“Why are there no moderate Republicans?”

That’s the lament we hear with increasing frequency from some quarters as the fall election season heats up. Meanwhile, many of the same people who decry this supposed lack of moderation are working overtime to paint a couple of true moderates as “extreme.”

Last year, Congressional Quarterly ranked Scott Brown the second most bipartisan member of the US Senate. That means he voted with the opposition party more often than 48 other senators. CQ also noted that Brown was the most independent-voting member of the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation, all of whom, with the exception of Brown, are Democrats.

But none of this matters to Brown’s opposition, and it doesn’t keep them from trying to characterize him as “part of an extreme Republican agenda.”

Richard Tisei spent the better part of three decades as a member and leader of the minority party in the Massachusetts Legislature. He accomplished a lot by being willing and able to work with members of the majority party. He must have gotten something worthwhile done, because the voters kept sending him back to Beacon Hill.

But to many who oppose him in his challenge to Congressman John Tierney, Richard Tisei is secretly part of some radical right wing agenda, or even (gasp!) a Tea Partier.
Continue reading ‘Extreme Moderates’