Centrist Democrats Warn Party Not to Present Itself as 'Far Left'

[Zorra]

Dr. Dean has attracted wide notice for his criticism of the Democratic Party for supporting the Iraq war and some of President Bush's tax cuts.
snip-----
But the group's leaders said their concerns went beyond Dr. Dean and reflected what they feared was an emerging perception of the entire Democratic presidential field as supportive of liberal policies that the council rejected long ago.
snip----
''It is our belief that the Democratic Party has an important choice to make: Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?'' said Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, chairman of the organization. ''The administration is being run by the far right. The Democratic Party is in danger of being taken over by the far left.''
snip---
Al From, the founder of the organization and an ally of Mr. Clinton, invoked the sweeping defeats of George McGovern in 1972 and Walter F. Mondale in 1984 as he cautioned against a return to policies -- including less emphasis on foreign policy and an inclination toward expanding the size of government -- that he said were a recipe for another electoral disaster.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/29/us/centrist-democrats-warn-party-not-to-present-itself-as-far-left.html

Published: July 29, 2003

Tuesday, November 2, 2004:

Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Texas Massachusetts
Electoral vote 286[2] 251[2][3]
States carried 31 19 + DC
Popular vote 62,040,610 59,028,444
Percentage 50.7% 48.3%

[merrily]

1. And I am eager to thank them for their concern.

Election results are a testament to their expertise in this matter.

FDR left 40 years of Congressional coattails ended by the zeal of the Party's centrists and rightists to repeat Nixon's and St. Ronnie's electoral success. Hence the persistent memes about elections being lost because of the Party's left.

2006 was an aberration caused by the how bad Buscho was and 2008 was the same, with a big boost from Obama's great campaign and personality.

We are now back to Congress as it was before FDR--and the centrists are warning the left of the Democratic Party? Too funny.

[okaawhatever]

46. You have to go back almost 100 years to give an example of when a far left candidate won. That

should tell you something. Not to mention, times were extremely unique.

[still_one]

2. Bayh was one of those wonderful Democrats who would not have allowed a public option or Medicare for

all, and why we had to go with the ACA or have nothing

[Adrahil]

15. And i think he was right, for now.

A public option or Medicare for all could not have passed. It would have been over reach and we WOULD have wound up with nothing.

At the end of the day, it about shifting the conversation, not trying to yank it. The Republicans have been very successful at doing that. Wg need to stop them and reverse the trend.

[still_one]

16. Yes, it could not have passed because of Democrats like him. There was the two Nelsons, Lieberman

and other blue dog democrats. That is the reason it could not pass was because those democrats did not support it. We had a majority in both houses then, and if we didn't have those so-called democrats getting compensated by their lobbyists, it would have passed.

[Adrahil]

62. I don't disagree with that... But that was the reality. n/t

[still_one]

65. and I don't disagree with that

[frylock]

47. Not one Republican voted for ACA..

not ONE.

[Adrahil]

63. I know. That didn't change the political reality. n/t

[frylock]

64. reality of what? that Obama was incapable of using the bully pulpit?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. As usual. They're already trying the "Too Liberal!", "Can't win in the general", "Not as bad"

campaign to silence the Left.

[daredtowork]

6. But...but...only a PURITY TROLL would dare say that! nt

[LWolf]

14. Yep. nt

[JimDandy]

38. Yes...time for them to get with the program

or start their own "Ultra Conservative Corporate Democrats Party".

[Zorra]

66. And the campaigns from 40 yrs ago. The staples of their fearmongering, nt

[DJ13]

4. The corporate wing of our party sounds worried

I wonder why?

[daredtowork]

5. I'm so sick of being warned

by people who haven't helped me one iota.

Go to hell.

[blkmusclmachine]

10. +1000

[phantom power]

17. +1,000,000

[City Lights]

26. Well said!

[bigwillq]

41. ....

[Eleanors38]

53. I'll join that.

[ladyVet]

67. Couldn't have said it better myself. nt

[AgingAmerican]

7. The third way is in a panic

Their oligarchic masters will shut off the money spigots.

