Al From admits DLC decided in effect to make the Democratic party neutral.

[madfloridian]

Now those were not his exact words, but that is in effect what he said recently in an interview with the Washington Post. He said they tried to take away things that made people not want to vote Democratic. In effect what that means to me is that they wanted to take away the heart and soul of the party...and keep us from standing for Democratic values.

One of the important things we had to do in 1992 was remove the obstacles that kept people from voting Democratic in the first place," he said.

That included addressing issues of welfare, fiscal discipline and crime. "As long as people thought we were going to take money form (from) people who worked and give it to people who didn't work, they didn't want to listen to anything else," he added. "The Republicans have to make people understand that they're not just a right-wing, southern party."

Interview with Al From

So Al and the DLC instead of explaining that our government did have a role in helping those who are not working, they got rid of the issue by caving in and not standing up.

It's a long interview but that bit jumped out at me.

Simon Rosenberg, who helped found the DLC in the 80s, verified what Al From said. They set up the DLC to get enough money from corporate sources...and they no longer had to include the traditional Democratic interest groups such as minorities and unions.

Simon Rosenberg, the former field director for the DLC who directs the New Democrat Network, a spin-off political action committee, says, "We're trying to raise money to help them lessen their reliance on traditional interest groups in the Democratic Party. In that way," he adds, "they are ideologically freed, frankly, from taking positions that make it difficult for Democrats to win."

A Business-Led Party

Freeing Democrats from being, well, Democrats has been the Democratic Leadership Council's mission since its founding 16 years ago by Al Gore, Chuck Robb, and a handful of other conservative, mostly southern Dems as a rump faction of disaffected elected officials and party activists.

..."Privately funded and operating as an extraparty organization without official Democratic sanction, and calling themselves "New Democrats," the DLC sought nothing less than the miraculous: the transubstantiation of America's oldest political party. Though the DLC painted itself using the palette of the liberal left--as "an effort to revive the Democratic Party's progressive tradition," with New Democrats being the "trustees of the real tradition of the Democratic Party"--its mission was far more confrontational. With few resources, and taking heavy flak from the big guns of the Democratic left, the DLC proclaimed its intention, Mighty Mouse–style, to rescue the Democratic Party from the influence of 1960s-era activists and the AFL-CIO, to ease its identification with hot-button social issues, and, perhaps most centrally, to reinvent the party as one pledged to fiscal restraint, less government, and a probusiness, pro–free market outlook.

It's hard to argue that they haven't succeeded.
American Prospect article

And right now may I mention that there are two other issues that make it "hard to be a Democrat". One of those issues is women's rights, another issue is gay rights and the issues of DOMA and DADT.

This administration has been effectively tap-dancing around both of those issues lately. It is just too hard to fight the religious right on these things.

Oh wait, I forgot the inconvenience of having anti-war activists define the party. From Huff Post last year...more words from Al From.

Recently, Al From, founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, used a front page New York Times story to warn Senator Obama and other Democratic leaders that, "the antiwar people cannot define the Democratic Party."

Al From is wrong, again.

For years, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) has been warning the Democratic Party about the dangers of being associated with progressive values, ideas and policies. Time and again, their advice has proven disastrous. After Al Gore's defeat in 2000, From and pollster Mark Penn argued Gore lost the election in part because he abandoned the DLC message. But it was Gore's progressive message - making prosperity work for all - that helped him erase the seventeen-point deficit he held heading into the Democratic convention. In 2004, the DLC attacked Howard Dean as an elitist liberal and warned our party to "seize the vital center." Yet John Kerry's attempt to do just that failed to deliver the governing majority From and the DLC promised it would.

Now they are at it again - this time attacking "the antiwar people" while promoting the vice presidential credentials of their former Chairman Senator Bayh.

And who are these "antiwar people"? According to recent polling, it's probably you. Nine out of ten Democrats want the next president to end the war in Iraq, and an astonishing 66% of the American public opposes the war. Al From and his colleagues at the DLC may not like it, but the party that sides with the "antiwar people" sides with the majority of Americans. Not a bad place to be on election day.

Al From is Wrong Again.

We don't have enough votes to get immigration reform passed, either....even though we have a very good majority plus the White House. Rahm, a main spokesman for the DLC, says we don't have the votes for meaningful reform in immigration.

