Steve Benen wrote this today in the Washington Monthly:
My suspicion is that some news outlets that are receptive to Republican messages will buy the line -- the GOP is moving to the mainstream.
You're a bit late, Steve: the LA Times has a story on today's front page of the dead-tree edition; the online version bears this headline:
GOP moderates poised to gain ground in Congress
Evidently the Times has swallowed hook, line and sinker the GOP's latest desperate meme:
We're not as crazy as we look - honest!!
Now, while corporate media types like Times reporter Janet Hook (I know: as in, "line-and-sinker"; ba-doomp-BOMP) might fall for that laughable premise and fall in with the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Karl Rove in desperately trying to sell it to the rest of America, those who pay attention to that curious liberal slice of the news otherwise known as Reality know better.
Right off the bat in her article, Ms. Hook makes the assertion that Scott Brown is a moderate Republican.
Hmmm. You mean, the Scott Brown who spoke at several Tea Party rallies, and whose campaign held a fundraiser sponsored by a couple of Tea Party groups?
Surely you don't mean the Scott Brown who voiced understanding for the sentiments of IRS-office suicide pilot Joe Stack? Not that Scott Brown, right?
Huh - guess the Tea Party crowd espouses a moderate viewpoint. Who knew?
Or, she says,
Rep. Michael N. Castle, one of the most liberal Republicans in the House, is heavily favored to win an open Senate seat in Delaware.
Yeah - the same moderate Mike Castle who voted against the jobs bill, the stimulus, healthcare reform and financial industry reform.
Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, handily won the party's primary despite opposition from conservatives
- yeah, after he
penned a pathetic plea for Sarah Palin's endorsement.
She brushes off the reality of the NY-23 race, which saw Teabaggers torpedo Republican hegemony in a part of the state that hadn't seen a Democrat elected in 130 years. She fails to mention that Democrats have won all five of the last five contested special elections for Congress, all while, as she admits,
Republican moderates in primary fights are under heavy pressure to turn to the right. Simmons in Connecticut, for example, has renounced his past support for legislation to combat global warming as he runs to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd. And Simmons has taken to carrying a tea bag in his copy of the Constitution, a nod to grass-roots activists.
In the ultimate non sequitur, Hook somehow manages to arrive at the Republican talking-point meme that The Divisive Partisan Climate And Resultant Gridlock In Congress Is All Democrats' Fault (my emphasis):
Even if more moderate Republicans make it to the Senate, Democrats will need to refresh their skills in dealing with them. In the healthcare debate, Democrats failed to keep Snowe, who voted for an early version but opposed the final bill.
In an emblem of that failed courtship, Obama invited Snowe to his health policy summit, but not until the day before the event.
Yeah - those batshit crazy Dems need to work harder to convince Republicans that elections have no consequences.
Sheesh.