Denver Post article implies DLC and AL From are the Democratic Party.

[madfloridian]

At least it surely sounds that way to me. Al From and the DLC are meeting in Denver in July to set the party agenda. It does not sound like the reporter knows what the DLC is...except to say it is trying to make the party more centrist. The DLC leaders quoted do not appear to correct the mistaken impression that they are part of the Democratic party. They never say they are a think tank.

It is the DLC holding the conference in July, NOT the DNC. The wrong impression is given and not corrected. The DNC is the party, the DLC is a think tank which has decided to form the agenda based on National Security. It is affiliated with The Third Way and the PPI.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3751006

"Dems plan strategy summit in Denver
By Christopher N. Osher
Denver Post Staff Writer

The Democratic Party on Tuesday announced plans to hold a national strategizing session in Denver this summer, boosting hopes that the city also will be able to snag the party's 2008 convention.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff appeared with Democratic Leadership Council founder Al From to announce that the DLC will hold its annual "national conversation" in Denver on July 22-24. From, whose organization has sought to steer the Democratic Party to more centrist positions, also said Denver would be a logical choice for the Democratic Party's national convention.

He said that in coming months, the DLC plans to release strategies that will help shape an agenda for Democratic congressional and gubernatorial candidates. Those strategies will be at the center of discussions during the DLC event in Denver, he said.

"We believe that this 2006 national conversation comes at a critical time for our party and our country," From said. "America is in great need of visionary leadership, and we intend to show here that the Democratic Party will supply it."

Now if you were not at all conversant with party groups like the DNC under Howard Dean, the DSCC under Schumer, and DCCC under Rahm Emanuel....wouldn't you perhaps just assume this is the party itself?

Al From, you are not my leader. I do not consider you have the right to be setting policy.

[Bluzmann57]

1. I think the Democrats need to be more "centrist"

At least some of them. There are too many right leaning Dems who are not representing me and millions of others with similar thoughts and ideas.

[madfloridian]

2. They are NOT the party. They are a think tank controlling the agenda.

They are misrepresenting or allowing themselves to be mispresented as the party itself.

They are not even a part of the party.

This has nothing to do with centrist or whatever, it has to do with not being honest about what your group is.

[Guaranteed]

4. Mad, I've noticed that you don't read people's posts

all the way through, sometimes.

Try that one again.

[madfloridian]

8. Not sure what you mean, but it missed the point I made.

The DLC are mispresenting themselves. That is the only point I am making, not about centrism, not about liberalism.

I did not misread, I just wanted to keep this on point.

[madfloridian]

10. BTW, I did get what you meant.

They are, many of them, far right of centrist. I was just trying not to get into that part about that. Kind of expecting bad stuff from posting this, but I feel it is important to point out the Denver Post for one thinks its the party.

The DLC is just wrong on this. They are not the party.

[Bluzmann57]

13. Ah hell, no problem

I was actually trying to be snarky while still making a point of some kind. Screw the DLC; and my Governor (Vilsack) is actually one of them. I wasn't bitching. Hope you Floridians are rid of Jebbie real soon. But then I hope he retires to private life in Thailand or somewhere.

[madfloridian]

22. November will bring interesting things, I hope.

I am not sure a Dem can win the governorship, but Davis is running pretty close. He is very much a part of New Dems, though. His stances on several issues bother me.

[Guaranteed]

3. Excellent catch. I'd say that whoever wrote that

article needs to get beaten, hard.

[The Magistrate]

5. He Does Indeed, Sir

That is ignorance even beyond what can be expected of a journalist....

[Mass]

9. deleted

[heartofthesiskiyou]

18. You be right on that

I live in Oregon now for the last six months, but I've spent the last 14 years in Boulder, Colorado and I'm going to "let them know".

[madfloridian]

6. Also someone help me with some figures here....

I don't have attendance numbers for other Democratic events, but this sounds a little overboard to me:

"The National Conversation is the Democratic Leadership Council's (DLC) annual meeting, and this year's event will be the biggest Democratic gathering of party officials from all levels of government in 2006, according to the council."

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/04/24/daily24.html

And I just hate it when they use this "liberal" mantra to paint us as fringe so they can keep on with the national security stuff and make us look bad, even though we support being secure.

