What the Shaun Kenney Hire Says About Virginia Republicans and Democrats

1. Virginia Republicans not only have no problem with their Tea Party, right-wing activist base, they embrace them and even hire them for top positions in their party.

2. Virginia Democrats don’t have an equivalent to the Tea Party, of course, nor do we have a left-wing activist base. To the extent there IS such a thing on the “left,” broadly speaking, it might be the (moribund, basically powerless) Occupy Wall Street movement. Can you imagine the DPVA hiring an Occupy Wall Street leader as their Executive Director? And no, I am not advocating that, as Occupy Wall Street is far to the left of my Teddy Roosevelt Progressive political views.

3. Virginia Democrats are deeply uncomfortable with mainstream progressives. That’s demonstrated repeatedly, in a myriad of ways.

4. Virginia Republicans not only have no problem with “bloggers” (in quotes because that word is largely meaningless, given that anyone can be a “blogger” in about a minute by simply posting comments or diaries on a community blog like Blue Virginia), they fully incorporate them into their party. On the Democratic side, “bloggers” are looked at by a lot of people (the Dick Saslaws of the world) with grave suspicion, even hatred. It’s a striking contrast.

4. In general, Virginia Republicans wouldn’t dare to “dis” their conservative activist base, because they know that could be disastrous for them politically. On the Democratic side, leading politicians frequently “dis” progressives, environmentalists, LGBT activists, etc., because they believe they can do so with impunity.

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