Running for the Democratic nomination in 2004, then-Governor Howard Dean (D-Vermont) spoke to the base of the party. In March 2003, he quoted the late-Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota) when he said he represented the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” It was a jab at the establishment that urged the party move toward the center. Dean said a few months later on National Public Radio:

DEAN: It’s the wing that wins national elections because they restore principle to the party, and without principle we’re never going to beat this president.

Perhaps that was the same principle that Mitt Romney alluded to while campaigning in Nevada today. Romney was quoted by the Associated Press as speaking for the “Republican wing of the Republican Party.”

However, the situations are not the same. In fact, they are entirely opposite. Dean’s point was that the party drifted from its values toward the center. The current Republican Party, however, has not lurched to the center; not by a long shot. While Romney, and then Giuliani, wanted to make the case that Republicans were “acting like Democrats,” the party had, in fact, moved further to the right, not the center.

Posted by Matt Ortega
Friday, October 12, 2007 at 6:36 pm

2 Responses to “Romney: Speaking for the “Republican Wing of the Republican Party””

Something to say?

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website