Al From, chair of the DLC on C-SPAN now

[mdhunter]

A replay from earlier today, I think.

He just said something like, "Say what you will about Michel Moore...I know that a lot of Democratic and party people like it (F/911) but I looked at and said, 'This is terrible, this is not what we need'" yadda yadda.

Question. Who is Al From, why is he chair of the DLC (what are his credentials) and why should I listen to him or that group?

[Us vs Them]

1. Everything he's said so far has made me want to

punch him in the face.

Honestly.

[Khephra]

5. That's how I feel about From every time I watch him

and that's why I refuse to watch him anymore. What he thinks is right for this party is irrelevant to me. Everything he says is the opposite of what we need to do.

[Us vs Them]

7. How can we make him irrelevant?

The fact that C-SPAN is airing this right now could do more harm than good. Every time this man opens his mouth he does a fair job of alienating the types of voters he so desperately wants to attract. The fact that he is on this panel is a disservice to our party.

[Khephra]

20. That's a question that I've been asking for the past four years

The DLC keeps on losing yet they keep on gaining more power and media time. :shrug: I wish I knew the answer.

It's amazing to me that anyone listens to them anymore. The party keeps on doing what the DLC says it should do and we keep on losing--yet the beltway Democrats and mythical conseravative/right-leaning Democrats here and in DC keep on saying that the DLC is the key to winning. I just don't get it. The DLCers keep getting stronger the more the party listens to them. I wish the establishment Democrats would buy a clue.

[Zorra]

21. Answer: Make Howard Dean DNC Chair. n/t

[Khephra]

30. I'm with you on that

But I'm afraid that people like From will spend all their energy trying to destroy Dean's work instead of helping Democrats. From and crew have shown themselves willing to work against the wishes of the grassroots time and time again. I shudder to think of what they might pull should it look like they're being shown the door.

[Radical Activist]

35. Make Dean DLC chair instead

I can't find any public comments Dean ever made about Moore.

[w4rma]

43. Hmm, that is a very interesting idea. (nt)

[Warpy]

2. They are the self-anointed party kingmakers

who not only haven't made any kings for a long time, they can't even make anybody else particularly palatable to an electorare sick of pink tutu Democrats who only care about corporate donations and the love of a few suburban yuppies.

[BamaLefty]

3. You Shouldn't!

[Upfront]

4. Example

Just a good example of typical DLC thinking. I will not belong if the party remains in DLC control.

[ulysses]

6. unless that son of a bitch

is holding up a picture of my ass and kissing it on live television, I'm not interested.

[Skink]

9. On the bright side

CSPAN 2 is rebroadcasting the Conyers hearing. It's always Dems on one channel and repugs on the other.

[Smirking_Chimp]

8. Democratic Loser Commitee

[XemaSab]

10. What a downer

Instead of laying out a broad vision, they're talking about how Hillary can raise money and get women's votes, and whether that can overcome the "northeastern liberal" thing.

I think those hosers have NO IDEA how women feel about women candidates, especially Hillary. For every woman she brings on board, she'll alienate two women.

And HONESTLY, haven't they read Lakoff yet?

By even saying the words "northeastern liberal," they're evoking the republican frame and making c-span watchers salivate for Ahnold's 2008 run.

[Us vs Them]

11. These men are dinosaurs.

I couldn't help waiting, giddy, knowing they would all someday soon become extinct. These people honestly know nothing about the true democratic base. And you're right, they could, IN THE LEAST, benefit from reading a little about framing.

It drives me to drinking, this whole thing.

[BurtWorm]

12. I wouldn't say that about Borosage.

Would you?

[Us vs Them]

14. Regarding framing, yes, I most definitely would.

Every single one of these men made horrendous vocabulary errors, thus further distancing themselves from the people who hold the most power in this party: the activists and the voters. I was appauled.

[BurtWorm]

15. I missed Borosage's framing errors.

I was too busy agreeeing with him about a lot of what he was saying. :shrug:

[Cheswick2.0]

22. He was great

it's the other two schmoos that were all confused.

[XemaSab]

18. Ugh

They mentioned the rank-and-file only in the context of how to suck money out of our pockets.

"We need someone who can motivate the people.....to give us MORE MONEY!"

[Us vs Them]

19. Exactly. That's all they look at us as

If you want to see the future of the fucking Democratic party, it's right here, buddy!

Who do they think is going to be taking over their place and leading us to victory?

[XemaSab]

23. At this point,

I'll lead my own ass to victory.

And if victory is not READILY forthcoming, I'll lead my own ass over to the Green Party.

