The Times and Democrat - FRIDAY'S EDITORIAL

THE ISSUE: Loss of moderation

OUR OPINION: Government not a measure of extremes

The knock on moderates is they stand for nothing. How absurd.

Politics has become distasteful as “purists” on the left and right do battle. There is no compromise. The winner takes all. The loser is left to hurl criticism from the sideline.

Often the winner is determined by moderates, those lawmakers who despite a party tag are not committed to a party line. They are lawmakers …#8220; elected representatives in government to make decisions that benefit people, not party hard-liners.

Sen. Joe Lieberman’s loss in Connecticut Tuesday is a sad example of extremism. Think, just six years ago he was an eyelash from the vice presidency under Al Gore. Lieberman then and now was known as a moderate, a Democrat not afraid to side with the GOP when he believed the liberal base of his party was wrong.

He could be so different. How easy for him to oppose anything the Bush team does. But he hasn’t, actually becoming one of the president’s key supporters for the war in Iraq. That has cost him as Americans are increasingly discontented with the war and its direction under Bush.

Liberals seized on that, claiming Lieberman is out of touch. His replacement is to be a new breed of Democrat, one who will lead the party to a new day of glory. Doubtful.

It is as Steve and Cokie Roberts wrote in their nationally syndicated column from Washington (T&D, Aug. 8): Democrats have won only three of the last 10 presidential elections since 1968. All the liberal candidates have gone down to defeat. Only moderates Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were winners.

Moderate lawmakers and leaders are a key to returning politics to something akin to real governance. Give and take is what building governments that can enjoy broad support are about. Compromise is not a dirty word. America is about more than red and blue states. Sen. Joe Lieberman knows that. And the sooner more Americans accept it, the better off our country will be.

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