The DLC is "very happy" about their two candidates. Obama, Clinton. (Edwards SOL)

[Bluebear]

As would be expected, the two gentlemen from the Democratic Leadership Council on a conference call today told reporters they’re very confident in their party’s chances of reclaiming the White House, they’re happy that substantive issues are being discussed…

And then Al From, the D.L.C. founder, said he was “very happy about the two candidates” Americans are considering.

Only two candidates?

Our ears perked up as we listened on.

“This is a really hard choice, really, for Democratic voters because they like both candidates,” said Mr. From. “For me, I don’t see that going to be a problem. I think in the end, Senator Obama’s appeal that he’s made very firmly and directly to independent voters, and Senator Clinton’s appeal to the forgotten middle class are going to add up to a very smashing Democratic majority in the fall.”

“This is not uncommon in primaries to see this kind of passionate support for one’s candidate,” added Harold Ford Jr., the D.L.C. chairman and a former Tennessee congressman.

Well, O.K. But what about John Edwards? He beat Mrs. Clinton in Iowa, as one reporter pointed out, but Mr. From still doesn’t think Mr. Edwards is viable.

I’m not going to speculate where the Edwards people go because I don’t know, to be honest with you. I think Edwards has run a hard, tough campaign. It’s not a, you know, he doesn’t take the tack that necessarily I agree with. What we’ve seen so far in this campaign is optimism. …

I think what you’re saying is that this is moving into a two-person race and that people in the race have been optimistic and hopeful, and I think that bodes well for the party because in the end, as long as I’ve been in politics — and I’m a lot older than 37 — the optimism always beats pessimism.

During the rest of the call, the two men said they were pleased that none of the Democratic candidates supports a single-payer health care system, that they are all taking the environment seriously, and that they’re focusing on national security — a strength that Mr. From admits, “we’ve not always had.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/dlc-leaders-cut-edwards-out/

[skipos]

1. Edwards has the most DLC friendly voting record of any of the current candidates

and anyone that has been on Dem ticket in the last few years, IMO. His 2008 campaign has been different though. That is one of the reasons I would take him over Clinton any day, though I think he is done and would vote for Obama if I could.

Edwards supporters probably shouldn't play the "the other candidates are DLC" angle, cause it isn't very accurate.

[Bluebear]

3. What "angle", this is a news article 1 1/2 hours old, you prefer we don't see it?

[skipos]

4. WTF are you talking about?

Where did I say anything about not posting this?

[Bluebear]

5. Nowhere, carry on.

[Kurovski]

39. We understood you, Bluebear.

K&R.

[EFerrari]

17. And Bobby Kennedy was a little sonuvabitch until he wasn't.

What is your point?

I smoked pot when I was fourteen. Turn me in.

It's funny how we continue to support error but we punish people who learn better and do better.

I'm still glad I walked for Bobby, knowing what I do know and apreciating how much he had to grow to become the person he became.

[Lifelong Protester]

44. I love you for that sfexpat2000...

and your name is hard to type accurately but I hope I have it right. But YOU have it right, Edwards is heir to all that RFK became... and I support him because of that.

[EFerrari]

47. Hi there, Lifelong Protestor!

Great avatar. :)

[AP]

41. DLC doesn't like his voting record on trade deals and his support for labor.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. The DLC is as afraid of Edwards as much as big business is.

He threatens the status-quo.

[elleng]

46. Viva, remember that

DLC IS big business.

'they were pleased that none of the Democratic candidates supports a single-payer health plan'

[earth mom]

6. I HATE THE DLC! FUCK THEM!!!

:puke:

[lateo]

33. Indeed.

Send their asses packing with Lieberman...

[rAVES]

7. The Republican wing of the Democratic party is happy.. all is well.

[marmar]

8. I really do despise the DLC.....

The Republican-lite model worked (at least on the surface) in the 1990s, but in the post-Bush II era, a progressive Democratic Party is what's needed.

[Individualist]

9. DLC is a subversive organization

Let's just look at the cold, hard facts about the DLC and its record. The DLC has pushed, among other things, the war in Iraq and "free" trade policies, using bags of corporate money to buy enough Democratic votes to help Republicans make those policies a reality. They have chastised anyone who has opposed those policies as either unpatriotic or anti-business -- even as a majority of Americans now oppose the war in Iraq, oppose the DLC's business-written trade deals, and are sick of watching America's economy sold out to the highest corporate bidder. Additionally, in brazenly Orwellian fashion, the DLC has also called its extremist agenda "centrist," even though polls show the American public opposes most of their agenda, and supports much of the progressive agenda. http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0727-32.htm

The progressive movement has not just threatened this message monopoly -- it is undoing it. Through MoveOn, the rise of popular documentaries, blogs, think tanks, etc. It's not just that we talk about real values and innovative strategies. It's because we're talking, period, that the centrists feel threatened.

Hence the DLC's vicious attempts to discredit the movement. And that's what they want. They don't seek to win an argument over policy. They seek to destroy the credibility of their opponents and restore their message monopoly. http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=721

This is why the DLC is dangerous. For all their claims of supposedly wanting to help Democrats, they employ people like Marshall Wittman who specifically try to undermine the Democratic Party, even if it means he has to publicly defecate out the most rank and easily-debunkable lies. They reguarly give credence to the right wing's agenda and its worst, most unsupportable lies. They are the real force that tries to make sure this country is a one party state and that Democrats never really challenge the Republicans in a serious way. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/why-the-dlc-is-so-dangero_b_13640.html

"The Democratic Leadership Council's agenda is indistinguishable from the Republican Neoconservative agenda," http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Kucinich_DLC_agenda_undistinguishable_from_Neocon_0813.html

Without a doubt, the DLC is the most fundamentalist organization within the caucus, the most ideologically rigid, and the most destructive to the progressive cause.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/5/24/1712/23448

These DLC types are amazing, they really are. Their pathology is unique; they all secretly worship the guilt-by-association tactics of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, but unlike those two, not one of them has enough balls to take being thought of as the bad guy by the general public.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11275627/the_low_post_democrats_walk_themselves_to_the_gallows

Damn them and anyone who supports them!

