What the HELL is the DLC up to???

[lifelong_Dem]

I've been a lukewarm defender of the DLC around here, and I still think they've gotten a bad rap from a lot of people here, but stuff like this really pisses me off:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58774-2003Jul28.html

"DLC leaders have criticized former Vermont governor Howard Dean, whose antiwar rhetoric fueled his rise to prominence in the Democratic presidential race, and today, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), the DLC chairman, warned that the party is "at risk of being taken over by the far left." The choice for Democrats, Bayh said, is, "Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?"

Way to promote party unity, guys. It looks to me like Al From and company are trying to do what Nader did in 2000, only from the other side.

[Clete]

1. So open your eyes and see them for the Repukes that they are!

[ikojo]

17. DLC equals Repuke lite

I have long said that the DLC (founded by Clinton, Gore, Gephardt and LIEberman) was nothing but Repuke lite. Their aim is to move the Democrats from the party "base" of minorities, working people and environmentalists.

They run as Repuke lite and at least here in Missouri they lose elections. Just ask Jean "Bush has a right to nominate whomever he wishes (when speaking of why she didn't fight harder against shrubby's right-wing judicial nominees)" Carnahan.

The thing is this I don't care how conservative or centrist a Democrat is (look at Clinton who stole the Repuke policy of welfare reform and made it his own) the -pukes are still going to call Dems socialists and far leftists. They are not interested in working with the Dems.

The Dems need to take a page from the -puke book and not let the -pukes define the agenda. Stop REacting and START being PROactive. Is there a problem with someone other than the conservative and corporately controlled media setting the agenda?

As long as Dems allow the extreme right to set the parameters of debate they will continue to be a minority party. People don't like voting for those who wont stand up for their convictions. That more than any position on defense or whatever rings louder out here than almost anything else.

Just some musings from the 'Lou.

[w13rd0]

2. I can come to no conclusion...

...other than the DLC supports Bush and his agenda. They don't even want to govern, they just want to keep the corporate contribution spigot flowing...

[Upfront]

23. w13rdo

Buddy you said it. DLC is bought and paid for by corp. money. I guess that is one reason the Dean campain fund raising gives me hope. To get our country back we need to quit being on the take. :toast:

[priller]

26. Bingo!

That's their primary purpose. I think even Clinton admitted that he couldn't win without corporate bucks. But, in very short time, the DLC has morphed into an organization that is hardly recognizable as a Democratic group.

Dean has shown that you can raise big bucks without the corporate money. The other Dem candidates aren't raking it in because the Dem voters don't like their mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy, over-calculated pandering to what the imagine to be the "swing voters".

[NYC]

3. Time for you to rethink the "bad rap" concept.

.

[lifelong_Dem]

4. If they keep this kind of crap up, I just may have to

n/t

[NYC]

6. I think they WILL keep up this crap.

That seems to be what they do.

[lifelong_Dem]

5. Double post

[legin]

7. On a tactical note

After the Democratic Party have elected a Presidential Candidate, the DLC need to be terminated. Because either they are going to try to muscle in on policy decisions, which is going to be bad news, or they are going to sit on the sidelines saying as loudly as possible, as they are doing now, how unelectable the Democratic candidate is.

If Kerry wins the nomination, then i suppose if I lived the u.s. I might just about get it together to vote for him to keep out bush*. But it won't take too many 'pronouncments' from the DLC to put me off.

Until the election I can put up with them because every time they open their idiotic mouths they make money and votes for Dean. But (to repeat) after the election they are a very severe electorial liability.

[Jack Rabbit]

8. Other side?

It looks to me like Al From and company are trying to do what Nader did in 2000, only from the other side.

Do you mean from the right side or from the inside?

[IkeWarnedUs]

9. once more - for those who haven't heard

The DLC is the Trojan Horse for neo-cons and PNAC'ers to infiltrate the Democratic party.

Will Marshall, the president and founder of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and former Policy Director for the DLC is a signer on PNAC's two statements on Iraq. PPI was created to set policy for the DLC and is very closely connected to the DLC. In fact, the DLC website shows joint contact info for both organizations and the same person answers the phone for both (202-547-0001 PPI, 202-546-0007 DLC).

Tod Lindberg, published by The Blueprint (DLC magazine) also signed both PNAC Iraq statements, as did James Steinberg, Deputy National Security Advisor to President Clinton.

