This is not exactly true, since Christ also preached to the Gentiles and sinners, who were excluded from the old religion. Law of commandments contained in ordinances specified blood lines and rules of conduct. The Gentiles could never be accepted with those rules. Jesus knew, if he preached such drastic changes, this would lead to him being handed over for torture and death; blasphemy. The wage of sin was death, according to the law. He needed a catalysts; Judas, since the leaders were not swift enough to trip him on their own. He was too smart, so he allowed them to cheat. I would guess Jesus picked Judas for the future knowing he was coined operated and therefore predictable for his needs.
You might want to brush up on your New Testament. Jesus did NOT preach to the gentiles. And it was Jesus who said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” – Matthew 5:17 King James Version
And then there is Matthew where Jesus instructs his apostles to avoid the gentiles.
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not” Matthew 10:5 King James Version
And then there is:
22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting [j]at us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and began [k]to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 And He answered and said, “It is not [l]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Matthew 15:22:26
Jesus never preached to the gentiles. It wasn’t until Paul of Tarsus that Christians began proselytizing to non-Jews. And Paul of Tarsus, also known as the Apostle Paul, did not meet Jesus or know or work with Jesus while Jesus lived. Paul of Tarsus only knew the post mortem Jesus, the risen Jesus.
Picture if you were an accepted liberal, at the democratic convention, and suddenly started to preach republican ideas. This would not go over too well, especially if some of the delegates started to listen to you because your words and logic made sense. The top level leaders don't not want any change, since they are optimized to the rules of the current game. They will try to discredit you. If this does not work, they will eventually plot against you with a trumped up charge. One can anticipate this, especially if your popularity is increasing and you can meet all their logical and rational challenges. Harry Reid would softly give the kill command.
Liberals, like most people, have a soft spot for the underdog. If you fight and beat the leaders at their own game, since you already know what they will do, you will become an over-dog. This will not win the empathy of the soft hearted people. But if you let them plot, scheme and crucify you, without a fight, the empathetic will see the unfairness of the self righteous leaders; leaders will condemn themselves with their actions. They will prove all that you said.
As Spidergoat has already pointed out, that has already happened – more than once. It has been happening for decades now. I recall a Republican congressman shortly after the election of Bill Clinton complaining that Clinton had stolen Republican thunder, stolen Republican policies and ideas. And I recalled thinking if the congressman was seriously committed to the ideas of his political party and believed in them; then he should be delighted that the President Clinton was pushing them and had adopted them. Healthcare reform is just the more recent and most visible Democratic adoption of Republican ideas. It is not the first, and it won’t be the last.
Instead of rejoicing that Democrats have adopted conservative ideas, Republicans find the practice unsettling, causing them to drop their previous positions, no matter how sound they might be, like a wet rag and invent new and increasingly more bizarre ideas. It truly is sad.