By abandoning your core principles you demoralized your supporters, Lawrence. Many of them stayed away from the polls because the only choice they had was between two Republicans masquerading as Democrats. Ramsey's pale face flushed crimson. I'm not a Republican, dammit. I had to do what it takes to win.
Every politician does that.
Well, my dad used to say that a politician will do or say anything to get elected. A leader welcomes defeat, if winning means prostituting his principles. We aren't living in Plato's Republic, Ramsey said dismissively, suddenly recalling the lively discussions he used to have with students when he'd taught philosophy at Guilford College in the '60s. I'd be naive not to play the political game according to its rules. And it's a fact that the Democratic Party has to moderate its liberalism.