort to try to build on his base at this point.
CHRISTIE: George, I respectfully say that those labels don't matter for Donald Trump. We were wondering that the last time too, George. We were wondering in 2016. When’s he going to move to the center? When is he going to do the traditional Nixon to the right in the primary, to the center for the general? He doesn't define himself that way. People don't define him that way. They don't look at him as an ideolog. Those labels don’t matter for him. It was incredibly frustrating running against him that those labels don't matter. But they don’t matter with him. People see him -- as Mitch said. They know who he is. He’s a personality. He ran as a personality and he's going to continue to run as a personality.
(…)
