I've been a Democrat my entire voting life. During my life, I can honestly say I have never once voted for a Republican.
I get called all the names.
Commie.
Socialist.
Baby Killer.
Pinko (that's an old one, but I've been called it).
Anybody I know who has been center or right has always considered me a flaming Liberal. Most used to consider me in the same vein as Teddy Kennedy.
I know for a fact, there are a lot of Democrats to the left of me and the right of me politically, given any issue.
Not every Democrat is a Pro-Choice as YOU. This runs the entire spectrum of the issue from abortion on demand at any time for any reason to limitations on third term all the way to no abortion except in cases of rape or incest. There's a pretty wide swath of stances on this issue and I guarantee you, not every Democrat is as far to the left on this issue as you are. I'm pretty much of the belief that there can be no governmental intervention except for third trimester abortions and abortions during this trimester are still justifiable.
Not every Democrat is as anti-gun as YOU. This is another issue that has a wide array of stances in the party. some want all guns off the street regardless. Others support sensible regulation and registration while others support completely unregulated RKBA. No matter what I can pretty much guarantee, not every Democrat is as far left as you are on this issue. I take the sensible regulation and registration stance, personally.
Not every Democrat is as anti-war as YOU. Another issue with a wide swath in the party. This runs the spectrum from Kucinich wanting a department of peace and promising to take the military option off the table in all foreign negotiations to outright hawks. I'm fairly nuanced as I supported the Afghanistan effort from day one but opposed the Iraq war from day one. I still support the Afghanistan effort because we screwed up and are now paying the price for that screw up. Regardless of the fact that the Bush administration screwed up the Afghanistan operation, it does not alter my opinion that we must complete the job before we leave. Again, no matter where you stand on war, not every Democrat is as far to the left as you are.
Not every Democrat is as pro-single payer as YOU. While I agree single payer would be ideal, realistically I know it cannot happen in our political environment so I reject it out of hand. A public option would be nice but here we are. No matter where you stand on health care, not every Democrat is as far to the left on the issue as you are.
Not every Democrat is as pro-labor as YOU. I know unions have long been strong supporters of the Democratic Party but we have to face the fact that the unions are nowhere near as powerful as they once were. Now I support collective bargaining and the unions, but I know a lot of Democrats who are nearly as anti-union as any Republican you'd care to name so I know for a fact that not every Democrat is as far to the left as you are on the issue of labor.
Those are five issues where Democrats are all over the table. You could name just about any issue and Democrats would still pretty much be all over the table.
Is it any wonder that compromises have to be made within the party even with a legislative super majority? Why would this surprise anybody who would consider themselves reality based?
DailyKos represents a very left leaning slice of the Democratic Party. Even here, we're all over the table.
Why is anybody surprised there would be compromise involved in every big issue the Democrats tackled these past two years? Why would anybody be surprised that there will be even more compromise necessary after Democrats lose seats and have lower majorities in both houses of congress.
I'll tell you one thing. Even given how all over the table on the issues Daily Kos is, the Democratic Party as a whole is nowhere near as far to the left as Daily Kos.