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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsProgressive Democrats seek to purge the term 'moderate'
Progressives are imploring fellow Democrats to stop using the term moderate to describe some lawmakers in their party, arguing it inaccurately labels those holding up President Bidens agenda as merely staking out a middle-ground approach.
The rhetorical pressure campaign is escalating over
what liberals see as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinemas (D-Ariz.) lack of cooperation with their favored approach to passing social and physical infrastructure legislation simultaneously.
Referring to the small handful of conservative Democrats working to block the presidents agenda as moderates does grave harm to the English language and unfairly maligns my colleagues who are actually moderate yet by and large understand the stakes of this historic moment, first-term Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) told The Hill on Tuesday. Moderates and progressives are united in our commitment to passing President Bidens agenda and delivering for the American people, he said.
Anyone trying to obstruct that agenda is, at best, behaving like a Republican.
Many prefer the phrase corporate Democrats which holds a broadly negative connotation across the party to reflect the decision among some to accept campaign donations from corporations and other traditional funding avenues.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/574399-progressive-democrats-seek-to-purge-the-term-moderate
Budi
(15,325 posts)I rest my case.
Thanks for the OP, left-of-center2012
In order to now use the new negative label of Corporate Democrats honestly & fairly, a list of every Corporation funding, supporting & affiliated with each Dem should be availible to the public in order to call another a 'Corporate' Democrat.
In all fairness it's a matter of simple factchecking & truth in messaging.
lapucelle
(18,040 posts)Mondaire Jones is a Populist-Leaning Liberal
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Kyrsten Sinema is a Libertarian-Leaning Progressive
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Joe Manchin III is a Centrist
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https://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)corporations on one side of a room and those who have accepted no such donations, the entire building would lean enough to put it in danger of falling down.
Rep. Jones needs to look for a different adjective to use. The one he picked is pretty much useless.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)The usages 'moderate' and 'centerist' are employed in lieu of openly pejorative terms, such as right-wing tool or obstructionist wrecker, in the same way 'progressive' came into vogue as a substitute for 'liberal' in order to avoid the taint successfully attached to the latter during the Reagan era.
The problem remains the small rightist faction of the Party, who themselves lay claim to exemplifying moderation and the political center. In some cases the delusion is probably honest, but whether honest or calculated for personal gain, it arises from a profoundly outdated paradigm, which no longer functions in political life today. I personally have no affection for 'corporate dems' as a term of descriptive denunciation, but can see its appeal to some. I think Rep. Jones' gets it right with 'acting like Republicans'....