Self-interest

Kos sneers, understandably, at exurban Republicans becoming Democrats in the face of the housing finance crisis. The exurbs are completely unsustainable, and it isn't at all surprising to see the financial mess propping them up give way. The fact that the people who live[d] there suddenly see that an active, helpful government is needed when their own homes are on the line is even less surprising.

But we shouldn't pretend that this inability to see the necessity of protecting the rights of others as something which exists solely on the Republican side of the fence. Back when the Democrats weren't enjoying quite the electoral fortunes they are at present there were plenty of (male) "liberals" who called for the party to give in 'a little' on abortion rights. They proposed, in essence, that we throw women under the bus in order to, in their minds, win on behalf of the greater (male) liberal cause.

Even now, we find (white) people arguing that the Democrats need to ladle on a bit of good old-fashioned immigrant bashing, lest we fall before the might of Republican attack ads featuring scary music and pictures of brown-skinned people.

It's true that there are a lot of people out there who hold terribly sexist views of women and terribly racist views on immigration. But these aren't issues which drive many people's votes across party lines. Democrats giving in to the Dark Side will help them at all. Take immigration:

Last year, Republicans ran Latino-bashing ads in scores of Congressional races. It didn't help--the Democratic Party easily took the House. This year, in Virginia, Republican State Legislators based their campaign on hard-core opposition to immigrant rights. They lost.

If even the Republicans can't win on immigrant bashing, how is that supposed to held the Democrats?