Just hours before President Obama hosted lawmakers for a discussion on immigration at the White House, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel conceded that Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill do not have the votes to pass a comprehensive reform bill.

"If the votes were there, you wouldn't need to have the meeting. You could go to a roll call," Emanuel told reporters during an hour-long breakfast.

And guess what. We "don't have the votes" for real health care reform according to many Democratic senators. At least one person is speaking out, though he is not in national leadership.

The star of the show Thursday was Dean, the former Vermont governor, who took the stage to raucous cheers. Dean fired a shot across the bow to Democratic lawmakers not committed to including the public option as part of healthcare reform.

“We are here; we’re not going away. We voted for change a few months ago. We expect change. And if we don’t get it, there’s going to be more change,” said Dean.

Success on healthcare reform is a must for Democrats, Dean told The Hill. “I think it’s going to be a catastrophic problem for the Democratic Party if they can’t get this bill out.”

Speaking out on health care.

The unfortunate part of this whole thing is that when your party is under the spell of a think tank whose main goal was to neutralize their positions...they would just as soon cater to the other party.

I would say Al From and his cohorts have effectively won the day if we don't have the votes to get real reform on any issue.

[musette_sf]

1. fuck the DLC

and time to up my monthly donation to PDA.

[KakistocracyHater]

38. yes they're just the 'Other Right'

as I've said before, that was my observation & this report cements it rather firmly.

[sasquatch]

49. +2

[depakid]

2. "Time and again, their advice has proven disastrous."

And yet, Democratic "leaders" never seem to learn.

[KakistocracyHater]

39. that's correct & VERY FISHY, why DO they follow

the guys who've been wrong? Are they 'crazy' or do they just act like they are? Either way they are not real leaders & need to be jettisoned.

[Octafish]

83. 'All we'll need is a Democrat in the White House and majorities in the House and Senate.'

And how 'bout that war?

And the other one?

[KakistocracyHater]

85. my fear is that Pakistan will be the Iraq of the 2010s

.

[Echo In Light]

94. All by design. The Dems are a phony "opposition" party that bolster the Right..

...but offers 'Left-ish' lip service to help maintain the ruse that we have "choice" in America. We don't ... at least not in the Name Brands.

[villager]

3. perhaps it is time, at last, for a third party. Let them have their meaningless "Democrats"

who deliver nothing, anymore, to the people of America...

[madfloridian]

4. You can't say that here at DU

it is against the rules. :hi:

But PS...I know how you feel.

[villager]

8. ah, the "rules" -- then, all praise the Democratic party, regardless of policy, affect,

intent, or outcome!

[Kalyke]

22. How about this: we drive the blue dogs out of the Democratic

Party and make them the true "Third Way" (which will go down in so many flames)?

[Dragonfli]

23. LOL - I Think you will get this post then now that you understand WE MUST BE LOYAL

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5937788&mesg_id=5939543

Notice that a poster actually appears to AGREE with the "left-handed" cheer that I led.

Forum mandated unjustifiable praise can be used in many ways, just sayin...

[Touchdown]

17. Fuck that. Drive From and his ilk out of our party.

We're the majority, they're not. Let them form their own party after we purge them out.

How we purge them out is something I haven't come up with yet.:blush:

[Selatius]

24. It will be difficult to do. We have the votes, but Al From is backed by people with wads of cash.

Besides, the strength of the Democratic Party was that it was a big tent party. Party purges are something others do. We would be stooping to their level. The Democratic Party would be healthier if it represented the grassroots instead of the pro-corporate politicians who have seeped into the party over the last 25 years.

[KakistocracyHater]

41. no it's not stooping, it's like taking medicine & getting the worms out

not taking poison, there's a difference. Networking is 'supposed' to be only for the Right as well, why gut yourself? Keep the stooges in & then when they sabotage repeatedly.......then what? What is the civilized thing to do?

[PassingFair]

50. The primary vote for Obama should have been heeded as a warning to them...

even if he was/is one of them, the PERCEPTION
was that we were choosing the alternative.

Do they think that we are NOT WATCHING?

