Don't Be Fooled by Bush Polls, Democratic Council Warns--WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121700817.html?referrer=email


By John F. Harris and Chris Cillizza

"Sunday, December 18, 2005; Page A04

Rising public frustration with the Iraq war and low approval ratings for President Bush look to many Democrats like an opportunity for big gains with voters in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

But two of the party's top strategists say this opportunity may be something else: a trap.

Al From, president of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, and pollster Mark Penn wrote a strategy memo to DLC supporters last week warning party leaders not to use Bush's problems as an invitation to call for an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, or generally to steer a more liberal course that could alienate the middle-of-the-road voters the party needs.

"It is important for Democrats to understand that despite Bush's decline, America remains a moderate to conservative country -- particularly on economic and security measures," the two wrote. While a poll taken by Penn for the DLC showed voters opposing the Iraq war 54 to 44 percent, they warned that "Democratic leaders could be playing with political dynamite if they call for an immediate pullout of American troops.""

Will somebody please pull the plug on the DLC? If ever a body needed euthanization, this is the one.

[Jade Fox]

1. Let's keep being meek and spineless....

Who knows, maybe someday it will work! :eyes:

[stepnw1f]

2. Fuck the DLC!

They carry water for this administration. Every time these fuckers are being exposed, a DLCer comes out to diffuse the story. Fuck them. They enable these bastards....

I just wonder what is in it for these turn-coats? Oil, military industrial complex, hegemony, .....?

[Imagine My Surprise]

4. and when they're not carrying water...

they're toting toilet paper.

[PDJane]

3. No kidding.

In my experience, most Americans are further to the left than the polls indicate.....well, except for the vocal, overly religious few. Even those who claim to be republican are more moderate than the administration!

Even my republican friends down there, for instance, are in favour of some form of gay rights, universal health care and drug caps (interesting factoid; the US is the only country in the world that I could find without some form of drug price caps).

[emulatorloo]

Think of DLC as Ann Coulter - nuts for attention!!!!!

Attention Seeking Personality Disorder.

Ignoring Ann or the DLC would just about kill them.

[Fovea]

5. Al From--

The best friend a Republican party ever had!

I say we ask him to change parties or STFU.

[mitchtv]

6. Howard Dean speaks for me

yo' mamma, WP

[rzemanfl]

7. Bush has about half the country hating his fucking guts 24 hours

a day and the Dems are worried about not offending the middle? There are only three groups in this country, the folks that know they are being pissed on, the folks who think its raining on them despite the funny smell and those who are urinating. We have to convince the middle of the road folks that the precipitation is yellow, not run around with cans of Lysol and club soda to maintain their delusion.

[I Have A Dream]

8. Great post. n/t

[The Traveler]

19. Yer bloody well right

damn right. Time to tell folk the truth and present a viable course of action out of the cesspool the Bushistas have dug for us.

[NanceGreggs]

9. And people think it's the far-right Fundies ...

... who take Biblical references too literally.

Apparently, these guys honestly believe that the MEEK shall inherit the earth.

[PDJane]

18. If the meek inherit the earth.........

how hard will it be to take it back? Just asking.......

[DemPopulist]

10. Dems Sweep Congress; DLC Warns Win Could Be "A Trap" -- WAPO 11/06

That's my bet for a future headline....

[w13rd0]

11. fuck off Al

really...just fuck off

[Stevepol]

12. Pardon me. How does anybody know what the American people believe?

Al From and Mark Penn claim that "America remains a moderate to conservative country -- particularly on economic and security measures."

How the hell do they know this when the elections are being decided by electronic voting machines?

The polls in general (which are a better indicator of the opinions of the American people) show that Americans want us out of Iraq and that they hold opinions that are quite strongly progressive. The fact that these sentiments can't get any traction in elections has little to do with the American people and a lot to do with the counting of votes.

[tularetom]

13. The middle of the road voters are the ones

responsible for bush's horrible approval ratings. The dems don't have to worry about them continuing to support bush - they have already stopped. Probably because they have awakened to the reality of his cowardice, incompetence and dishonesty. I don't care how "moderate to conservative" the country is, bush does not posess the qualities Americans respect and most of us have come to realize that. Once people begin to mistrust you, your're done, you'll never recover. The DLC to me is a bunch of wusses that doesn't trust the American people to see through a phoney. Fortuanately I think a lot of Dem officehoolders have begun to see through them.

[KoKo]

14. The $$$$$$$$$$$$ Signs are in their eyes as they see the Repug Pioneers

turning to the Dems if they just promise to continue the "Emperor's" find policies which have helped our economy stay strong. :sarcasm:

[gristy]

15. I think From is right

The cabal won't be worrying about his polls, the press, or the public until next spring, 6 months before mid-term elections. The neocons are more than happy to push the left as far left as possible, even if it means losing some moderates temporarily: this isn't an election year. By next April they will shift policy and spin toward the middle (some repuke congressmen and governors are already doing this, but they're just chickenshit and are jumping the gun). The press will write a couple articles about him "abandoning his right-wing base", but his "base" will accept it since they will recognize it as a necessary evil. Watch for the positive press overall. Remember that the press covers mostly news of the present, it isn't their primary job to cover the past. The neocons know this. Everything that has happened in the past 5 years will be overrun next spring by new policy announcements, new initiatives, and new spin. Global forces with an overriding interest in the continuation of power of the bush cabal will also come to bear, and we will see considerable de-escalation of conflict in Iraq in the run up to elections next November.

Patrick Fitzgerald is one man who has the potential to disrupt all of this.

[subterranean]

16. Immediate pullout?

Maybe I missed something, but which Democratic leaders have called for an IMMEDIATE pullout of the troops?

[Cha]

17. Oh Yeah, you little Freak Cowards..

tip toe through the tulips ya whining bunch a wimp wankers.

Maybe Democrats should just the fucking right thing.

Spare me the scaredy cat proclamations. :scared: :scared: :scared:

[yurbud]

20. to DLC like GOP "country," "voters," "America" = corporate donors

and nothing else.

See this DLC to English dictionary:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5553629

[neverforget]

21. The DLC lacks a killer instinct because their philosophy is too close

to the Republicans. Al From can take his opinion and shove it where the sun don't shine.

[RaulGroom]

22. I used to think these guys were just idiots

But over the last two years it's become shockingly clear that they are in fact opposed to progressive ideals in principle. It has nothing to do with strategy.