The DLC: Wrong On The Right -good read

[malaise]

http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/wrong_right?tx=3

<Snip>
The corporate wing of the Democratic Party - the Democratic Leadership Council—will meet in its "National Conversation" this weekend in Nashville. The press is already noting that while all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls will appear at the YearlyKos progressive blogger gathering in Chicago, not one is slated to join the DLC in Nashville.

But that threadbare theory, dubious when it was initially aired a quarter century ago, is divorced from reality now. The "center" of American politics isn't on the right; the center is increasingly progressive in its views. The majority of Americans now oppose the Iraq War, oppose corporate trade policies, want big reforms in health care and energy policy, and are looking for a new deal in the economy. They aren't looking for the triangulated, modest reforms that Dick Morris and the DLC championed—school uniforms and computerized medical records—they are looking for bold changes and a very new direction.

From is partially right. The progressive base of the party is driving the debate. It has grown in sophistication and capacity, from labor's revived political program to Moveon.org and the new blogger energy. And it is buoyed by a sense that a majority of Americans are increasingly moving our way.

But the DLC—indelibly dubbed Democrats for the Leisure Class by the Rev. Jesse Jackson—has always had a base built on corporate money and lobbyists, not on activists. Its isolation isn't because it doesn't have troops in Iowa or New Hampshire. Its isolation comes because it simply has been wrong on the fundamental questions of our day.

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[bobbolink]

2. You're going to get blasted on this from the usual suspects.

So, thank you for posting it!!

:yourock:

[malaise]

7. LOL

I merely posted from my TomPaine daily articles. This is a great read.

[loudsue]

3. Hear! Hear!

The DLC are nothing but republicans who infiltrated the Democratic party starting in the late 70's under the Powell Manifesto.

:kick:

[bonito]

4. True that

:thumbsup:

[Hydra]

5. Say "Buh-Bye!"

Too bad they have major corporate backing, so they'll never completely die. On the other hand, we can do our best to make sure they are ALWAYS irrelevant.

[mod mom]

6. this paragraph nailed it:

Led by Sen. Joe Lieberman, the DLC was the raucous cheerleader for Bush's war in Iraq, the worst foreign policy debacle in our nation's history. They lauded the corporate trade policies that have left us with the largest trade deficits in the annals of time, and contributed to stagnant wages, growing inequality and a declining middle class. They championed fiscal austerity—even when the budget was in surplus—leaving us with a looming deficit in vital investments from new energy to modern schools to basic infrastructure. "Inequality doesn't matter," they argued, even as we moved into an economy in which the wealthy few captured all of the benefits from growth. One of their first policy papers was an attack on the minimum wage, which went a decade without being raised.

from the article

[malaise]

9. Wanted to include that one

but knew DUers would post it. Great paragraph.

Well the minimum wage has been increased since they're being ignored.

[Skidmore]

15. Legacy to be carried on by

our girl, Hill. Let's just name names. Who's the DLC candidate?

[malaise]

17. But even Hillary isn't heading to

Nashville.

[IChing]

19. Her Husband is going from what I heard. Maybe he will play golf later.

[Marr]

24. She knows this is the time to address the base, that's all.

Her husband is attending. She's as DLC as they come, and she's the clear choice of the corporate media and the right wing.

[Individualist]

27. Hillary, Biden, Edwards and Richardson

are presently or were DLC members.

As for Hillary's "popularity" that neocons, MSM and DLC cheerleaders are propagandizing, the fact is that she's far from the #1 choice among democratic activists. Here's one example:

"Her people aren't just hard-selling donors, they put on a full court press on the announcement, even going so far as to pretend she is competitive in the 'netroots primary'. It's a rather remarkable claim, considering that she got only 4 points in the most recent Dailykos straw poll, which is the home base for Democratic activists."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-stoller/hillary-clintons-dlc-pro_b_39566.html

[ozone_man]

28. "bold changes and a very new direction"

That's what I'm looking for in a candidate. It's time to stop emulating Republicans and stand for change in progressive directions.

[Bjorn Against]

8. In some ways I view the DLC as being worse than the GOP

At least the Republicans do not try associating themselves with us when they push their right-wing policies. The DLC weakens the left considerably by pretending to be allied with us while undermining everything we are trying to accomplish. They are the primary reason Democrats are viewed as weak, they go along with the Republicans on some very key issues and make it nearly impossible for us to get decent legislation through.

[Individualist]

21. I agree. The only thing worse than a neocon is a neocon enabler.

[ProgressiveAmPatriot]

10. Say no Republican Lite! n/t

[Me.]

11. K & R For This

Talk about oxymoron, leadership council! Leading us to the brink.

[AntiFascist]

12. They ought to dump the hawkish neocon Will Marshall...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Marshall

[malaise]

13. Thanks for that

I don't know enough about this wing of the Dems.

[Usrename]

23. Here ya go, this is what some of these folks are like:

Marshall Wittmann

"In the war against terror, it is vital that America be united. We have real enemies who seek to do us harm. Contrary to the conspiracy theories of Michael Moore and the loony left, Bush did not invent our enemies."

