ProgressOhio

Since the 1960s the word liberal has been associated by the media with social issues. Issues such as civil rights for Afro-Americans, women's rights, gay rights, reproductive choice rights, gun control, and the environment. It has not been as often used to discuss economic issues. Issues such as minimum wage, union organizing, access to affordable healthcare, family leave issues, etc.

What Republicans have done is use social issues to divide Democratic voters from the Democratic party. What we are seeing, though, is the emergence of economic liberals such as Sherrod Brown, Jim Webb, John Edwards, and possibly Zack Space, (I don't know enough about Mr. Space to know his particular policy issues.)

This causes great concern to conservatives. They know that if Democratic candidates run who are socially conservative but economically liberal, it is much harder to defeat them. In fact, it is not even required that such candidates be socially conservative, what is required is that they focus on economic issues and not on social issues.

A great example of this was the Sherrod Brown for Senate campaign. He focused on the assault that Bush has made on the middle class and defeated a two term Republican incumbent. He didn't renounce his liberal positions, but he made economic issues the focus of his message. In his example is a lesson to be learned by all Democrats.

David, thanks for this post. It really ticks me off when Republicans self-proclaim their moral superiority. Seems to me that the Republicans became successful when they started their PR campaign with the Contract for America which turned out to be nothing more than changing their brand in the marketing sense then delivering the same old tired product.