:crazy:

[CrispyQ]

76. But they are purging the party!

They're purging the party of the liberal base when they back corporate sponsors over voters. I'm so fucking disgusted with the party right now. I'm not generally a one issue voter, but if the dems don't hold Bush/Cheney accountable on the torture issue, I don't care what kind of batshit crazy candidate the repubs put up in 2012, I'll stay home on election day.

[grahamhgreen]

92. I'm with you. They can't win without us.

[choie]

5. HOW ABOUT JUST

FUCKING STANDING FOR WHAT IS RIGHT INSTEAD OF WHAT IS POLITICALLY EXPEDIENT, AL YOU SCHMUCK!!!

Okay, I feel a little better..

[Greyhound]

6. So we've arrived at the point where they openly admit that Americans will only have

a "choice" or voting for two Republik Parties. if we simply remove all the difference between the parties, we will keep getting half the votes, then all we have to do is put up a model that is more appealing to the American Idol crowd.

So, do you like red or blue?
:kick: & R

[Warpy]

7. Al From is what's wrong with the party.

All the self-styled leaders are hermetically sealed into a tiny little bubble somewhere inside the I-495 beltway in DC, totally oblivious to the location of the political center, all forming an echo chamber for each other and drowning out the voices of people who make their wishes known in poll after poll after poll.

They have no clue in the world where the political center is and would keep on denying it if they did.

They think people were loath to vote Democratic because of, well, Democratic ideals.

The truth is that people were loath to vote Democratic because the party was trying to be a pale imitation of the Republican Party. Only when a GOP president was so incredibly awful as to make another one unthinkable did people hold their noses and vote Democratic.

The tragedy of Obama seems to be shaping up, that he's been insulated from any opinion save those of the Wall Street and DLC Democrats.

The only hope we have now is that things become so bad that it becomes obvious that the leadership pooh bahs haven't had a clue what they're talking about for the past 40 years. The only hope is that events trump advice and force Obama to do the right things.

It's time for anachronisms like From to stop fighting the hippies and disappear from public life.

[madfloridian]

10. Trouble is that now those types control the committees

that should be giving us health care reform. They control access to the president, and they control messaging.

It was no accident that the huge DC rally for health care reform never made the TV.

[CrispyQ]

79. A few excerpts from chapter 10 of Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men."

The chapter is titled "Democrats, DOA"

Friends, when are we going to stop kidding ourselves? Clinton, and most other contemporary Democrats, did not and will not do what is best for us or the world we live in. We don't pay their bill -- the top 10 percent do, and it is their will that will always be done. I know you already know this; it's just hard to say it because the alternative looks so much like . . . Dick Cheney.

There's an argument, of course, that it's more evil to tell someone you're going to protect them and then rob them than to just go ahead and stick them up. Evil that's out in the open, not hiding in a liberal sheep's clothing, can be much easier to confront & eradicate. Which would you rather have, that roach you see running across the floor, or a house full of invisible termites buried in the wall? The roach may carry disease, but at least you know it's there and can take appropriate action. The termites let you go on thinking you have the most beautiful living room -- until the whole foundation collapses and you wake up in a pile of termite-harvested sawdust.

The point of all this is that our real problem, ultimately, isn't Bush -- it's the Democrats. Bush would be paralyzed if the Democrats started behaving like a true opposition party. Bush wouldn't even be there had one Democrat in the House stood up and challenged the votes of the electoral college. But no one said anything.

[Individualist]

9. DLC's goal

was to destroy opposition to the republican party. They've succeeded almost 100%.

[checks-n-balances]

14. Yes, and here's an example of how it's still being done

Al From, who uses the name "Democrat" to describe himself, giving advice to the party he's supposed to be different from:

"The Republicans have to make people understand that they're not just a right-wing, southern party."

It's pretty obvious to me that this group was formed using a caricature/straw man picture of the Democratic Party from the 1930's to the 1990's (identical view as Republicans).

I also have a question:

Does anyone know if Al Gore is still affiliated with this group that's bent on supporting the Corporate takeover of America and pretty much guaranteeing Democratic losses the next time around?

(Edited for grammar)

[Individualist]

33. As far as I know, Al Gore is no longer affiliated with that vile organization.

[madfloridian]

34. I don't think he is. He went too populist for them in 2000.

And they turned against him.