"The DLC was started by Democrats concerned that the party's traditional liberalism relegated it to "permanent minority status," according to Wikipedia.com. It advocates conservative economic policies -- including less government regulation and free trade -- that often conflict with those of longtime Democratic supporters, especially labor unions."

[Guaranteed]

7. I'd also guess that that would be incorrect.

But, I could be wrong.

[madfloridian]

11. Weren't there over 400 at the DNC meeting in Phoenix last fall?

I thought they were party leaders as well. Maybe the DLC only considers some to be leaders. Bet the 427 DNC members and state party leaders consider themselves important as well.

[Guaranteed]

12. They said "in 2006"...but I'm thinking along

the same lines as you.

[madfloridian]

15. I think over 400 in New Orleans in April this year for the DNC meeting.

It was not presidential candidates but real leaders of the party from the ground up.

I would say several hundred there in New Orleans, probably. Goes to definition of leader.

They did 500 hours of activism in one of the most damaged areas.

Democratic Flickr has pictures from there on pages 2 and 3.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/48849913@N00/pool/page2/

[paulk]

14. just bad journalism - email the guy!

other than that, I think this is great!

If having the DLC here helps get the convention in 2008, I'm all for it!

[madfloridian]

16. I think we do have "visionary leadership" in the DNC.

I don't think Al From should have allowed this to happen. He should not talk or allow others to speak as though the DLC were part of the party. That is just wrong.

[paulk]

46. I doubt al from had anything to do with this

the staff reporter who wrote this covers mostly local news.

[heartofthesiskiyou]

17. It might be just me but

I think they need to be protested by Unions, environmetalist, progressives, Constitutional Democrats, and a host of others that are offended at this group perpitrating itself upon the country to manipulate the public to think this groups represents what the true majority of the party stands for. These folks are going to make the public believe we are for nothing more then what the republicans stand for as they support most of what the repukes support. That might in fact get there attention that they are going to have due something for the makority of the democratic party.

In the "RIFT" thread I posted:

For too long the progressive side of the isle has taken it up the pooper. I am little burned out on 30+ years of this garbage being pedaled that we need to just shut up and work for the party.

People like Fienstien, Lieberman, et al will not take me for granted any longer. A more proper position they should be taking is thier going to have to work for and earn my support. If the dems aren't interested in taking back the congress then so be it. How many times can we tell them get some spine? Keep on fighting us instead of working FOR us is a prescription for their final demise and will force us to go green or some other place to get the representation we want and deserve. As far as I can see they don't want our support.

[madfloridian]

19. The war, the privatization of Social Security, the "abortion grays"...

are the 3 main issues I have with this group. Their language in womens' right is being heard all over the party now...safe, legal, rare. My priorities would just be safe, legal...and the rest would probably take care of itself. I think the rare is pandering to the right, I think when any of them use that word that is what they are doing.

They say in their own words that they want to partially privatize Social Security on the "road to full privatization."

And the really huge issue is this Iraq war they supported, and still do. They put down anti-war activists, call us fringe. They use national security as a wedge issue to divide all of us.

They talk down to us as though we were children, and I think it is done to be divisive and discourage us.

Al From should not be speaking as an official voice of the Democrats at all.

You are right, you know. They do not want us, the people in the party, to be supportive of them. They think they don't need us, they think us irrelevant.

I would be so willing to meet halfway, but they would never do that. The war is just as much a part of their agenda as it is that of the GOP.

[MrBenchley]

20. They got a better claim on the title than most....

And they will be bringing a lot of elected officials into Denver to strategize.....

"I do not consider you have the right to be setting policy. "
Feel free to plug your own group, then. but the plain fact is that not even the far left here gives a shit about what the PDa has to say on any issue.

[madfloridian]

21. I am not PDA. Al From is allowing them to say the DLC group....

is part of the Democratic party. That is just not true. They are not a part of the party. They are a 501 that is not even supposed to be supporting candidates...Rosenberg's New Dem PAC does that.

They can set forth all the agenda they want to, but they must stop claiming they are Democratic Party.

You are being very insulting to PDA. I don't belong to that group, and I do belong to DFA.

That is exactly why I say I think the DLC wants to divide us. It is being done very effectively here. It is often done in an insulting manner, though some do try to build some bridges.

