I am sorry Hillary supporters. Someone needs to tell you the truth.

[Meldread]

I know a lot of you are recent arrivals here at DU, so you might not know what the DLC is, but before you vote for Hillary you should know - it is important. Should she win the Presidency, the DLC will play a critical role in the Democratic Party and our Government.

The Democratic Leadership Council is a non-profit corporation that argues that the United States Democratic Party should shift away from traditionally populist positions. The DLC hails President Clinton as proof of the viability of third way politicians and as a DLC success story while progressives assert that Bill Clinton won campaigning as a populist only to abandon those positions after getting elected. Critics contend that the DLC is effectively a powerful, corporate-financed mouthpiece within the Democratic party that acts to keep Democratic Party candidates and platforms sympathetic to corporate interests and the interests of the wealthiest one percent.

It is the opinion of the DLC that economic populism is not politically viable, citing the defeated Presidential campaigns of Senator George McGovern in 1972 and Vice-President Walter Mondale in 1984. The DLC states that it "seeks to define and galvanize popular support for a new public philosophy built on progressive ideals, mainstream values, and innovative, non-bureaucratic, market-based solutions."

The DLC has supported welfare reform, such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, President Clinton's expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the creation of AmeriCorps. The DLC supports expanded health insurance via tax credits for the uninsured and opposes plans for single-payer universal health care. The DLC supports universal access to preschool, charter schools, and measures to allow a greater degree of choice in schooling (though not school vouchers), and supports the No Child Left Behind Act. The DLC supports both NAFTA and CAFTA. The organization supports some forms of Social Security privatization but opposes financing private retirement accounts with large amounts of borrowed money.

The DLC gave strong support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Prior to the war, Will Marshall co-signed a letter to President Bush from the Project for the New American Century endorsing military action against Saddam Hussein. During the 2004 Primary campaign the DLC attacked Presidential candidate Howard Dean as an out-of-touch liberal because of Dean's anti-war stance. The DLC dismissed other critics of the Iraq invasion such as filmmaker Michael Moore as members of the "loony left". Even as domestic support for the Iraq War plummeted in 2004 and 2005, Marshall reprised his right-wing credentials and called upon Democrats to balance their criticism of Bush's handling of the Iraq War with praise for the President's achievements and cautioned "Democrats need to be choosier about the political company they keep, distancing themselves from the pacifist and anti-American fringe."

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It goes on and on.



Welcome to the DLC, who brought us such wonderful people as Joe Lieberman and still support him to this day. Many people wonder why Hillary refuses to acknowledge her Iraq War Resolution Vote a mistake. If she holds true to her DLC credentials it is because she believes then, as now, that the war in Iraq was a just war - a good war - and the disagreement on the issue of the war is how it has been managed. If you look at those whom she keeps company, who hold her and her husband up as the most defining leaders of their organization, it is not difficult to believe that Hillary would have walked the same path to war with Iraq as Bush after the 9/11 attacks. It is likely that she would have embraced the Project For the New American Century.

Even today, after her disastrous vote on the IWR, she has voted again in such a way that gives George W. Bush the power to attack Iran.

Even if you believe that Hillary is different from the other members of the DLC, can we really take the chance that you could be wrong?