[checks-n-balances]

35. Thanks - I didn't think so & was hoping not! n/t

[madfloridian]

36. And their final upset with Gore...

was when he endorsed their mortal enemy, Howard Dean.

They did not like that one bit. The DLC had already decided he was not to be the candidate, and Gore crossed them.

The group even held a press conference to announce that Dean was not to be the president. That from a tax exempt group??

The 'D' in DLC Doesn't Stand for Dean

[checks-n-balances]

53. Thanks for the link!

I also appreciate your threads & comments on DU!

[liberation]

78. I knew there was bad blood between Dean and the DLC, esp. Rahmm Emmanuel...

... that is when Obama announced Mr. Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff I starting to lose my "hope" since I did not believe he could sincerely coordinate any meaningful change when he was relying in pro-status quo individuals for many of his cabinet positions. All that about what people say not do and all...

[madfloridian]

88. I agree.

The day he announced the choice of Rahm as chair, we knew which direction we were going.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

11. I am thankful for Dean's continued fight against this "neutral" attitude.

In 2004 in December he warned against trying to be like the other party.

Words to progressive groups from 2004, just as pertinent in 2008.

Here in Washington, it seems that every time we lose an election, there's a consensus reached among decision-makers in the Democratic Party is that the way to win is to be more like Republicans.

I suppose you could call that a philosophy, and this is the name of that philosophy: 'if you don't beat 'em, then join them.'

I'm not gonna make a prediction -- but if we accept that philosophy this time around, in four years from now another Democrat will be standing right here giving this same speech. We cannot win by being "Republican-lite." We've tried it; it does not work.

He said a lot more in that same speech at GWU.

Dean's pre-chairman announcement speech at GWU

When some people say we should change direction, in essence they are arguing that our basic or guiding principles can be altered or modified. They cannot.

On issue after issue, we are where the majority of the American people are. What I want to know is at what point did it become a radical idea to stand up for what we believe?

(Applause)

Fifty years ago, Harry Truman said that "We're not going to get anywhere by trimming or by appeasing. And we ought not to try it."

And we are still making the same mistakes.

Lemme tell you something: there is only one thing that the Republican power brokers want more than for us to lurch to the left -- and that's for us to lurch to the right.

Because what they fear the most is that we may really begin fighting for what we believe -- fiscal responsibility, socially progressive values for which Democrats have always stood and fought.

[cascadiance]

12. We have a huge cancerous tumor that needs some chemotherapy NOWWW!!!

before the cancer becomes incurable, and we need a new body altogether to restart democracy and a new party with...

The DLC MUST GO!

[Canuckistanian]

13. "Neutral" - like a gelding?

Neutral like a capon?

Because that's what the DLC does. It castrates anyone who doesn't toe the center-right line.

And that line is STILL moving rightwards.

[bobbolink]

15. Castration... Ain't It WONDERFUL?!

We either have to get our party back or form a new one.

Two Republican parties does not a Nation make!

[cornermouse]

18. Google ad at the bottom of this page.

Going beyond the fact that I want universal healthcare instead of what Obama is trying to serve up. Why is there an ad from some group who opposes healthcare reform with Obama's face on a dartboard and an dart stuck in his forehead at the bottom of the page?

Oops. Sorry. This question was supposed to be in reply to the original post.

[bobbolink]

20. Because MONEY is more important, even to Dems!!!

Nothing more need be said.... Dems are just as corporate, just as greedy.

Money over principles!

And thanks for the apology, but I'll reply anyway. :hi:

[Ken Burch]

57. We could, in fact, fairly say that the DLC's goal was to lynch the Democratic Party

Castration was usually a central part of that act.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

16. At one time, Republicans were the party of business and Democrats were the party of the people

We now have 2 parties that represent corporate interests over those of individual citizens. When there is a vacuum, nature will fill it. There is now need for a party to represent the interests of the people and one WILL arise. Nature says so. I honestly believe that if healthcare is botched, you'll see one sooner rather than later.

What the DlC and DINOS just never get - if we wanted Republicans we would for for them, you morans!

[madfloridian]

52. You are exactly right.

And that is not healthy for our country.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. The DLC "Third Way" = A one way ticket to Palookaville.

