Didn't Know it was

Didn't Know it was a Law, Did You? - Me neither.

I'm talking about the Iron Law of American Politics, wherein, as Terence Jeffrey says,

"the rightward-most candidate in any federal election will be demonized as an extremist by his rivals and by the liberal press... A corollary is that it doesn’t matter how far left the rightward-most candidate sits. If Leon Trotsky were running against Josef Stalin for President of the United States, Stalin would accuse Trotsky of being a rightwing extremist and the New York Times would echo the judgment.

The article shows how this Iron Law now applies, in the era of Blairite Clintonian triangulation, to the UK.
Sound familiar to any of you in Minnesota? Until last week, Brian Sullivan was the Most Dangerous Man in Minnesota. Why, to listen to DFLers, if elected, he would ban abortion, and...er, ban abortion!

Now, it's Pawlenty who, despite his very moderate voting record, is "an extreme conservative".

Part of me is angry - it's a lie, after all. Part of me says "more power to you all!". After all, that strategery - painting the rightmost opponent as a dangerous right-wing extremist - did Skip "Who?" Humphrey exactly zero good in 1998.
More to come.

Posted by Mitch at June 20, 2002 04:23 PM