[ixion]

10. If the DLC is happy, you can be sure that the dems are doomed

really. The DLC despises the Democratic party, and works diligently to undermine them at every turn.

[bvar22]

11. If Harold Ford and Al From are "happy" with a candidate,

I'm AGAINST them.
I don't need to know anything else.











"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[keepCAblue]

12. Graphs are telling

I'm assuming the graphs represent contributions from the various entities/industries. Pretty confirms who among the candidates has been bought and paid for.

[keepCAblue]

13. P.S., what is the source for those graphs & what year or campaign do they represent? n/t

[bvar22]

15. They are recent, from opensecrets.

I "shopped" the graphs onto a single page.



http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?Ind=B02

[keepCAblue]

20. Much obliged. :-) n/t

[blondeatlast]

22. That's great work by OS and you. You should post it as a stand-alone

(if you haven't).

Very telling.

[waiting for hope]

27. They are from opensecrets.com

and it's the last quarter disclosures.

[cascadiance]

42. Rahm Emanuel giving a speech to the DLC...

Of course, you need a certain special set of glasses to get this view!

THEY LIVE!



Need to look at Bush through these glasses too...

[ronnykmarshall]

14. Oh dear.

This shouldn't go over well to the Obama supporters that like to use the "DLC" card to attack Hillary Clinton.

[Kajsa]

23. Al From doesn't speak for me, never did,

and I want nothing to do with him or his pack of DINOs.

edit- posted in wrong place!

Sorry, Ronny- :pals:

[EFerrari]

16. Who are these self appointed "democratic" leaders?

:shrug:

They aren't the party.

[krabigirl]

18. wow.

[librechik]

19. I knew it

bastards

[stevedeshazer]

21. Sweet Jesus, how I hate these DLC powermongers.

Really, I do hate them even MORE than Republicans.

At least Republicans are transparent.

I can't emphasize this enough. I HATE these people.

Harold Ford, Jr. can go piss up a rope. In 2006, he was the ONLY Democratic Senate challenger to LOSE.

[bpeale]

24. that means that 8 yrs from now 47 million will still be without healthcare

and they don't fucking care either!

[dflprincess]

35. I imagine it will be more than 47 million by then

but at least the CEOs of the country will be happy :sarcasm:

[bpeale]

48. and you can't force people with no jobs and a devalued dollar

to buy health insurance. my guess is that there will be probably double that 47 million uninsured as our jobs go overseas and the dollar become worthless.

[Canuckistanian]

25. Obama is not DLC

He has refused to endorse their platform (if they officially have one) already.

The DLC may be happy with him, but he's not comfortable with them.

[David Zephyr]

30. Truth doesn't matter here anymore, Canuckistanian.

Bluebear knows better, but that doesn't stop him.

[Bluebear]

37. What a horrid thing to say. Adios, Mr. Zephyr.

That article was not from "here", it was from the New York Times. Now put me on ignore, so you don't have to deal with any more of my "lies".

[bpeale]

34. when the DLC starts endorsing you, you become DLC whether you are or not

on edit: my mother always said "you are who you associate with", in this case, who you are associated with

[dailykoff]

40. That is false. He specifically asked that his name be removed

from their "New Democrat" directory in 2003:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/48/48_cover.html

You should listen to your mother and start hanging around with Obama supporters. :)

[smokey nj]

26. Kick!!

[Marr]

28. The DLC contains two types of people:

1. People who are only interested in a few social wedge issues, and aren't really concerned about foreign policy or the economy. They're the political equivalent of people who buy a newspaper just to read the gossip column.

2. People who are outright corporatists and want to weaken the opposition from within

[Zorra]

29. Al From = Joe Lieberman. Any questions? End of story. n/t

[Pastiche423]

31. OBAMA WAS NEVER W/THE DLC!

edwards was the entire time he was in the senate.

[OzarkDem]

32. Do we need any further proof?

DLC is the handmaiden of corporate America in helping deliver its candidates to victory. Who do you think arranged for the massive amount of money donated to the Clinton and Obama campaigns?

[kurth]

36. All hail to the Politburo - Only pre-approved candidates are allowed

[deminks]

38. Bluebear - Al From works for Tom Donohue - COC president who

earlier in the week threatened "anti-business candidates".

I posted this in another thread:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/12/13/14220...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...

(snip)

The chamber has hired the Swiss Guard of paid consultants from both political parties. Several showed up at a recent dinner hosted by Donohue at the chamber, including Al From, chief executive of the Democratic Leadership Council; Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, who was White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration; and Scott W. Reed, who was Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign manager.
(end snip)

Donohue is careful to say, "We're not an arm of the Republican Party. We need to engage the moderate Democrats." He also doesn't conceal his displeasure that Bush might want to overhaul the federal income tax. With the effective corporate tax rate so low, reshuffling the code could produce "a brawl" among his members, he reasoned, and increase levies on some of them.

And you will remember Tom Donohue from this just recently:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na...

Chamber of Commerce vows to punish anti-business candidates

[bonito]

43. Don't be fooled McCain as well.

[Neshanic]

45. "Mr. From, it's President McCain wanting to know if you want to have lunch with VP Huckabee".