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice."
Thomas Paine

[bobbolink]

21. Excellent quote..... thanks for that! "moderation in principle is always a vice."

:applause:

[rucky]

63. the more I learn about Paine...

the more I love him

[madfloridian]

25. In the WP interview Al From speaks of "post-partisanship"

And it sounds just like a one party system to me.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/06/16/what_republicans_can_learn_fro.html

"The other advice he offered was for Obama to make good on the campaign promise to create a post-partisan politics. Swing voters are especially important in this era of polarized politics, he argued, and Democrats should do nothing to cede the center to the Republicans. Because nothing in politics is permanent.

"Post-partisanship is not going to be a compromise between the two old orthodoxies. It's sort of creating a new politics," From said. "I think we're pretty early to make a judgment as to how the administration's going to go, but I also do think it's important for Democrats to remember that if we aren't careful, it's possible to get pulled back into some of the bad habits that got us in trouble two decades ago."

Sound like the new politics he wants might not stand for much. I would hate to see that happen.

[Jim Sagle]

26. Any moment now, DU's resident five buck an hour DLC hogwash slinger will be along to tell us

how great Al From really is, and how much of our good fortune we owe him.

;)

[madfloridian]

27. LOL

:hi:

[Dragonfli]

30. Good! He can teach those of us on the "extreme left" the value of the pragmatism of greed

and the necessity of corporate fascism.

I missed my lesson yesterday and I am worried about my impending loyalty test.
:yoiks:

[Jim Sagle]

32. Don't worry! A DHS Positivity Squad is on its way to assist your educational endeavors.

Quite shortly the newest utensils of coercive affirmation will be literally at your fingertips. Won't you leave the light on and the front door unlocked? It would be best.

[Dragonfli]

42. I feel blessed and relieved by their concern for the correctness of my thoughts! n/t

[Me.]

44. Surprised That Hasn't Happened Already

Setting us straight and informing us as to our mistaken conclusions

[Senator]

46. They don't work weekends.

No, seriously. DU has a noticeably different character on weekends.

---

[Ken Burch]

58. I'm surprised they don't make the servants post for them on weekends.

n/t.

[LWolf]

28. And that's why the number of people who no longer want

to vote for a Democrat continues to grow.

[Dragonfli]

29. The DLC - Enriching the Democratic Party With Republicans Since 1985!

Something for them to be proud of I suppose, it has after all been an extremely successful false flag operation, Rahm and Al have done remarkably well at installing enough Republicans within the party to effectively take over it's leadership and most of it's ground troops. Kudos I guess would be in order if I were a Machiavellian believer in such tactics.

It appears the Republicans have succeeded in their coup and we no longer have a Democratic Party but rather a Republican party with a Center Right wing and an Extreme Right Wing (who says they don't have a large tent).

I Think it is Finally Time To Form a Second Party
We Should Call It The "Democratic Party" and it Should Represent The People

We need at least two parties for our system to work even marginally well and because we already have a party for the Neo-Barons and Corporations, the obvious vacuum to fill is the group that receives the least amount of representation and should be the focus of this party, I call this demographic the majority of americans.

Now there would appear to be some confusion regarding the name copyright as the Moderate wing of the Republican party now uses this name to promote their Pro-Corporate agenda and politicians.

I believe we should sue for the name when forming this Democratic Party because we are actually Democrats while they are Republicans, if however the Moderate Republicans win this battle we may have to call it something else, the danger here is that this may lead some confused individuals to mistakenly consider this an attempt to form a third party. Still, I am confident that when we publicize our platform and compare the republican's falsely named second wing's actual legislation to it, it will become clear who the Democrats are.

The honest solution to the name problem would be to ask the Republicans to return to their party or to form their own Corporate Moderate third party, but being Machiavellian they would probably prefer to continue to pick up our votes using their false flag operation and false advertising schemes.

Does anyone else agree we need a second party, preferably a Democratic one?

[roamer65]

31. Yet again, more reasons from Al From of why we need a leftist social democratic party.

Fuck this centrist bastard.

[Me.]

37. Not Surprised

Well actually I am that they're finally coming clean. It's been fairly evident though for a long time here on DU if you tried to point it out you were shouted down. I've also wondered over the years how much of those donations made it into From's pockets. What exactly is his salary?