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=252914&kaid=127&subid=173

Much, much more here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1687818&mesg_id=1688529

spread the word... but do it quietly...

[malaise]

29. Thanks for these n/t

[AntiFascist]

34. Wolfowitz, Feith, Pearl: Democrats?!!! I had no idea!

Now that Bush is throwing so much support behind Saudi Arabia, and simultaneously Saudi Arabia is making moves to align with Iran, I can see a lot of hawkish, pro-Israel supporters coming to the Democratic side. My idea: pro-Israel and hawkish don't mix. Neither does it mix with Evangelists who have Armegeddon fantasies. The Islamic extremists in the Middle East need to come to the realization that they are being played by their oppressors.

[Joe Chi Minh]

33. Don't tell me he's a Democrat!!!!!! Even DLC. They at least have the savvy

to keep their corporatist cards as close to their chests as they can (not "corporate", which is inaccurate and ambiguous, anyway).

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Wow. This is great!

I think there was a time when the DLC actually worked, because corporate America worked. That's when corporations were actually trying to take care of their workers. Health benefits were good, opportunities for minorities were on the rise, pensions were protected... But from the days when corporations started getting leaner and meaner, and they started pitting employee against employee for their jobs, and health benefits were cut, jobs were outsourced, pension plans were destroyed, well, exactly what good was the DLC to the 98% of Democrats who were not serving on some corporate board, or where in the top levels of management?

[malaise]

16. This is one of the reasons why Fox is attacking bloggers

People no longer trust MSM or those defending corporate interests at the expense of the middle class and poor.

[sellitman]

18. Perfect reason to support Dennis Kucinich!

He is the most anti DLC candidate running.

[TahitiNut]

20. I'm liking Edwards, too - and I think he'd be an EXCELLENT Attorney General

... in a Kucinich/Feingold administration. :evilgrin:

Of course, I'm also of the mind that Nader would be an excellent Secretary of Commerce.

[sellitman]

31. Nader would make a good dog catcher

That's all the credibility he has left with this Lib.

[antigop]

26. What other candidate(s) have said they will cancel NAFTA and WTO? n/t

[SOS]

22. DLC no longer exists outside their DC office:

"Today, the council has almost no constituency within the Democratic Party. About every five years, the Pew Research Center conducts a public opinion survey to sort out the country’s major ideological groupings. In 1999, Pew found that liberals and New Democrats each accounted for nearly one-quarter of the Democratic base. By the next survey in 2005, New Democrats had completely disappeared as a group and the liberals had doubled their share of the party. Many moderates, radicalized by President Bush, now define themselves as liberals."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/28/opinion/28scheiber.html?ex=1343275200&en=bcac9686ea5eb75b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

[antigop]

25. Article previously posted in Editorials and Other Articles forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=295260


http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=how_the_dlc...

>>
Representative Gregory Meeks, an African-American lawyer and assistant district attorney elected to Congress in 1998 to represent a middle-class black neighborhood in Queens, New York, was undecided last year on the divisive issue of trade rights for China. Lobbyists for big business were battling the AFL-CIO and environmental groups on Capitol Hill for every vote, and Meeks, who'd previously voted against granting fast-track negotiating authority to President Clinton, was a prize.

Sensing an opportunity, Representative Cal Dooley, a moderate California Democrat closely allied with that state's high-tech sector, moved in. As co-chairman of the House New Democrat Coalition, a bloc allied with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), Dooley was targeting fence-sitters to vote aye. Along with fellow New Democrats Harold Ford, Jr., of Tennessee and Bob Matsui of California, Dooley hooked Meeks up with a stream of corporate officials from Silicon Valley and the New York financial district. "My boss made sure there'd be support for Meeks from the business community," says a Dooley aide. "He spread the word, through groups like the Business Roundtable, that here was a guy who deserved their support."

"Congressman Dooley helped bring in businesses who otherwise Congressman Meeks would not have known, and didn't have a relationship with, to knock on his door. As a result, scores of meetings were held with the congressman," says an aide to Meeks, citing sit-downs with the CEOs of American Airlines and New York Life Insurance Company. High-tech executives helped ensure that Meeks would be one of two undecided members to accompany President Clinton on his high-profile trip to China before the vote, the aide said; and Meeks also won significant backing from industry political action committees, which ended up nearly matching labor's donations to Meeks's campaign treasury. Included were $5,000 PAC contributions from American Airlines and New York Life. And in the end, Meeks voted business's way.

The DLC's effort to win Meeks's vote was part of a vigorous campaign by New Democrats to assure legislators that business groups would replace campaign contributions from labor lost by a pro-business China vote. In The New Democrat, the DLC's monthly magazine, Washington's most powerful business lobbyist, Thomas J. Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, wrote that even though some members of Congress risked losing the AFL-CIO's support, "business will stick by Democrats on the China trade vote."
>>

[malaise]

30. Thanks

lots of information here.

[antigop]

32. Yes, it should be read and understood by everyone on DU. n/t