Third Way warning about liberals again. Says Obama voters were moderates and centrists.

[madfloridian]

That's exactly what DLC used to do. They used to warn the party about pandering to us liberals. Now that the Third Way has taken the place of the DLC, they are doing the same.

After elections we win, they call for bipartisan. They call for the party to be wary of liberals.

Democratic base wants compromise

In post-election polling by Third Way, and confirmed by national exit polls, the plurality of those who pulled the lever for President Barack Obama were not liberals but self-described moderates. In fact, 56 percent of those who voted for the president defined their own ideology as either moderate or conservative. A supermajority of Obama voters said they wanted the president to be more moderate or conservative in his second term compared with his first. And overwhelmingly, they wanted the president and members of Congress from both parties to compromise rather than stand their ground. In fact, the most unanimously supported statement in the post-election poll of 800 Obama voters was this: “Democrats and Republicans both need to make real compromises to come to an agreement on fixing the deficit.” A full 96 percent agreed with that statement.

I so disagree. It took plenty of us liberals voting for Obama to guarantee victory. I always describe myself as moderate when I take a poll, many others do also.

The DLC used to call us fringe activists for being against the Iraq invasion. There's something about liberals that really upsets the think tanks and the party leaders.

Just like Bob and Evelyn, these voters worry about our nation’s fiscal situation — 7 in 10 said the federal deficit was a major problem — and they think we need to fix it in a balanced way. Eighty-two percent thought both spending cuts and tax increases should be involved (only 5 percent chose raising taxes alone). They want Social Security and Medicare to be protected, but they also think the programs have major financial problems that need to be fixed. Eight in 10 Obama voters say it would be better for the future of the country if Congress and the president made changes to Social Security and Medicare — only 19 percent say it would be better to leave them alone. They want to see Congress and the president work together across the aisle to put these programs on a sustainable path, so that the protections will be there for themselves and future generations.

I don't believe that either. Check out this recent poll from The Hill.

Poll from The Hill

High numbers of both Republicans and Democrats said they would oppose cuts to social programs: 62 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats opposed cutting Medicare and Social Security, while just 29 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of Democrats supported potential cuts in those areas.

The party needs its left, its liberals. They should embrace them.

[msongs]

1. the ruling democrats are pushing the republican's agenda for them, slightly modified. center right

dems rule the roost. BTW did you hear the new"jobs program" Oh sorry, there isnt one, only cutting and austerity.

[graham4anything]

7. I guess you forgot the house is republican and has been.

and the senate never had a super majority, as Al Franken was not sworn in for what, 9 months after the election was over.

Time plays tricks on the memory

BTW, the house finances things.

and the definition of some here as to liberal is wrong.
That version is a 100% or nothing tear it down and get nothing from wanting more than humanly possible.

Sure, if President Obama was a dictator it would be easy.

But go ahead and protest and sit home like Ralph Nader got those people to do in 2000,
and voila, made it very easy to whine for 8 years.
Ralphie got 100% of what he wanted (and he was financed and paid for, whether Ralph knew or didn't know, by the repulibcans. Aren't they proud?

President Obama is as liberal as the Kennedy's were.

And of course, LBJ was the single most liberal president along with Jimmy Carter, and guess what they had haters and both were taken down by inner-party fracture.

How did jettising Jimmy do for those protesters? Reagan sure gave them everything they wanted, right?
Same with Nixon.

actions=consequences

I myself am looking for a Gun free America and also a 3rd party free America.
Never again after 2000 should a 3rd party ever be viable.

And the fans that voted unconditionally for President Obama secured the election in 2008 and 2012.

BTW, ask not what President Obama would do for you,
ask What are you doing to help President Obama move forward.
Threatening to leave the party and go elsewhere, yeah, that's the ticket. Sure thing.

The only way to stop the repubilcans from doing nothing and moving backward is
100% democratic ticket (except in the very rare times the democratic candidate knowingly will not win and someone else will caucus with them) up and down the ticket in 2014.

And then voting for the continuation in 2016.

The revolution was won in 2008.
Voting Jeb back in really will get you all forward movement, (NO IT WON'T, I am being sarcastic, obviously.)

BTW, Elizabeth Warren is on the same team as Hillary Clinton. Both on Team Obama.
And Elizabeth will endorse Hillary in the general election of 2016.
And Bernie Sanders got into office because the democratic team pushed him and financed him heavily (and Bernie and Chuck Schumer are longtime Brooklyn friends.)
They know when their vote is a must, they vote with the President.
Bernie is also part of Team Obama (as the kiddies would say).

[theKed]

14. By his own admission

President Obama would have been a Republican 30 years ago. "As liberal as the Kennedys" my ass.

[graham4anything]

19. Did you know JFK and Bobby wiretapped Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a fact.

I don't hold it against them all these years later,but a fact is a fact.
JFK and Bobby were great, however, JFK only had a couple of years and Bobby had zero years in office (he could have had 8 had he waited til 1972 and 1976 and the democratic party didn't jettison LBJ which started the whole shebang of bad things.

