Why is she now endorsing a Democrat? RINO (Rockefeller GOP) nonsense? Simple bitterness? Worship of the Duopoly? Aiming for a more compatible home, the Democratic Party, for that matter?

I caught only part of the news story about Dede dropping out of the race when it was first reported on one of the 24/7 news channels [ I surf all 3], and did not have time to follow up until this Monday morning. I searched the Internet and found your posting about it. What got my attention at the start is that she was referred to as a moderate, and there was a remark about centrists in general.

Dede appears to be slightly left of center, so it does not surprise me that the far right conservative Republicans would finally reject her. Even so, she should not have been bullied out by them, but should have stood on her own. She does further appear to be the AVERAGE of the two extremes, rather than having any true third choice options. The “World's Smallest Political Quiz” [at the Advocates dot org slash quiz dot html website] is like that, finding the middle by getting the AVERAGE of the two extremes, to Agree or Disagree. There cannot be a political party of those who answer Maybe.

There must be a true third choice. A couple of amusing examples…

1.The old question of “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” The question is flawed because it limits us to just two choices, both of which could be wrong. The egg is the child. The chicken is the mother, the female. What is missing from this picture? The father, the male, the rooster. The correct answer could be that the rooster came first. It is a clear third choice.
2.From the El Condor Pasa song by Simon & Garfunkel, the words “I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.” There is a third choice. I'll put it to you this way: If you have to be the nail, then be grateful you are not what the hammer is pounding you into! Like a board. So a board could be a clear third choice, but not one I'd select.

The point is that you can not have an effective political party that is a true third choice by picking what you like from the two extremes of the far left liberal democrats and the far right conservative Republicans.

For a while, it looked like some Democrats and Republicans were pretending to be centrists, with a lot of abuse of the “centrist” term, to try to gain support from centrists and moderates in the middle.

It is disturbing now that there is talk of “purification” in the Republican Party. The use of the term “purification” reminds me of the Germans during World War II. Over the years, I've had more friends who are Democrats because they accept me as I am and are inclusive, compared to the few Republican friends who tend to be judgmental and exclusive.

I am an active member of the American Centrist Party dot net. I also recommend the Modern Whig Party dot org. We are working on forming an alliance of centrists and moderates.

James C. Harwood
Science Fiction Author
Norman Oklahoma

From there it just took off.

idiotic tripe

So endearing…not. We wait with baited breath.

Once again, if people want big spending, big government, nanny state politicians, they can always vote for Democrats. If there is any lesson that should have come out of the Bush Administgraiton is that there is only room in the U.S. for one big spending, big government party. The moderate Republicans have to develop a clear message on smaller government, less social engineering, ending the nanny state and limiting regulation to where they are really needed instead of responding to very problem is a policy proposal.