You can tell Politico is firmly on the Left by how outraged it is by “ultra-conservatives” limiting abortions in red states. Politico’s Magazine posted an article by freelancer Cassidy Randall reporting on the alleged craziness of northern Idaho. No one expects this kind of an article from the congressional districts of “Squad” members. The headline:
North Idaho Has Drifted to the Extreme Right. One Republican Thinks It’s Hit Its Limit.
One candidate is testing the power of a moderate coalition to stand up to extremism in a region that has been powerless to its advance.
Including the headline, Politico offered 28 uses of “extreme,” “extremist,” or “extremism” on the right, and 14 uses of “far right.” This does include the uses in quotes, which are selected by the reporter. They saved “ultra-conservative” for tweets:
Ultra-conservative policy on a range of issues like abortion dominates in north Idaho — but this Republican candidate thinks a new moderate coalition is ready to take a stand against extremism in his own party.https://t.co/RI82aKSoP7
— POLITICO Magazine (@POLITICOMag) May 19, 2024
Sometimes, the “far-right” and the “extremist” would overlap….suggesting overkill. “The political shift happening in north Idaho is taking place just as the rest of the country is seeing increasing extremism in state legislatures and far-right brinksmanship in Congress.” (Politico links to The New Yorker!)
The star of this story is Jim Woodward, a state senator who beat his rival Scott Herndon in 2018. But in 2022, Herndon ran again, and it “became personal and attack-driven, with mailers and local ads calling Woodward ‘Liberal Jim,’ showing him wearing a mask, claiming he would ‘control your kids by turning schools into ‘woke’ indoctrination centers’ and that he supported critical race theory and allowing transgender children to compete in school sports.”
Woodward told Politico he was blindsided by the “the viciousness of it.” He “hadn’t campaigned all that hard in retaliation, figuring that as the four-year incumbent in a small community, people knew him well enough to dismiss Herndon’s claims.” Politico accepts Woodward at face value, but Herndon’s website lists Woodward’s liberal votes.
So what about people who support abortion on demand, at any time and for any reason? Isn’t that extreme? Not to Politico or Democrat donor Cassidy Randall. They’re presented as “left-leaning.”
Openly working across party lines is a fraught venture on both sides — which is why, says Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, Idaho state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, the trend is mostly underground. “Moderate Republicans may not think that left-leaning support will help their cause, and left-leaning organizations don’t want to hurt the chances of a moderate Republican by being public with their support,” she says.
In liberal-media reports, it has forever been the case that you can be somehow a “moderate Republican” who’s totally pro-abortion. Being extremist in favor of abortion is popular, they say!
“People are starting to see that reproductive rights are wildly popular,” DelliCarpini-Tolman continued.
How can you be an “extremist” if you’re wildly popular? Welcome to the liberal media.