They are purely and simply a think tank. They are not even a liberal think tank. I think in my mind they have already formed a 3rd party without the rest of us....and they are openly saying so now.

Benchley, I am secure enough in who I am and what I believe to not let it bother me that you made comments like that.

[madfloridian]

23. But if I were PDA, I would jump all over you for that statement.

I would not let you get away with that.

"Feel free to plug your own group, then. but the plain fact is that not even the far left here gives a shit about what the PDa has to say on any issue."

[MrBenchley]

28. As if I give a shit....

And I suggest you search for the last time there was a thread on here that plugged some initiative or proposal by the PDA....

The far left is too busy trying to start a lynch mob to actually bother with the PDA.....and the PDA itself has nothing but a bunch of wishy-washy blah to sell.....

[MrBenchley]

24. Like I said, they got a better claim on the title than most....

"They are not a part of the party."
Sez you. I think most people (including most democrats) would disagree.

"You are being very insulting to PDA."
Tough titty. Not even the progressive purists here seem to give a shit about what PDA has to say, and with good reason. As for DFA, it's so nice that Howard Dean got his brother a job.

"I think in my mind they have already formed a 3rd party without the rest of us...."
In honor of your earlier post, I'm not even going to jump on any of the obvious straight lines there....but I suspect that a lot more people consider Tim Kaine, Tom Vilsack, Hillary Clinton and the rest of the DLC as Democrats, as do I, for excellent reasons.

[madfloridian]

26. The DLC is not a part of the party.

Al From is not a party leader, though he pretends to be. Will Marshall, Bruce Reed, Marshall Wittmann, others who are DLC leaders may or may not be members of the party...I think Wittmann, the Bull Moose, brags he is not a member.

The congressional people in the DLC are Democrats, and I respect many of them very much.

But some are not listening to the people of the party. They simply are not paying attention. They have an agenda that is above and beyond us...it just does not matter what we members of the Democratic party want. Their agenda is set, and it does not change. The agenda and the policy are set.

The DLC as a group is not a part of the party. They never have been. They are a think tank formed to get money from business so they did not have to depend on the traditional groups in the party.

I never knew who they were until 2003 when they started sending out memos calling people like me fringe activists.

[MrBenchley]

27. They're a lot more part of the party than the far left

"They simply are not paying attention. "
Why should they? Even the progressives don't pay attention to their own group.

[heartofthesiskiyou]

29. You are correct

and that is why I think they should be protested. Being a Coloradoan with knowledge of the progressives there, I think 25,000-30,000 showing up is entirely possible (and maybe more). I think it would make a clear national statement. Hell it would be important enough statement that I would seriously consider traveling all the way from Oregon. The NSA thing and CIA confirmation has pushed me over the edge. If these ASSHOLES can't even stand-up to the destruction of the Constitution, they are no good to me any more. It is only lightly possible that I could vote for most any of them, but only if I were to see some backbone between now and Nov. To me it's shit or get off the pot time. I just can't go that far toward the neocomms. They're going to have to come my way for a change.

[paulk]

47. Colorado has more elected DLC members than any other state.

and guess what? Several of the votes against your "cia" confirmation came from .....

DLC members!

Imagine that!



-------------


30,000 people are going to come to Denver to protest the DLC?

:rofl:

[Capn Sunshine]

30. No argument regarding Democrats Vilsack, Clinton et al

except to point out that the DLC is no more "centrist " than Pat Robertson is "mainstream Christian."

There is an eerie similarity as both purport to own a position that is far removed from their actual locale.

You may call yourself centrist until you're blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is you're simply RIGHT WING.

Not that there's anything wrong with that; but truly, the goals and core values of the party have continued to diverge away from the DLC thought path.

The main reason? It blew up the party before. : ANTIWAR.

Seriously, who was right during the Vietnam conflict? The pro-war wing of the party? I'm pretty sure it was the antiwar wing. How does that differ today? Do you honestly believe everything is going to be all right in Iraq?

If the belief that Iraq was going swimmingly was main stream, perhaps 65% of Americans would see things differently.

But they don't.

So, tell me again how "mainstream " the DLC is.

[MrBenchley]

32. The DLC is mainstream...get over it.

"If the belief that Iraq was going swimmingly was main stream, perhaps 65% of Americans would see things differently."
And if horseshit was horseshoes you'd be one lucky fuck.