Marshall Wittman, another Blueprint author, is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute (Richard Perle, trustee) and former aid to Ralph Reed.

Those are just the direct links . . .

[Tinoire]

11. Thank you. Well Put. Thanks for spreading the word!

[KoKo]

24. Yes, Ike, information like this is what opened my eyes about DLC! Thanks

for posting it.

[Upfront]

25. DlC=P-NAC

Thanks Ike, I had no idea! Now it makes sense.

[regnaD kciN]

10. Same old same old...

Isn't this about the third time they've called a press conference to say the exact same thing??? It was f*cked then, and it remains just as f*cked now.

:puke:

[DarienComp]

12. The DLC's surface-oriented complaints

about Howard Dean betray an over-concern about "electability", and a political cowardice that is very unappealing. They claim Dean is far-left, but anyone who takes an honest look at the man's record knows that that's bullshit. So they take issue with is populist "tone" and they warn time and again of a McGovern/Mondale redux. They behave like chicken-littles of the worst sort and guess what? It only weakens the party-- ironic, since that is exactly what they claim Howard Dean is doing.

Oh and by the way, where are the wonderful electoral victories under the DLC's belt? And don't tell me Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton got elected and re-elected because he was Bill Clinton. The DLC had precious little to do with it.

You know what, I'm just really tired of it. I'm tired of putting out candidates who are afraid to take principled stands. I'm tired of the politics of "Oh, let's be polite, let's not rock the boat, and maybe the Republicans won't hurt us." Most of all, I'm tired of seeing my party constantly being undercut by a wing that has contributed very little to it in... well, ever.

[placton]

35. on Dean

my complaint is that he is TOO conservative - but I'll vote for him if he is the nominee. Dean should be loved by the DLC: he's anti gun control, among other issues. Just tell me WHERE he is "far left"?

[Terwilliger]

13. I don't know

maybe somebody who does know more about it tried to warn us about them some time ago

[Classical_Liberal]

14. The Reagan Democrats were Dems that worked for the Defense Industry

rather than socially conservative Union men as they have been depicted. The DLC are neocon all the way. The war in Iraq is their litmus test so they hate Dean and will probably form massive Democrats for Bush groups when Dean wins the nomination.

[CWebster]

15. Hell, the front page of this morning's NYTimes, above the fold:

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

PHILADELPHIA, July 28 — The moderate Democratic group that helped elect Bill Clinton to the White House in 1992 warned today that Democrats were headed for defeat if they presented themselves as an angry 'far left' party fighting tax cuts and opposing the war in Iraq.

The warning, by the Democratic Leadership Council, an organization of moderate Democrats that helped move the party to the center 10 years ago, was largely a response to the popularity enjoyed in early presidential primary states by Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont... That said, the council has become increasingly politically radioactive in this primary season, with many liberals accusing it of abandoning traditional Democratic positions. An invitation to the candidates would have put them in a politically difficult position.... The council was started in 1985 by elected officials mostly from the South and the West to make the point that the influence of labor unions and what they called "special interest groups" on the party had resulted in Republicans' being elected to the White House...The group, which is supported by corporate contributions, today includes many of the same people who were leading it when Mr. Clinton was elected in 1992, though it has grown sharply.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/29/politics/campaigns/29DEMS.html

[ithacan]

20. NY Times conservative bias

note how they call the DLC "moderate Democrats" rather than the truth: they are conservative "Democrats"

[CWebster]

29. Notice, this seems to be a front page story in papers

all over the country.

What's up with that?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. Do Conservatrive Democrats

support gay rights?

support abortion?

support affirmative action?

support expanding the earned income tax credit?

[GreenArrow]

70. they are not Democrats at all

they are a new party, residing behind the banner of what used to be the Democratic party.

[HFishbine]

64. The DLC

had its chances in 2000 and 2002. They failed. New people and new ideas are energizing the democratic party. The DLC is no longer relevant.

[KG]

16. Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?" Bayh said

well, thanks to the DLC, the dems ain't doing much governing. it's growing clearer that the DLC has been a disaster for the dem party and america.

[Q]

18. Labeling other Dems as 'far left' is a neocon tactic...

...and is meant to divide the party into camps. And like the neocons...the DLC uses this term as a 'hot button' to frighten voters away from liberalism and their own self interests.

- I had no problems with the DLC until they began to attack Democrats instead of Republicans. It looks very odd to have people in your own party bashing Dems right before such an important election.