'Centrist®' means half Democratic policies and half Republican policies.

Why do the powers that be within the Democratic party have such a love affair with right wing policies?

[blkmusclmachine]

11. 'Centrist®' means half Democratic policies and half Republican policies.

[Volaris]

22. none of them have to work for a living, would be my guess

[frylock]

48. The far center is shitting their collective pants at the thought of Sanders..

moving the discussion to the left.

[hifiguy]

50. They have been very well paid by Wall $treet, the bank$ter$ and the MIC

to adopt Repuke policies. They get to be pro-choice and pro-marriage equality, but that's all they are allowed to be in terms of actual, you know, Democratic policies.

[AtomicKitten]

8. The council has assembled.

k&r

[JimDandy]

40. LOL

I had forgotten about those things. They were popular when my sister was little.

[JI7]

9. this is from 2003

dean was conservative then just as he is now

[blkmusclmachine]

12. "Centrists"~SSDD*

*Same Sh!t Different Decade

[djean111]

13. No matter when the article was written, this is certainly still true -

what they feared was an emerging perception of the entire Democratic presidential field as supportive of LIBERAL POLICIES THAT THE COUNCIL REJECTED LONG AGO.

Yeah, we wouldn't want anyone to think Democrats support liberal policies. Oh, Dems can sorta RUN on carefully worded liberal policies, but rest assured that we all know that is just campaign lather.
The Democratic Party is not really all that Democratic any more. The "D" comes in handy, though.

[99Forever]

19. Same rotten lies.

Just being told by different liars.

Don't. Fucking. Believe. Them.

They lie as easily as they breath.

[Zorra]

23. Yes. Third Way are indeed, most definitely, fucking liars.

And either the gullible among us can't ever seem to figure out that they are being lied to, or they simply want to believe the lies, because they don't have any faith in their own ability to make sound judgments, and rely on nefarious authority figures to tell them what to believe, and how to behave.

"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

--Goering at the Nuremberg Trials

[stillwaiting]

20. Same as it ever was. Their strategy works out so well for the masses.

The results have been spellbinding over the past 3 to 4 decades, and THEY have been in control the entire time.

[dembotoz]

21. does not matter...any dem...any dem will be painted as a commie socialist pinko by fox and gop

[Eleanors38]

56. MSM is gearing up its Right-Left dichotomy machine.

Twice I have heard BBC broadcasts interviewing "commentators" who describe primary challengers and their supporters as "rabid, fringe, far left, radical, fanatics, etc."

I guarantee MSM WILL UNITE with corporate interests to make this a fait accompl via echo chamber.

[PowerToThePeople]

24. right wingers. nuf said. n/t

[ananda]

25. ROFL!

Left is the new right!

Go left you'll be right.

Go right you'll be wrong.

[stone space]

27. Really? Cool!

The Democratic Party is in danger of being taken over by the far left.

This is a pleasant surprise.

[Triana]

28. Isn't it interesting that Republicans never are told they're too far right

no matter what idiotic bullshit they pull.

But let a Democrat be ANYTHING BUT 1980s Republican and they get this "too liberal!" shit from the goddamned DLC.

F*ck the DLC's whining.

[Zorra]

43. +1 nt

[hifiguy]

45. Damn tootin'!! nt

[sendero]

29. Please Mr. From..

.... go FUCK YOURSELF.

YOU are what is wrong with our party, not us.

Those ridiculous trickle down, tax cut, Laffer curve bullshit theories work ok when the economy is doing well but guess what, your chickens have come home to roost and these horseshit ideas are going to be a tougher and tougher sell.

[kentuck]

30. Once bitten, twice shy?

Democrats need to stop fearing the past so much that they surrender everything.

[DonCoquixote]

31. and this is from

Al From, the founder of the organization and an ally of Mr. Clinton, invoked the sweeping defeats of George McGovern in 1972 and Walter F. Mondale in 1984 as he cautioned against a return to policies -- including less emphasis on foreign policy and an inclination toward expanding the size of government -- that he said were a recipe for another electoral disaster.

aka one of the major backers of modern LOSERS like Evan Bayh, and of Alison Grimes.

