Reply #135: I'd quibble with the characterization of the DLC as "anti gun-control."

[benEzra]

The Democratic Leadership Council style, which leans libertarian: pro choice, anti gun-control, pro balanced budget, anti waste in government (including, especially, military waste), internationalist, anti corruption (especially boardroom corruption that kills shareholder value), and pro-education in lieu of economy-killing protectionism.

The Blue Dog Democrat style, which is nearly the opposite: pro-protectionism, pro-entitlement spending (farm bills), anti-balanced budget, pro-life, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, pro-theocracy/anti-science (wants creationism taught in schools), anti-environment, pro "strong" military.

I'd quibble with the characterization of the DLC as "anti gun-control." It was the DLC, not the party's liberal wing, that made new gun bans Priority One in the '90s, presumably under the hypothesis that it would appeal to right-leaning "law and order" types. Feinstein, Lautenberg, Schumer, Biden, etc. were the driving force behind the disastrous 1994 gun ban that helped cement the "Dems'll-take-yer-guns" meme in the popular consciousness.

Were it not for the DLC pushing the issue, I don't think gun bans would have been made such a priority in the '90s.