[Jim Sagle]

80. Judging by appearances, most of those contributions go straight down his gullet.

[OhioChick]

40. Screw the DLC. n/t

[sarcasmo]

43. DLC. Do Little Cretins.

[elleng]

45. Related to clinton, eh?

Been this way for HOW LONG?

Never mind; not reading any more. I know who I am.

[femrap]

47. More like neutered. nt

[madfloridian]

48. I was going to use the word "neutralized" at first.

Because in effect that is what they did.

When you don't stand for anything strongly you have become "neutral" "neutralized"...and yes....neutered.

[autorank]

51. He did his job as it was outlined to him.

PPI = Progressive Policy Institute of the DLC
SourceWatch google "Talk:Democratic Leadership Council" (link won't work from DU)

" The PPI's targets are a resplendent mix of Fortune 500 firms and wealthy individuals. They include prominent Republicans such as billionaire Walter Annenberg, Richard Nixon's ambassador to Britain, who made it to the "A list" of top prospects. In some cases, the memo selects who be most successful in soliciting the contribution":

* Bill Clinton was suggested to put the bite on Don Tyson, head of Little Rock-based Tyson Foods, and on mega-investor Warren Buffett, whose net worth is valued at $8.3 billion.

* VP Al Gore, the administration's point man on the information superhighway, was to extract money from John Cooke of the Disney Channel. Cooke's firm has much at stake in federal policy on telecommunications laws and regulations.

* Senator John Breaux--who once announced that his vote could not be bought but "it can be rented"--was to coax funds from John Kluge of Metromedia, a company which Breaux oversees from the communications subcommittee of the Senate Commerce committee. The Louisiana senator, a vigilant ally of agricultural interests, was also to solicit Grover Connell, the country's largest independent sugar and rice trade.

* Senator Sam Nunn was to solicit Ronald Allen, CEO of Atlanta-based Delta Airlines. In September 1994, Nunn lobbied the Transportation Department on Delta's behalf in negotiations with Germany on a new bilateral aviation accord.

[Ken Burch]

59. Will Clinton be asking the Gecko to write a check as well?

After all, the Gecko works for Buffett these days.

[Juche]

54. You can't out bigot the right wing bigots though

Preying on people's anger that non-whites are getting welfare money from the hard work of white people (which is what the welfare arguments tend to boil down to) is not something the dems can win on. People who are offended or sensitive to racial issues are going to trend GOP anyway.

[checks-n-balances]

55. The DLC - Making America Safe for Corporatocracy

These DINOs dismiss out of hand those who are standing up for the interests of lower and middle income people, as well as those who oppose the path of destructive and expensive nationalism we were taken on for the past 8 years.

Obama and the American people need to see these people for who they are. What they stand for is much in conflict with his campaign promises, as well as the things that Mrs. Obama said on the campaign trail.

[Ken Burch]

56. That's right, get rid of everything that makes it "hard to be a Democrat"

Never mind that doing so makes it POINTLESS to be a Democrat, since getting rid of those things makes us indistinguishable from the Republicans.

And btw, Al From could have actually tried listening to real poor people at least once in his life. Had he done so, he'd have found that almost all of them wanted JOBS, almost none of them wanted to be paid for not working. The answer should have been extending the New Deal to those that Democrats from his region insist should be excluded from it. If that had been done(and if the government hadn't ordered redlining in insurance and credit)the areas that were chronically poor would never have become chronically poor.

The retreating segregationists treated Rainbow America(the AA, Latino and working-class white areas of the country)like Hitler wanted Paris treated by his retreating troops: they burned it(they did it economically rather than with actual kerosene, but they burned it nonetheless).

And Al From and the DLC are the true keepers of the segregationist flame.

From may support civil rights in name(although he sounds just like Limbaugh and Buchanan in ranting about affirmative action), but he still works to keep the pointless bitterness and spite alive in the hearts of white southerners.

From and the DLC are also the modern successors to the 19th Century "Bourbon Democrats", using racial code(which is what attacks on "welfare mothers" and the "culture of dependency" were really about, despite the fact that most people on welfare were and are white) and pretending to support the more liberal party but devoting himself, more than anything else, to preventing working-class whites and the Rainbow from making common cause against his class.

