Miller to stay Dem

Georgia's Zell Miller has reiterated that he will not be abandoning the Democratic Party. That's good -- I do believe that the Dems have an interest in ideological diversity. Otherwise, I'd be a Green. And I actually genuinely like Zell, even if I don't care much for his politics.

But, Miller then rants about those within the party that want to move leftward:

Some Senate Democrats, such as John Kerry of Massachusetts, also are calling for the party to move further left to distinguish themselves from Republicans.

"If they could take a terrible mistake and compound it, they would be doing it with that. That's the craziest idea I've heard yet," Mr. Miller said. "I thought we used to be the party of the big tent. They're about to make it just the party of the small, little sideshow.

"You've already got a party that is so divided that moderates feel like they almost are unwelcome. It's hard for me to understand why you would take a party and try to make it more narrow instead of trying to make it broader, and that's exactly what you would be doing," Mr. Miller said.

I'm not sure how moving the party to the left would "narrow" it. The opposite can also be said: that by moving the party rightward, you are making liberals feel almost unwelcome. So I think Zell is being silly.

The party attempted a move to the right, it failed, it's time to try something new. That doesn't mean the party changes affiliation to the Greens overnight, but it has to become a true opposition party, and moving rightward with Zell is clearly not the answer.

Posted November 08, 2002 08:43 AM | Comments (56)