And the legendary great, LBJ was far to the left of JFK. (and he brought in the South that in 1968 racist Wallace stole back. (HHH would almost certainly have been the nominee in 1968 no matter if Bobby was in the race or not, another fact almost forgotten in the fog these days).

Much as I love Bobby, he could have been President in 1972 and 1976.

Normally I do not respond to your posts, but I can't let this misspeak lay without response.

President Obama's meaning obviously of the statement you fracture above is totally the opposite
He is saying that those who were a 1968 republican is a democratic person today

Much like the legendary John V. Lindsay, the single greatest liberal populist of all time,
villified like later Jim Florio was(because you need to want higher taxes to actually be a liberal like I do and like Jim did, because the only way to get things built is to have higher taxes

So tell me which republican will allow higher taxes, which indeed is what is needed.

You were a fan of Jim Florio and John V. Lindsay, correct? Did you vote for JVL in the 1972 primary? More people voted for him than George McGovern.

btw, I still wear Keds. Never took them off.Alot better than Converse.

and war is not the only issue. Far from it. There are 100s of issues, alot more important than foreign stuff IMHO

[bvar22]

35. ?

[mazzarro]

47. They are bought and paid for.

They only care for themselves and no one else.

[TheKentuckian]

3. Well...they want something they can't negotiate with the TeaPubliKlans or something

they cannot use the TeaPubliKlans to accomplish without showing their hand entirely and risk too much.

Make them choose and show who they are for true.

[MrSlayer]

4. There are very obvious and simple solutions to our problems.

But they are never even discussed. And we must stop pretending that we do not know why.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

11. When I read that title, I thought of H. L. Mencken

Who wrote, "there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong. "

[ljm2002]

25. Then again there's Upton Sinclair...

...who said “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

[dtom67]

5. the left needs a new party or

Better yet a new alternative to the corporate- owned political system all together. Will not happen, though. The population is firmly under control of the media.
It is actually pretty funny to see so many here beg for their freedoms to be taken away, their social saftey nets destroyed, and their standard of living reduced.

Not really ......

[sabrina 1]

24. That may happen, it wouldn't be the first time in history. What the left needs is

for the Right wingers in OUR party to go back to their own party.

If they do not like the 'left' which represents on issues, a majority of Americans then they do not belong in this party.

I am hoping with all we have learned over the past decades, that we can start replacing the infiltrators in our Party with actual Democrats, starting in 2014. We know a lot more now than we did a few years ago. One most important thing we know is that we need to choose and back our own candidates. That means sending any money we have directly to those candidates, working for them, not sending money to the party which uses it to back Third Way candidates over Progressives every time there is a choice.

We have the power, we just have to use it. I don't want a new party, I want the Right Wingers in our party to be shown the door so we can get on with the business of working for the people. They HAVE a party already.

[eShirl]

6. what!

[on point]

8. The Liberal position IS the Centrist position. The DLC, 3rd way etc are Right of center!!

[LWolf]

21. No.

There are still Democrats who are left of center.

Although you are correct that the neoliberals, whatever label they are living under, are to the right of center.

[Scuba]

9. Then show them this ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022438584

[madfloridian]

17. That's true.

There is just a very loud extremist, well-funded minority that made itself heard...tea party types. Money talks.

[blkmusclmachine]

10. Turd Way, New Democrats, DLC or whatever name they're going by this month,

The real name for this group is: Grand Old Party

[hobbit709]

12. Turd Way can go suck eggs.

[forestpath]

13. From this liberal to the "Third Way": FUCK YOU.

[reformist2]

15. Sorry moderates, if you don't want a liberal, get your own candidate!

Barack Obama made it quite clear what he stood for - people voted to keep him, he's absolutely entitled to pursue his liberal agenda.

[progressoid]

20. Actually, they did get one.

In a lot of ways he is a moderate.

Even the President admits it.

[kenny blankenship]

34. That's just shit he says to get elected

it has nothing to do with what he plans to accomplish in office.

[sendero]

16. The "Thrid Way".....

.... (which is about as centrist as Mussolini) is more a danger to our future than any Republican. They are a wolf in sheep's clothing.

[pampango]

18. Part of the problem is that Democrats/liberals are more open to compromise than republicans/

conservatives which can be a bad thing.

A Pew poll taken in January:


The most resistant to compromise were conservative republicans and those who agree with the tea party. The most open to compromise were liberal Democrats and 'lean Democratic' independents.

The libertarian and fundamentalist wings of the GOP have been quite 'successful' at forcing their party to resist compromise and stick to their principles (such as they are) but that 'success' resulted in a disaster for them in last year's election. Their experiment with right wing 'purity' over the past several years has proven to be an electoral failure. Their libertarians/fundamentalists cannot win without appealing to 'moderates', 'centrists' or 'independents'.


