New York Times sings Democrat blues after election losses: Goodwin

How far left have Democrats gone? So far left that even The New York Times is trying to pull them back from the cliff. 

A Friday editorial headlined “Democrats Deny Political Reality at Their Own Peril” sounded the alarm over Republican victories in last week’s elections. The piece included demands that Dems “return to the moderate policies and values that fueled the blue-wave victories in 2018 and won Joe Biden the presidency in 2020.” 

The argument is especially common these days, but coming from the Times it seemed revolutionary. Had the Gray Lady finally seen the light and was signaling its own sins, in much the way the paper apologized to readers in 2016 for missing the possibility that Donald Trump could be elected? 

Hell, no! 

In fact, the more I read, the more absurd the advice to Dems became. 

To start with, the piece repeatedly undercut its thesis that the party has gone too far. Rather, it was a clumsy, poorly argued call for more of the same product in slicker packaging. 

Its call for more “conversations” on policy was rich coming from people whose staff conducts vendettas against colleagues who don’t swallow the party line. 

For for the Times to honestly bolt from the left would require it to cite specific examples of high-priced, far-left nonsense that should be dropped. It would also acknowledge it has been leading the charge in demanding much of the drivel that passes for the Biden agenda, including endless climate fearmongering and support for critical race theory and other radical nostrums. 

The Times’ own 1619 Project, which it developed for classrooms, is one of the examples often cited by parents and critics of how schools are rewriting American history to satisfy racial arsonists. Yet when parents object to it, as they did in Virginia, the Times accuses the GOP of stoking a culture war. 

So the left can push any and all radical ideas it wants, but resistance is racist and a dog whistle to white supremacists. Sure, let’s have a conversation — as long as you agree. 

Even the editorial, while decrying the leftward lurch of Dems, insists there is an urgent need for climate and social spending. If you’re really trying to help the left kick the habits of deficit spending and impractical ideas, calling for more of the same is not the solution — it’s the problem. 

Ultimately, the contradictions and incoherence tell us more about the Times than Democrats and confirm that the paper makes a lousy sherpa for leading the party out of the wilderness. It’s in panic mode now only because it hates Republicans and dreads the possibility that 2022 and 2024 will be GOP wipeouts. 

Seen through that lens, the paper’s position is enlightening in ways it never intended. Among the knee-slappers is this one: “A national…