Schieffer repeated GOP claim that newly elected Democratic House members are "a bunch of new conservative Democrats"
SUMMARY: CBS' Bob Schieffer
baselessly claimed that many of the freshman Democratic House members are
"conservative"; Tucker Carlson called newly elected Democratic Rep.
Heath Shuler "more conservative than most Republicans in the
House." In fact, the Democratic candidates who won Republican-held seats
in the November 7 midterm elections, including Shuler, have said they support
central issues in the Democratic platform.
On the November 16 broadcast of the CBS Evening News, CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer baselessly claimed that many of the newly elected Democratic House members are "conservative." Discussing the election of Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) as House majority leader, Schieffer said that "the problem" confronting House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is that "she is going to have in the next Congress a lot of really left-wing liberals in her party that were left over from this session of Congress, plus a bunch of new conservative Democrats who have just been elected. She's going to have to bring them together if the Democrats are going to get anything done." But as Media Matters for America has documented (here and here), the Democratic candidates who, as of November 14, had won Republican-held seats in the November 7 midterm elections have said they support central issues in the Democratic platform -- raising the minimum wage, changing course in Iraq, and opposing any effort to privatize Social Security. Also, these new Democrats largely agree on the most contentious social issues of the day; as Media Matters has noted, all but two of the 28 newly elected Democrats (as of November 14) support embryonic stem cell research and only five describe themselves as "pro-life" on the issue of abortion.
Since then, Democratic Connecticut 2nd Congressional District candidate Joe Courtney has been declared the winner over incumbent Rep. Rob Simmons. Courtney opposes efforts to privatize Social Security, supports raising the minimum wage, supports changing course in Iraq, and supports federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Courtney is also pro-choice.
Media Matters has noted Republicans and other major media figures who have asserted that many newly elected Democratic House members are conservative and contrasted their supposed conservative views with the more liberal views of House leaders.
By contrast, political analyst Stu Rothenberg, in his November 16 Roll Call column (subscription required), rejected what he called the "conventional wisdom" and observed that he couldn't "find much more than a couple" of the newly-elected Democrats "who merit the label 'conservative.' " "Most," he wrote, "are likely to be pretty typical members of their party." From Rothenberg's column:
It quickly has become conventional wisdom that last week's Democratic House victory swept in a crop of moderate and conservative Democrats who'll both keep party liberals in check and help remake the image of the party of former Vice President Al Gore, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and soon-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Well, I met dozens of Democrats running in 2006 -- no, not everyone, but most of them -- and I can't find much more than a couple who merit the label "conservative." That's not meant to be either criticism or praise. It's merely a statement of fact.
North Carolina Rep.-elect Heath Shuler surely qualifies as a culturally conservative Democrat, but the pro-life, pro-gun Democrat who is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is the exception, not the rule. Virtually all of the Democrats I interviewed were pro-choice, favored rolling back President Bush's tax cuts and sounded traditional Democratic themes on education, the environment and foreign policy.
[...]
Now let me be very clear about my point. I'm not saying that it's good or bad that most of these Democrats are likely to be pretty typical members of their party. I'm only saying that's where they fit. A bunch of conservative Democrats didn't win election last week.
While Rothenberg described Rep.-elect Heath Shuler (D-NC) as "a culturally conservative Democrat," MSNBC host Tucker Carlson went further on the November 16 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, alleging that Shuler is "more conservative than most Republicans in the House." In fact, as Media Matters has documented, Shuler has said he opposes efforts to privatize Social Security, and supports raising the minimum wage, changing course in Iraq, and embryonic stem cell research.
From the November 16 broadcast of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:
KATIE COURIC (host): So will Democrats make peace and keep it? Bob Schieffer is our chief Washington correspondent. Bob, the early signs are not too good, are they?
SCHIEFFER: Well, Nancy Pelosi really did not help her cause today, and what has stunned even her supporters is why she would want to wade into this battle where she didn't need to take sides, especially when everybody was telling her that [Rep.] John Murtha [D-PA] simply didn't have the support to get the job [of House majority leader].
It has raised questions about both her leadership and her judgment, and here's why it rises above the level of a feud. She and Steny Hoyer have never gotten along, but here's the problem that she has now -- she is going to have in the next Congress a lot of really left-wing liberals in her party that were left over from this session of Congress, plus a bunch of new conservative Democrats who have just been elected. She's going to have to bring them together if the Democrats are going to get anything done. Not only did this not help that cause today, it has made the gap even wider, and it has raised real questions about her judgment.
From the November 16 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:
CARLSON: [S]he [Pelosi] was one of the architects of this midterm election strategy, in which you saw a lot of genuinely -- or some genuinely conservative Democrats. Heath Shuler -- I mean, that guy's more conservative than most Republicans in the House.