Democrats hold a substantial edge in support for protecting Social Security and Medicare. There is not reason for them to compromise on those issues, though the public may see compromise as a good thing on other issues.


Amazing how the partisan gap has widened in the last 60 years.

[Doctor_J]

28. Well, this liberal is fed up with this president's "compromise"

which is actually surrender.

[pampango]

45. I agree that he should resist 'compromise' but when he reads these polls he must wonder

what Democrats and liberals want him to do.

He has the moral high ground and public support in defending Social Security, Medicare and how to deal with the deficit. He should not forget this. The Democratic/liberal support for 'compromise' exhibited in these poll results should be reserved for other issues.

[Puzzledtraveller]

22. What's a liberal anymore anyway?

With all the quasi totalitarian stances I see from some posters here, of whom many of us know and I will not name them. I am beginning to wonder.

[Doctor_J]

30. The DLC has also adopted "liberal" as a swear word

just like Fox Nation and GlenBeckistan

[Generic Other]

23. I don't know a single person who believes Obama was too liberal

What a crock. Those are rightwing talking points. Not that surprising coming from the Taliban wing of the Democratic party.

[woo me with science]

26. Corporate Orwellian propaganda.

Like Limbaugh saying Democrats have "won," when we are on the verge of a major assault on Social Security, and the policy agenda in Washington looks like a Heritage Foundation wet dream.

[Doctor_J]

27. The president is more conservative than 3/4 of the electorate

High numbers of both Republicans and Democrats said they would oppose cuts to social programs: 62 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats opposed cutting Medicare and Social Security, while just 29 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of Democrats supported potential cuts in those areas.

Yet the president is proposing such cuts.

[Doctor_J]

29. Since they disagree with our politics, they don't really care about our votes

The bizarre part is that they really give us nothing in the way of concessions. Their entire sales pitch to liberals (meaning people who want clean water & air, good roads & other public facilities, quality, affordable education to anyone who wants it, strong social safety net, safe jobs that pay decent wage, and and end to torture and wars) consists of, "Fine - vote for Romney if you don't like it". As Chris Hedges accurately puts it, our main purpose is to take the blame when their disastrous policies result in electoral catastrophes.

[MineralMan]

31. Many who voted for him WERE Moderates and Centrists

Does anyone doubt that?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022445108

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. 3rd Way vs Republicans. Like choosing between arsenic and cyanide.

While being assured that one is "not as bad" as the other.

[Marr]

33. Third Way is to DLC as Superlative CPI is to Chained CPI.

It's just rebranding for something unpopular.

[nyquil_man]

36. Only about half of Obama's vote came from moderates and centrists.

You can't win an election with 25.5% of the vote.

[Dawson Leery]

37. "Third way" = Corporatist

[woo me with science]

38. BUT THE DLC IS DEAD!!!!1111!!!

Deep corporate pockets are responsible for the Third Way. It in no way represents grass roots America or the vast majority of voters.

We marinate in propaganda, because Wall Street has deep, deep pockets (filled directly from ours...).

[madfloridian]

39. Yes, Wall Street's deep pockets.

That's what it is about.

[hay rick]

43. Third Way is Wall Street's version of the Democratic Party.

I detailed the Wall Street connection here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021845455

[GeorgeGist]

40. Obama said something about being ...

a moderate Republican.

[madfloridian]

41. Wow, I missed Marcus' DKos post on this. Well said.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/22/1181169/-Third-Way-fantasizes-that-Democrats-want-a-more-conservative-Obama

"Of course, the issue never has been whether people want compromise or not. Compromise, in the abstract, is good. Ask them what they're willing to give away to an unpopular GOP beholden to an unpopular tea party and promoting unpopular issues and the equation is suddenly different. Ask them about specific spending cuts, and their tone immediately changes. That's why even Republicans are afraid to suggest specific cuts.

Fact is, "moderates" are mostly liberals who shy from the label after seeing it demonized for decades. Pew has done fantastic work drilling into the Democratic and Republican bases with their Political Typology project:

...These are Wall Street asshole corporatist Democrats (which literally dominate Third Way). They are correct on social issues, very very wrong on economic ones. And how big are they as a group? Not big. Pew pegs them at 14 percent of registered voters. That doesn't mean they're irrelevant! We don't get to 50 percent without these guys—a reason that social issues played so prominently last year (when, ironically, it was Republicans who wanted to ignore them). But Third Way should dispense with the fantasies about being "the base," because they are but a sliver of it."

[socialist_n_TN]

44. That highlighted section is something I've been saying for, literally, YEARS........

Don't ask about "self identification", ask about stands on issues. The only way the percentages on issues work is if ALMOST EVERY FUCKING PERSON WHO CALLS THEMSELVES "MODERATE" SUPPORTS THE MORE LEFT POSITION! Moderates are liberals who don't self identify as liberal.

[Bluenorthwest]

42. Those Third Way types with their 'both Parties are equally to blame' routine

They are half Republican, all bullshit.

[Rex]

46. +1

What you said times a million.