[ithacan]

19. So they are finally admitting to being right wingers!!!

Anyone who accuses Howard Dean of being "far left" must be so far to the right that they should be in the GOP!!!

My god these people are so f***ed up!

[IkeWarnedUs]

45. Exactly Ithacan, you nailed it

"Anyone who accuses Howard Dean of being "far left" must be so far to the right that they should be in the GOP!!!"

The neo cons moved the Republican party so far to the right they are almost off the map.

Reasonable conservatives who can't stomach what the Republican party has been up to found a haven in the DLC's neo-con-lite agenda.

And don't forget the DLC's neo con leaders and spokesmen - see post #9.

DLC'ers, including New Democrats and Blue Dog Democrats, need to be outed as the closet Republicans they are.

Ok everyone - take one step to the right.

Democrats who fled to the Green party to escape the DLC's neo-con-lite, step back into the Democratic party.

DLC'ers, New Democrats and Blue Dog Democrats, step to the right and reclaim the Republican party from the empire builders who took it over.

And the PNAC'ers, step to the right - right off the edge into oblivion.

[farmbo]

21. DLC: A group of tired,self-important generals fighting the last war...

...their policies are the Maginot Line of the 2004 elections cycle.

[GeronimoSkull]

22. They are trying to keep America safe

for fascism

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. Is

Bob Graham a fascist?

John Kerry a fascist?

Harold Ford a fascist?

Ellen Tauscher a fascist?

John Edwards a fascist?

Calling soembody a fascist because you don't like them demeans the person making the accusation more than the target.

[GeronimoSkull]

37. I call them fascist

because they are corporatist lackeys, not because I don't like them

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. If That Is Your Definition Of Fascists

I would say you feel that about three quarters of Democratic senators and representatives are fascists

[Az]

39. According to Mussolini

Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism as it is a merge of state and corporate power.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

Hey, AZ...

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:kva4jlS4E8AC:

[GreenArrow]

68. And by that definition,

you'd be right.

[KoKo]

27. And, Evan Bayh has become the media's darling along with Joe Biden

and Donna Brazille as spokespersons for the Democratic party. If you ever see them on any of the pundit shows it's hard to tell them from their Repug reps when they are asked "what do the Democrats feel about this and that, blah...blah...blah."

Repug lite.........

[Az]

28. The DLC sides with the real enemies

Corporations are becoming the greatest threat We The People face. For much of our history there has been a balance between the power they wield and our own. But the balance has been constantly shifting and now it greatly favors the corporations.

The DLC sides with the Corporations because they hope to prostrate themself before the power the corporations represent. The success of a country is not defined by the GDP. It is defined by the quality of life of its citizens.

Corporations serve their own agenda and if they wield power over our society then our agenda will be supplanted by theirs. Our agendas do not match. What is good for Phillip Morris is not good for a citizen. What is good for GM is not good for us. There is a conflict going on right now and the corporations control the RNC and are trying to take over the DNC as well. They have the DLC and are plying their might to take the rest.

[CWebster]

32. Bingo

good posts, Az, the alpha and the omega...;-)

[Walt Starr]

31. I'm back to looking at Greener pastures

Fuck the DLC. They want to push me out of the party, fine. IT was their fucking decision.

[CWebster]

34. No stay and fight for the party.

Going Green is a luxury when the only party to oppose Bush presently is under attack from within.

[Walt Starr]

42. The DLC is making the Democratic PArty into the other

Republican PArty.

If I have a choice of a REpublican or a Republican with an (R) after their name, I'll go for the Green every time.

[tedzbear]

60. Noam Chomsky is right...

The American political spectrum is so narrow both the parties are the same. If the people start expecting policies outside that range, they are called "extremists". Actually, we are just expressing good American values which are making the Fortune 500 nervous. Therefore, they attack us.
If Dean doesn't get the Demo nomination, I will definitely defect to greener pastures myself!
:bounce:

[Walt Starr]

61. Maybe the answer to the DLC should be

Dean or Green, make your choice.

[Liberal Veteran]

40. I'm with you Walt....

Fuck these milquetoast DINOs of the DLC. I am so fucking sick of them betraying us to the republicans I am beside myself.