The media is really trying to downplay this election. Democrats won, and many of them support central issues of the platform doesn't mean that "conservative democrats" won. Just because maybe you have one that's pro-life, one that's pro-gun, one that's anti gay marriage, doesn't mean they are "conservative."
"Conservative" is the new moderate...and moderate, well, they're just a bunch of flaming liberals!! So, you have to be a "conservative" Democrat if you hope to get anything done in this Almighty Land of Conservative values!!
Slanthead was calling John Murtha a "leftist". WTF? Next election cycle, when a far-right conservative whackjob is challenging these so-called conservative Democrats, they'll be calling them Liberals.
The independent political website "ontheissues.org" prepared charts representing the political leanings of all candidates that took part in the past elections. The results tell us that all of the most important newly elected Democratic senators are liberal populists, and it's not even close:
John Tester: Populist Liberal Clair McCaskill: Populist Liberal Jim Webb: Populist Liberal.
And my second point is that Heath Schuler IS NOT "more conservative than most Republicans in the House". The latter are wingnuts who lean very far towards the right, whereas Shuler shares most Liberal views of the Democratic Party, among which are:
-No privatization of social security -believes in human effect on global warming -change the course in Iraq -increase Pell Grants for students
Now you tell me how many Republicans coincide with her on those issues.
some views to the left of the far right of the R party they are not conservatives?
Impeachment is off the table, Reid is calling for huge increases to the war budget, Wrangel is talking about reinstating the draft and pro-war Hoyher made majority leader over anti-war Murtha by 149-86.
Nah, they're not conservatives who are out to escalate this grand US war crime called the "War of Terror". Them's peacenik liberals who will stop fighting the enemies of Israel! Isn't that what FOX told you?
Guess what, America....you got fooled again.
"Guess what, America....you got fooled again."
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One one person is spouting foolishness in that post, and it isn't America.
Impeachment is off the table: Because it is a waste of time, would result in President Dangerous, and should have been done years ago.
Reid is calling for huge increases to the war budget: Perhaps to get the job done right instead of "on-the-cheap"?
Wrangel is talking about reinstating the draft: Whether serious or not, his position is dwarfed by the imagery of an administration that has never understood the concept of "shared sacrifice".
and pro-war Hoyher made majority leader over anti-war Murtha by 149-86.: Democracy in action, and only unusual because we have grown accustomed to the tyrannical "leadership" of the Frist/Hastert/Rove pack of wolves who regard dissent on par with treason.
Nah, they're not conservatives who are out to escalate this grand US war crime called the "War of Terror". Them's peacenik liberals who will stop fighting the enemies of Israel! Isn't that what FOX told you? FOX?...I rest my case.
I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker. In fact, I don't watch any of these shows. I consider them purient garbage meant only to sell perpetual warfare, fascism, and new cars to the mindless masses.
But I do watch politics. And I'm watching the minority progressives in the Dem Party getting the smack-down again from the majority pro-war, pro-corporate, pro-Israel, and pro-fascist part of the Democrats. Why the progressives even bother to stay is beyond me. Some sense of very misguided loyalty, I suppose.
I've watched a Democrat Party that has bombed people, spit on the Bill of Rights, shafted the worker, kissed ass to the wealthy, and generally behaved in a rather uncivilized and brutal manner towards others for the last 36 years. I was born when Johnson was napalming Vietnamese children. I watched Jimmy Carter fund dictators in central America, watched Clinton starve Iraqis of medicines and drop bombs on people, heard Kerry tell howl when the World Court called the West Bank wall a crime. I know the Democrats.
In this little war of terrorizing the Middle Eastern nations to accept US and by proxy, Israeli, hegemony over the region, I've watched Democrats vote to starve, bomb, torture, fund the creation of ghettos and ethnic cleansing campaigns. This little war has been going on for thirty years now. Iraq is just a new manifestation. A very brutal and horrid manifestation.
And I've watched Democrats support it all. There's nothing liberal about them. They are "conservatives". They will not change any of this, they will keep the status quo intact. Now they call for more funding of an already bloated and rapacious defense budget to continue a war crime, to refuse to place those on trial who have committed these crimes, want to force tens of thousands of American youth into the military to be their killers, and then tell me that this is "progressive", "liberal"?
I never bought the Limbaugh lie that all Democrats are liberals. In fact, most aren't. Got thirty-plus years of recent history to prove it.
If the pundits want to define this class of Democrats as conservative, then that's just fine. It will eventually move the definition of conservatism further to the left. Not wanting to admilt mistakes, the conservative label will stick while they do their progressive business under the perfect cover.