Look Al, thanks to the pressure we have placed on Hillary to move to the left, she is shrewdly saying things that might cause people to forget her association with YOU and your FAILURES. She would do well to be associated with Dean whose strategies actually GOT Barack Obama in the White House. Everytime you remind people Bill is your pal, you make those of us who were swallowing the pill of Hill to remember why we were ready to throw up so recently. Do Hillary a favor and shut your mouth.

You bring up 1972 and 1984, we can bring up success in 2008, 2012, and your failures in 2010 in 2014. Not that you care about math other than your checkbook.

[Jamastiene]

32. As usual, centrist Democrats want us to be GOP II.

Why do they think we need two GOPs? I have always wondered why centrist Democrats don't just join the Republican Party. If centrist Democrats agree with the Republicans THAT much, and they usually do, why be a Democrat? I don't get it. Why are liberals supposed to pretend conservatives and centrists in the party are anything but spoilers to throw more elections to the GOP? Truman was right.

[brooklynite]

33. To review: they didn't say "liberal"...they didn't even say "left"

They said a "far left" message would be problematic.

Given the national electorate, I don't find that troubling.

[Zorra]

35. "Far left" again. Are you fucking kidding me? Trying to 'splain' this away just doesn't work.

But the group's leaders said their concerns went beyond Dr. Dean and reflected what they feared was an emerging perception of the entire Democratic presidential field as supportive of liberal policies that the council rejected long ago.

''It is our belief that the Democratic Party has an important choice to make: Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?'' said Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, chairman of the organization. ''The administration is being run by the far right. The Democratic Party is in danger of being taken over by the far left.''

[Eleanors38]

57. The deal is going down: "Far Left" is MSM's narrative even as we speak.

[fredamae]

34. Dear Third Way/New Dems/Blue Dogs Et al

Nice try but you can KMA

[hobbit709]

36. These so-called Centrists can perform physically impossible anatomical acts on themselves.

[SwankyXomb]

37. We have heard quite enough

from the Democratic wing of the Republican party, thank you very much.

[Marr]

39. +1

[Oilwellian]

42. Well, if we're going to get technical...

Third Way Dems Gore & Kerry lost their elections to Bush and he moves his lips when he reads. Talk about embarrassing and a failure to inspire. The only reason Obama won is because he tacked populist left in his campaigns. Of course we know what happened once he took office.

If the Dem party today were to move left, we would be back in the center, and that is at LEAST where we need to be. Clinton will lose the general if she's nominated but I'm sure the Third Way would be just fine with Republicans back in control of the WH. It would take the focus off of their catastrophic policies for a while.

[hifiguy]

44. Fuck them.

Bernie sounds just like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson and Paul Wellstone.

In other words, he sounds like a REAL GODDAMN DEMOCRAT, or have these shitheels all conveniently forgotten what the Democratic Party stood for until they came along and sold it piecemeal to Wall $treet?

Fuck them twice.

ETA - Hey. Turd Wayers

[Efilroft Sul]

60. With red-hot pokers.

"Centrist" means never having to say "right wing."

[derby378]

49. The Republican Party is that way, guys, thank you for playing

Al From? Seriously? It is to laugh.

[arcane1]

51. Progressives warn centrists not to present themselves as "liberal"

[Eleanors38]

52. The Party won't do that, the "centrists" and MSM will do that.

[Proud Public Servant]

54. Let's listen to Third Way. Here's the plan:

1) We advocate and adopt "far left" policies.

2) We don't present them as "far left" -- we present them as "mainstream American values," which they are.

See? Everybody wins!

[winter is coming]

55. What does the "far left" support that centrists don't?

And, more importantly, which "far left" positions are unpopular with the electorate?

[Maedhros]

58. "Far Left" = any who oppose Wall Street and Endless War.

Thank you for your concern trolling, Centrists, but kindly STFU.

[hifiguy]

59. You hit it in one.

On the mark. Bull's eye.

[Zorra]

61. ^