[Terwilliger]

67. you hated the Greens last week

I wish you'd figure out what you believe in and stick to it

[Walt Starr]

74. I was prepared to use a puke buck all the way up until

The DLC intimated they would not support Dean if he got the nomination.

Fuck 'em.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. Robust Debate Is Good

Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom

But when we eat our own only the right wing benefits.

As I understand the DLC they

are socially progressive

fiscally conservative

(and)

Wilsonian internationalists

I found their trashing of Dean gratuitous and mean spirited. But even worse to me as somebody who shares alot of their reservations it was counterproductive.

Criticize the DLC if you will. Test their ideas against the acid test of reality but a reflexive thrashing of them only serves the purpose of the right wing junta that has captured the White House.

[Snellius]

41. DLC Threat: Dean Wins. We Will Not Support Him.

This whole "far left" campaign seems specifically directed at Dean. What's stupid is that Dean is not as "far left" as they seem to fear. Kucinich and Kerry are further in more traditional liberal ways. The DLC seems more upset because Dean is not part of the well-oiled, and palm-greased party machine.

[Kanola]

43. The DLC did not propel Clinton's win to the presidency

He won it because of the big ole charisma factor and he kept bouncing back after all the Repug scandals emerged. I am tired of the DLC taking credit for his wins.

[JCMach1]

44. Exactly!, you beat me to it... Clinton won the Presidency--

NOT the DLC...! In fact, what has the DLC done lately but take potshots at potential nominees...

Message to the DLC: SHUT THE F*%^ UP!!!

[newsguyatl]

46. we need to launch an ALL-OUT

MASSIVE assualt campaign against the DLC, exposing them for what they are...

i see them as the enemy now, and the enemy needs to be taken care of... fast...

[Walt Starr]

48. Yep, and if they get their way, I will defect

I've had it with the bastards.

[CWebster]

49. Walt...

That's what they want...

[Walt Starr]

51. Fine, if the Democrats allow the party to be destroyed by the DLC

That's what happens. It's up to the Democrats. They either want to exist or they don't, but I will not roll over if a DLC sponsored candidate takes the nomination.

[CWebster]

53. Fight like hell to prevent it

They wouldn't be astroturfing every major paper and media source in the land if they weren't sweating blood.

[Walt Starr]

54. They have the money

I'll be donating to Dean, but the DLC has the bucks so they have a greater ability to win this one.

[CWebster]

59. We

have the numbers.

[Walt Starr]

63. Without the money, we cannot win the general election

The DLC is making rumblings that if Dean wins the nomination, they will take their ball (that big wad of money) and go home.

My answer to the DLC after their bashing of Dean is,

DEAN OR GREEN, THOSE ARE MY ONLY CHOICES NOW!

[blindpig]

62. money

no getting around it, they've got the money. no way the democrats can go toe to toe with those fuckers. an indirect approach is called for. balls to the wall grass roots action supported by a good portion of the cash you got, a small but asskicking tv campaign well deployed and hopefuly other stuff i'm too dumb to think of.
morning shall come!

[Iverson]

52. maybe

As you have written your response, I cannot tell whether "they" refers to the DLC or to the Republican party.

If the former, then I have to disagree. The DLC wants the votes of activists, but certainly not their voices. They would want Walt to stay in perpetuity.

If the latter, I have to agree. Republicans want the last vestiges of a national opposition party to dissolve. Although my preference is for Greens, anyone can see that only the Democrats are currently in a position to be that national opposition, if only they would.

[Walt Starr]

56. The only way to stop the DLC is to let them know

they pull this bullshit and they lose the votes of the base they want to shut up.

[lifelong_Dem]

71. Do you understand...

...that the DLC in fact WANTS you to leave?

The fact is, they want liberals to make themselves politically irrelevant by going Green. This will make it much easier for them to chase votes and $$$ on the right.

Stay and fight. This latest spew from the DLC has made me MORE determined to help Dean, not less.

[CWebster]

58. DLC...Republicans...

:-)

DLC is the thread topic - "they" refers to them. If Walt leaves and goes Green now, it doesn't matter how many votes may be lost to Bush, or stolen, or how many people stay home----as you well know, they will target the Left, the usual recipient of the blame.

It's our 2 party system and after switching to Green after '02. I swiched back to vote in the primaries--that is where it matters--that is where we can make the difference. That is why the DLC is up in arms now.

