and more dems voted for bush in florida in 2000 than nader's whole vote total, but guess who gets blamed for "spoiling" the election? just because rank and file republicans are more enlightened than their national leaders does not mean the republicans *image* is that of a centrist political party. even though the dems did not embrace gay marriage as an issue until obama "came out" in favor of it, they still didn't push bills through their respective state legislatures calling for specifically making marriage between gay people illegal. going back to the root of the whole issue, which party was the one to bring it up in the first place? it wasn't a dem who introduced DOMA in the house or senate. also, arguing "they do it too" doesn't really change the perception people are going to have about the parties and their political leanings left or right.

just to make the point clear: i am not arguing that the republicans are a far right party, i am only answering the post that they are taking far right positions, and therefore have a perception of being farther right than they probably are in actuality. when your party is led by people like palin, limbaugh and bachmann, you'll have to excuse the rest of the world for thinking they speak for all of you.