[bjobotts]

60. The DLC..."avoid conflict at all costs".Forget 'good' and 'right' etc. Do what brings politic gainal

gain.

[The Wizard]

61. Those who stand for nothing

will fall for anything.
"The only thing you find in the middle of the road are yellow stripes and dead armadillos." (Jim Hightower)
The DLC deliberately ignores the fact that you can't reason with the unreasonable. Reaching across the aisle into the piranha tank results in a bloody stump.

[mdmc]

62. didn't see any of the dlc'ers reply yet

i'll wait until they do..

[BEZERKO]

64. It's time for the progressive/liberal caucus to start

triangulating against the conservative DLC wing of the party. For years they have coordinated with conservative democrats and republicans to beat down the liberal caucus. The time has come to start working with some of our opponents with mutual concerns, love for the land, compassion for the poor and working poor and the sick, and whatever else we can come up with.

[Honeycombe8]

65. Well, duh, dude. That's how ANYONE wins elections.

You certainly DON'T want to put barriers in the way of people voting for you, do you?

You can have it two ways:

1. You tone down the far left (or far right, as the case may be) rhetoric; then you possibly win.

OR

2. You go to the far left (or far right, as the case may be), and you and your group can sit in your room and shout all alone about all your causes, because you just lost the election.

That's how it works. Duh.

But you can still be left or right, and still be true to the party platform, and win. You just can't be too far to the left or right. Why? BECAUSE MOST AMERICANS ARE NOT FAR LEFT OR FAR RIGHT, AND DO NOT WANT THEIR LEADERS TO BE. That's called democracy.

[BEZERKO]

69. That whole left, right, center thing

is toxic to democrats. Think about it, if that's the way you think, and I DO NOT, then in order to get votes, you have to concede in advance. That's the philosophy that led the Democrats into the gutter durring the Clinton years. There is no left, no center, and no right. There are progressives, conservatives, and bi-conceptuals. The best way to win votes is to find areas of mutual concern, such as love of the land and talk to them on that basis. That's the only shot you get. Conceding positions is a losing strategy. What's being taught in college political text books is wrong on this point.

[madfloridian]

74. Or you could simply and firmly stand up for what you believe.

I am not a dude, and I hate being called that.

A party can stand for something or stand for nothing.

And you can rationalize away the standing for nothing in the guise of winning.

[Honeycombe8]

66. Quote from "Primary Colors" movie

Gov. Stanton (Travolta):

This is hardball .
Do you mean you just realized that and can't handle it?
I know you better than that.
This is it, Henry. This is the price you pay to lead.
You don't think Lincoln was a whore before he was president?
He had to tell his stories and smile his back-country grin.
He did that so one day he'd have the opportunity. . . .
. .to stand before the nation and appeal to our better nature.
That's where the bullshit stops.
That's what it's all about.
Making the most of it, doing it the right way.
You know that there are plenty of people in this game. . . .
. . .who don't think that way.
They'll sell their souls. . . .
. .Iie to people, divide them,
play on their fears, for nothing.
Just for the prize.

Henry:
I don't care.
I'm sorry, but I'm not comparing the players.
I don't like the game.
I want to work for something small ,
Like voter registration.

Gov. Stanton:
And after that, who do they vote for?
Who can do this better than me?
Is there anyone else who can win this election. . . .
Who'd do more for people than I would?
who'd think about the folks I care about?
(Oh, shit! They' re here so quick? That driver. I knew it.) Okay. We'll go talk to them together.
Come on.
Don't shake your head, Henry.
We worked so hard together to get here.
It's there for us now.
We can do incredible things
We can change this whole country.
I'm going to win this.
And when I do, we' re going to make history.
Look at me and tell me it's not going to happen.
Look at me and tell me you don't want to be part of it.
Jesus, Henry!
You want me to beg?
I can't do it without you. Don't leave me now.
You' re still with me, aren't you?
Say you are. Say it.
Come on, Henry!
This is ridiculous. You have to be with me!

[madfloridian]

75. Oh yeh, I remember that part.

I thought the movie was brilliant, the book just annoying.

And it is all a game. I don't like Joe Klein, but he got that part right when he wrote the book.