[SOS]

47. The DLC

must see both Howard Dean and Wesley Clark as potential winners who are outside of their sphere of influence. Should either of these men become the Dem. nominee the DLC can, finally and thankfully, close shop. The Times article refers to the DLC as "radioactive", an organization no-one wants to be asociated with anymore. Their days are over.
They attack Dean repeatedly, not because he is "far left", but because a Dean victory puts them out of business.

[MadHound]

50. What's the DLC up to?

Once again, they're driving the base away from the party, and in the process making over the Democratic Party into a Republican lite. Making a play for the angry white male vote at the expense of all other.

And people wonder why the progressive/leftists are going Green. Where else are we going to find a party to represent our point of view? Certainly not in the DLC dominated Democratic Party. And the sad thing is that the DLC will have a major impact on the Democratic Platform in '04.

[whoYaCallinAlib]

55. Okay, I'll tell you.

They see the population shifting away from blue collar, union and urban toword college educated, non-union and suburban. Whatever blue collar workers are left (after all the manufacturing jobs are lost) will be the type that is God-fearing, gun-toting, and Saddam-hating. They know there are not enough registered democrats to win an election by themselves. They have to pick up independents and moderates to win a plurality. They know that independents and moderates are trending toward voting republican more than democrat. They believe all national elections will be won in the MIDDLE.

[Walt Starr]

57. That crap didn't fly in 2002

and it sure as hell won't fly in 2004.

They keep this crap up, and I'm out of the party. Jeffords warned the REpublicans he could always walk across the aisle.

The DLC had damn well better figure out, those whose votes they must have as a base can always walk over to that Green pasture.

[Az]

72. DINO

Is it the ideas we are fighting for or the name Democrat? If the public is shifting to the right that only indicates that the right is doing a better marketting job. We need to step up our marketting instead of sliding along with them. I don't vote Democratic because I like the name or the mascot. I vote based on what I believe is the right thing to do. Compromise may be necissary but too much alters the very thing you are trying to fight for.

[xchrom]

65. this is a not so subtle attempt

to create for themselves the upper-hand.
through the use of fear -- that a ''liberal'' can't explain themselves or their politics to the american public to garner votes.
the dlc are corporatists -- and they speak with the corporate voice.
and yes, they could seriously divide the dem party -- and it is very conceivable that is the precise goal.
interesting that bush is beginning to suffer from his actions and the press is warming to his critics and their ideas and the dlc comes out with this.
does anybody else find the timing suspicious?

[aquart]

66. They're trying to climb on the treason bandwagon.

Not one word they say is worth spit to a Democrat.

[GreenArrow]

69. Who exactly is Evan Bayh addressing: the American people,

or his professional cohorts? If we get a DLC president we are still going to be in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Columbia, in who knows where else. We're still going to have a Patriot Act, (maybe a second one even,) exploding prison populations, an increased gap between the rich and poor, increasingly unaffordable health care, an increasingly bloated Pentagon budget, and so on.

"At the national convention of a major political party, an ideologically rigid sectarian clique secures the ultimate triumph. It inserts two of its own as nominees for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Heavily financed by the most powerful corporations in the world, the group's leaders gather in a private club fifty-four floors above the convention hall, apart from the delegates of the party they had infiltrated. There, they carefully monitor the convention's acceptance of a platform the organization had drafted almost in its entirety. Then, with the ticket secured and with the policy course of the party set, they introduce a team of 100 shock troops to deploy across the country to lock up the party's grassroots."

And they found willing corporate allies, in corporate America, who provided the money needed to make a theory appear to be a movement. In the ensuing fifteen years, the DLC's impact on the American political debate has been dramatic. The group now controls much of the upper-level apparatus of the Democratic Party.

A day is soon coming when "we'll finally be able to proclaim that all Democrats are, indeed, New Democrats," declared DLC President Al From on the eve of this year's Democratic National Convention."


From: "Behind the DLC Takeover" by John Nichols

http://www.progressive.org/nich1000.htm

[chadm]

73. I don't know what party you guys THINK you're supporting...

But the language quoted above is very much the Democratic Party. Why does it shock you?

[chadm]

75. Why don't you guys stop imagining what the Democtric Party is...

and join a party that actually represents your ideals - The Green Party. The Dems don't want you to spoil their party. We want you to join ours.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

76. Evan "bye-bye"?

What will Evan and his corporate cohorts do if we do "take over the party"? Finally put an (R) after their names to represent what they really stand for?