by Philly » Wed Sep 16, 2015 6:17 pm
Democrats have embraced triangulation to its extreme logical conclusion. They couldn't have done it without the help of Republicans going off the rails, but still that's what they've done. Their calculation is that as long as Republicans are extremist right wing nuts - to the point of not even really being recognizably "conservative" from any intellectual standpoint - they can embrace policies that are generally bad for their traditional base constituencies and still win just by being sane adults. It largely works on the national level (though Clinton's unfavorability may be the end of the line for this experiment) but it doesn't work great in gerrymandered districts - and because crazies never miss any election, no matter how small, it doesn't work in years when there's no national candidates on the ticket.