I'd rather be a loser WITH integrity than a loser WITHOUT integrity.

Fuck fundraising. The money's spent on crappy, ineffective TV ads. One person with the aforementioned elusive integrity talking honestly about what they think and believe is worth millions of dollars of crappy ads.

Do you decide who to vote for based on ads?

Me either.

This is how I decided this year:

Early on, I thought I would be an Edwards supporter. Then, a girl in my Environmental Ethics class had a Dean button. I'd heard the name somewhere, and I asked her about him. I have no recollection of what she said, other than the fact that she was very enthusiastic, but I got on his website and read his policy papers. I LOVED what I saw. To be fair, I went to all the other websites and read their papers, and most of their papers seemed like shallow campaign rhetoric. Like someone at the last minute decided they needed a farm policy, so they got an intern to whip one up. Each of the other candidates had an area or two that he really liked and spent time on, and the rest of it was a place holder.

So Dean became my first choice.

I heard him speak on the radio for the first time in late December, and I was a little alienated by the hoarse sound of his voice. He sounds like a yankee Clinton. I kinda had to overcome some hesitation about his speaking style. He's very blunt about things, and he just comes right out there. I'm not used to that from politicians; I'm more used to lots of numbers and plans and nitty gritty, not the RED MEAT style than Dean favors.

Somewhere in there I became a TRUE BELIEVER.

I had graduated college, I didn't have a job, and I decided to devote some time to ousting Bush. I figured going to Iowa and volunteering for Dean for a few weeks was the ticket.

Later, of course, I voted for Kerry in the general election.

But how much ad money was spent on getting my support?

None.

One two dollar button, an enthusiastic Deaniac, and a comprehensive energy/defense/environment/farm policy, and I was there.

I saw some of his ads in Iowa, and they were really uninspiring. I thought his campaign literature was cookie-cutter. I think phoning voters is a terrible idea.

Basically, I would not have been wooed to this man via standard campaign advertising.

(I have learned to love his speeches, but they're an acquired taste.)

So yeah, treating us as ATM machines is missing the WHOLE picture. And if the DLC/DNC is too stupid to notice, they deserve to be obsolete.

[Us vs Them]

25. Your story sounds almost like mine.

And how we were all so innocent in the primaries.

All of my friends were big Dean fans. They had obviously seen the same enthusiasm for democracy that eventually won me over to the Dean camp. At the time, I, for one, was a supporter of Clark. Not because I liked him, but because I thought he would have the best chance of winning in a race against Bush.

It wasn't until hearing Dean's recent speeches that the man has gained my entire support. I think the story is the same with most Dean fans - once they get it, they really get it. This is the type of leader we need in our party. He embodies the spirit of the activist, the grassroots, and the passion that we all have for how this country should be run.

This nation is not a corporation. Leaders of the DLC are only doing more harm than good. And it will be a cold day in hell before I support anyone the likes of Al From. Greasy, double chin, money grubber, he is.

[XemaSab]

38. Yeah

Those four dudes all looked like a bunch of suits.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

41. And I became a Kucinich supporter after I heard him speak in person

No ads at work there, either, other than a notice in a local progressive paper that must have cost all of $25.

[BurtWorm]

45. Borosage was saying that the money has to come from the grassroots

because if it comes from corporations, that's who the party will owe favors to. He was talking about a power shift in the party away from the big dollar donors to the $5 and $10 donors. You guys misheard him.

Robert Borosage is a good guy. He was at the Voter March to Restore Democracy on May 19, 2001 in DC. (Were you guys?) He writes for the Nation. He's on our side.

[crispini]

13. I am sure that Al From, as an individual

human being, is worthy of our respect and whatnot, but politically speaking, I wouldn't piss on him if he were on fire.

But that's just me. :evilgrin:

[Us vs Them]

16. Thank you for that most humanitarian insight!

Sure, as people they're okay. As 'leaders' of our party, worthy of a nationally televised debate on OUR future, they need to be fired.

[DaveinMD]

17. the one thing I'll agree with all the DLC bashers on

is that Al From is an idiot who needs to fade away.

[flaminbats]

24. who can be a moderate on the Iraqi War?

Conservative..fuck peace..execute the damned Muslims, vengeance for Christ!

Liberals..how does occupying Iraq defend us from terrorism? when will we bring our soldiers home?

