Sherrod Brown & Ned Lamont Urge Liberals to Push Progressive Vision

[OzarkDem]

More generally, Brown said that “progressives” should take definite stands rather than blurring differences with GOP opponents on policy issues. Brown dismissed that as “Republican lite,” and instead exhorted liberals to highlight their differences with their opponents. “Make the sharp contrast between what they have done and a bold, progressive version of what progressives can do,” Brown said.

This is not a risk-free pronouncement for Brown, who is running for the Senate in a swing state that narrowly favored President Bush in the 2004 election. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a statement Wednesday, said that Brown “must feel right at home with the liberal elites at the conference” but that his “liberal credentials” would not play well in Ohio.

Brown argued, though, that his views on a host of issues — supporting an increase in the minimum wage, overhauling the Medicare prescription drug program and opposing the Iraq war — actually are in the mainstream of political thought.

“On issue after issue after issue, I’m exactly as progressives are, exactly where the public is,” Brown said.

Brown, who holds liberal views on social issues, is running in a state that has a strain of social conservatism that includes opposition to gun controls and same-sex marriage. Brown noted that the 10 Ohio counties with the poorest economies favored Bush in 2004, when a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage also was on the ballot and passed overwhelmingly.

...

Saying No to Joe: Lamont also was on message at the meeting, making his appearance on a separate panel entitled “Eruptions: The Public Moves Against the War.” Lamont offered a rousing speech outlining what he said was the Democratic Party’s inability to take a strong stand on Iraq — which he and his supporters blame in part on the hawkish Lieberman’s justifications for Bush’s war policies.

“I think it’s high time the Democrats stand up and stop mumbling,” Lamont said regarding opposition to the war. “Say it loud and clear.”


http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/06/brown_lamont_urge_liberals_to.html

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. I would vote for both of them if I could!

but I can't. :(

[OzarkDem]

2. I'll share my vote with you

They are both great, the future of Dem leadership in Congress.

[saltpoint]

3. Go Brown, go Lamont. It would be a stronger blue shade of Senate

if these two could win their respective races.

And both are looking good right now. Brown out in front of DeWine by a handful and Ned moving up on Joe in CT.

Very encouraging prospects.

[Douglas Carpenter]

4. Imagine both of them in the Senate -- and Bernie Sanders from Vermont too

the thought brings tears to my eyes.



https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/custom/sherrodbrown/contribute.html


http://www.nedlamont.com

[OzarkDem]

7. Sherrod and Bernie are good friends

they work together on a lot of legislation. Ned Lamont sounds pretty good too.

Agree, having them all in the Senate together could make a big difference. The spirit of Wellstone would be smiling...

[Douglas Carpenter]

8. ya, then we can start getting back to the business of actually moving

the country forward -- instead of just holding the line

[OzarkDem]

9. The Progressive Establishment in Congress can do it

Some of these "old heads" as we used to call ourselves, have been there through the long drought of the Bush years and are ready to move forward with the bipartisan agenda they crafted back in the late 1990's.

Sometimes I don't think people realize how close Bill Clinton and Al Gore brought us to crafting the best public policy that our country has seen in decades.

Sherrod and Bernie and Arlen and others used to work in a bipartisan fashion to come up with some of the most innovative and forward thinking public policy that we've seen in a long time.

Hillary is starting to get back to it also, with health care reform. If we can put our top leaders together again with their brilliant minds we can turn the country around and start planning for our future again.

We have the plan
We have the power
We have the commitment
We can do it.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. It wasn't clear to me ... is this a coordinated effort for these two or ..

are these two unrelated statements?

It would be kinda cool if these two were somehow coordinating.

[OzarkDem]

6. On same panel discussion at Take Back America 2006 conference

The two have similar views and both want to see the party and grassroots speak out more against the war and be more forceful in advocating progressive policies. As Sherrod says, the GOP may call his POV liberal, but his views are exactly the same as the majority of Americans today - progressive values on key issues are now mainstream.