Progressive Democrats? WTH is that? Are there any other kind?
I mean, are there conservative liberals or something else equally Orwellian?
Sheeze!
“Progressive” is a term in politics that goes back to Teddy Roosevelt. Originally “Progressives” were a variety of Republicans, and probably could trace their roots to the “Radical Republicans” from the period of the Civil War on. They were the ones who urged the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, and after the assassination of Lincoln, rammed through the “Reconstruction” of the South, which left scars on the face of the former Confederacy that took over a hundred years to heal.
The issue of what constitutes a “real” Republican continues to this day, as the Republicans shed more and more of their “radical” elements. But not until FDR rose to power, did the “Progressives” have an alternate home. All through the Great Depression, the “Progressives” voted with the Democrats, but during that period, they were riddled with Communists and Socialists of every sort. When the “Progressives” ceased to exist as a political party sometime after WW II, only then did the Democrat party re-emerge in Wisconsin, as there had not been a state Democrat party since about the time Teddy was President.
There is still a broad “progressive” stripe within the Republican party today, as identified by the acronym “RINO”. You all know them, worked next to them, sometimes even had conversations. But no intelligent Conservative ever wants to get into political discussions with one of them. Within three exchanges they are down to name-calling, innuendo, and character assassinations, and it does not stop. The will call you in your home late at night after they have been out drinking, they will jeer at you on the street, and they will not allow their children to come over to play with your children any more. It is something of a relief when they finally change their registration to Democrat. Even better when either you or they move away and finally lose all touch.