Moderates..ok---we can send some troops without having a draft, just keep the ones now signed up in uniform forever! No don't raise taxes to pay for the war..don't borrow money, hmmm surely we can find some middle ground on this, right? Which is more important..the war in Iraq or the war on terrorism...hmm well they both have some good qualities and both have hellish qualities. Should Iraq be an independent democracy or a U.S. corporation? ahhh, maybe it can be both...:puffpiece:

I was proud to call myself moderate in the 90's, but now moderates stand for absolutely nothing

[bvar22]

26. DLC frantically looking for a scapegoat....

...to blame for their own Piss Poor Performance!

Yeah Al, Michael Moore MADE you lose the election!
The DLC did everything right,
and if all of us in the grassroots just give you alot more money then everything will be just peachy
because this disaster was ALL MM's fault.

Damn that MM!

[Julien Sorel]

27. What election did From lose?

I wasn't aware that he ran for anything recently.

[Forkboy]

32. What election did MM lose?

[Julien Sorel]

33. I don't believe anyone accused Moore of losing an election.

Perhaps I missed that somewhere? Perhaps you will bring yourself to the monumental effort of typing out more than one line, to show where someone said Moore lost an election?

[fujiyama]

28. I've never seen From

but I've read several things he's written in the DLC publication and elsewhere.

Personally I dislike the DLC and don't think they're worthy of any sort of leadership position in the party (I also don't see any proven track record of success)...but still I'm willing to listen to any ideas some of them may have (one of my senators is a DLC member, but her vote record is actually quite liberal...and I still have a lot of respect and admiration for KErry)...and I definetely want the party to remain a big tent.

But as for From...Kick him out NOW! I wouldn't be surprised if he's a republican mole. He's an insidious bastard and he's helping split the party. This guy needs to be tossed. The DLC is slowly but surely risking political irrelevance. As the party loses more elections, the less and less likely corporations will give to Democrats. After all, that's the DLC's only goal - raising money from the same corrupt sources as republicans. Plus, Dean and Clark and later Kerry as well, proved that large amounts of cash can be raised through grassroots efforts. Whatever purpose the DLC had, no longer seems to be there. It's time to take the "L" out of DLC. Let them be the "Blue Dog" group like they have in the House...but it's about damn time these people lose the "leadership" status. They sure as hell don't deserve it.

Until the DLC realizes that they can't spit on the base, yet run to them at election time, they will be hated by a LARGE part of the party.

[joanski01]

29. Al From actually sat there and

said We are the party of John Kennedy and Harry Truman, not Michael Moore. What an asshole. Stu Rothenberg was there and he said that would be like blaming Bill O'Reilly if the Republicans lost the election.

Al From is the Founder of the DLC. That's why he's in charge. From is definitely not anti-war. He once told Pat Buchanan that the Dems weren't having an anti-war candidate, and that Buchanan could go ahead and run on that.

Nope. No more money to the DNC.

[Q]

31. So From finally found his scapegoat?

Strange that it's the same scapegoat that the GOPers use to blame for their own failures.

[goclark]

34. What is the difference

between the DLC and the DNC?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. The Difference

Is The DNC is the Democratic National Committee and the DLC is the Democratic Leadership Committe...


The DNC represents the entire party... The DLC is an interest group that represents a faction within the party....

[goclark]

39. Thanks a lot

I read that the DLC is a "think tank."

Started by Clinton.

How have they helped us to get candidates elected since Clinton?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

37. The DLC is to the Democratic Party what arsenic is to good health.

A bunch of moderate Republicans looking for a home in the Democratic Party. Alas, the Democrats have rented them room because they pay so well.

[greenohio]

40. great another opportunity to trash Fientien, Dodd and the rest of the DLC

You gotta love those who just attack attack attack fellow dems.

[Khephra]

42. I'm sorry to tell you this

But the DLC drew the first inter-party blood by attacking its own liberal base and blaming the liberals in the party for the losses in 2000, 2002, and 2004. Most of us would have never known about From and crew if it hadn't been for those attacks.

Frankly, I don't attack anyone within the party until they attack my beliefs. From and crew have done it time and time again. They drew the first blood, not anyone on this board.

Oh, and by the way...why does From and crew get the ability to attack the left and people like Moore but should any of us say anything about the DLC then we're the bashers? Turnabout is fucking fair play.

[w4rma]

44. These DLC idiots spent the majority of the primary painting Dean as some

sort of left-wing fringe whacko, for the two reasons that he opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq (and now you see how that adventure into Iraq is going... very badly) and that they were supporting Lieberman. The DLC is poison inside the Party.

The DLC leadership has NO new ideas. Their mantra is to blame liberals and the Democratic base (who consider these people worthless) for anything and everything wrong with the Party.