[Ken Burch]

89. Of course, in real life, the person that "Stanton" was based on NEVER stopped the bullshit

And, in office, never appealed to the better angels of our nature.

And the author of that book, the progressive-hating elitist Joe Klein, loved him for keeping the bullshit going.

[craigmatic]

67. DLC has weakened as a think tank organization

Kerry and Obama both got nominated and weren't DLC. Another blow to their organization was the loss of their poster girl, Hillary Clinton to President Obama last year. The left has always had to move this party forward. What the DLC was not just dishonest but it was treasonous to the very voters who support them the most i.e. minorities and unions. Meanwhile the republicans catered to the rich people in their base and so did the DLC the effect was that Bill Clinton got elected but spent the next 8 years screwing over his own base effectively accomplishing nothing. In short Bill was the best republican president we ever had.

[madfloridian]

71. They still totally control the issues. Look at their front page today.

www.dlc.org



And look at the picture at they had their website recently called The New Team.



Their spokespersons are large and in charge of policy in our party.

[robinlynne]

68. You are so right madflor!

[notesdev]

70. An excuse to subordinate the party to business interests

Specifically, the businesses that pay them to do so.

Need I add that the effort was magnificently successful?

[Arugula Latte]

72. Gawd I despise the DLC.

Anyone who posts on this board with a "DLC" logo should be ashamed of herself/himself.

[ananda]

73. Neutral or n e u t e r e d?

As in castrated...

[liberation]

77. Even when they pretend to tell the truth, they can't help themselves and lie:

The DLC is not a centrist organization, they are moderate conservatives.

In any case, if you think about it their political "engineering" revolves around alienating the liberal base of the Dem party, in order to pander to the conservative voters that would rather have a white hot iron rod up their rectums than vote Dem. That is truly a "genius" strategy...The sense of entitlement of these maggots at the DLC, even when they are bonified screw ups, is frightening IMHO. It is borderline psychotic.

I frankly would appreciate if these jackasses would cut the middle man and join the GOP already, good riddance!

[IndianaGreen]

81. What did you expect from the party that was home to Southern segregationists?

A political party can represent the interests of the working class or those of the capitalists, but not both. Those of you that are Christians are well aware of the pitfalls of serving two masters:

"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Luke 16:13

Why are we surprised when our Democratic representatives keep Single Payer off the table, and serve the interests of Health and Pharma industry?

[Octafish]

82. CODE for ''Minority'' and ''Welfare''

Oh, yeah. Peace and Economic Justice.

[LaPera]

84. As I've said over & over - Fuck the corporate DLC!

And people here just didn't get it well look at the corporate clowns like Ralm Emmanuel & others now in power....just on the issue of health care watch these "Democratic" clowns cratering to Republicans and to corporations and not even considering single payer and perhaps even backing away from a public option all together, etc. etc.

Are the just spineless democrats or corporate-owned democrats?

Either one make me sick!

[Name removed]

86. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dragonfli]

90. That IS in effect what he said - If you found the OP misleading it is likely a reading comprehension

problem on your part.

What did you not understand? Perhaps you can find a high school student to explain it to you. :-)

[madfloridian]

93. He admitted they wanted the party not to stand for anything.

I consider what you said a little too personal and very untrue.

The DLC wanted to "neutralize" the party, and they have done a damn fine job.

[nadinbrzezinski]

87. Hmmm have we seen this before? YES

Historically the parties have switched positions every so often

Right now the RNC is falling apart and the moderates are leaving. Either they will end up starting a party that will take progressive causes. see Slavery, whigs and GOP. Or the base will retake the DNC and the RNC refugees will join the DLC to create a new conservative, but fairly moderate party.

This is an interesting time to live at in the politics of this country

[grahamhgreen]

91. Why we MUST have welfare. ALL capitalists systems rely on some percentage of their population being

unemployed, therefore, we must pay these unemployed workers, or they will have to resort to crime to feed their families.

Simple.

[Lerkfish]

95. file under "duh!"

emasculating progressive issues has always been the DLC mantra

[madfloridian]

96. This is why Democrats on TV give "non-answer" answers.

They have been trained for two decades to not cross the opposition.

It boggles the mind.