But it's telling that you have to misrepresent what the DLC says so you can even pretend to have a point.

[madfloridian]

34. Capn is DLC, Mr. Benchley.

There are many kinds of DLCers. Some I admire, some I do not.

[The Magistrate]

36. Then It Would Seem To Me, Ma'am

That it makes a poor target for demonization and incessant assault, on your own account. When levelling flat attacks at "the D.L.C.", you must necessarily be assailing persons you say you admire. The fact is, this organization is a pretty por target for all the vitriol directed at it here: it does not have nearly the popwer ascribed to it, nor is it a monolithic group of interchangeable zealots.

[madfloridian]

37. I did not direct vitriol toward the group.

I posted quite clearly that the reporter was misrepresenting who they were. They are not part of the Democratic party as the DLC...they just are not. From went on to insist he was going to give the party leadership. We already have that.

I admire many of them, many of them I do not admire. People like Capn I do admire...others I don't.

I have a feeling that many of the members are just fine, and that it is the leaders who started out with other purposes than the best interests of the people of the party.

You should direct your anger toward those who do post outrageous criticisms of them. My post was quite fair.

[The Magistrate]

38. There Is No Anger On My Part, Ma'am

Most of my comment was intended generally; you will doubtless agree there is a good deal of vitriolic commentary directed at the organization here, not necessarily by yourself. My own view of the D.L.C. is a pretty neutral one, it has good points and bad points.

[madfloridian]

40. I agree some of it is unjustified.

I think many are just fine. It is the war, the "abortion grays", and the privatization of Social Security, the stance of many about vouchers, that are the points that bother me the most.

There has been no lessening of their overall support for a war that was unjust, has been cruel, and was unnecessary. That is the main issue.

[The Magistrate]

42. Always A Pleasure, Ma'am, To Find Points Of Agreement With You

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

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

[MrBenchley]

45. Making your rant even sillier than before...

[madfloridian]

50. The DLC is not mainstream...they just say they are.

There are a few of them who are not all wrapped up in the national security stuff and spreading Democracy. I admire many of the members.

It is not a mainstream group, was not formed to be one. In fact in the words of Simon Rosenberg, one of the founders, it was formed so they could not be dependent on the traditional constituents.

I can say anything about myself, but that does make it true.

Rosenberg's words:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020805/borosage20020726

Here are just a few of the issues the DLC gets wrong:

1. At a time when the public thinks big business has too much influence in Washington, the DLC's mission is to increase the influence of business in the Democratic Party. Or as Simon Rosenberg, head of the DLC's corporate-funded political action committee, the New Democrat Network, put it, "We're trying to raise money to help them lessen their reliance on traditional interest groups in the Democratic Party."

[MrBenchley]

52. Yeah, the Nation would know (snicker)

The DLC is mainstream....

[madfloridian]

53. Well, actually that was written by Bob Borosage of.....

Campaign for America's Future.

www.ourfuture.org

They are pretty good guys.

[MrBenchley]

54. And published in the far far left Nation

because they wanted to be centrist...(snicker)

"They are pretty good guys. "
But no more centrist than they are mint-flavored. Even if you agree with their goals, there's no reason to delude yourself.

[madfloridian]

55. These thoughts come to mind when I read your posts....

that the DLC wants to divide us. They want to make us angry, they go out of their way to make fun of us just as they did during the 04 primary.

The desired effect of the anger is to make us not care and allow them to proceed with the hawkish agenda of spreading Democracy throughout the middle east even if it has to be done at gunpoint. I don't know if it is the oil, or the Democracy, or the power...it does not matter.

We have no right to the Middle East. It is not our land, it is their land.

You don't make me angry anymore. I know the game now, and I won't be sidetracked from the goals I have.

[MrBenchley]

56. And that's why you've started yet ANOTHER silly thread....

It's all the DLC's fault that you're in a rage and spouting nonsense....

"they go out of their way to make fun of us"
Not so....you make it too easy.

[LincolnMcGrath]

57. The evolution of folklore.

The DLC is mainstream? :rofl:

DU's most famous hostile waffler seems to have completely lost his mind.

[madfloridian]

35. Correct about the main problem being their support for the war.

It was what called attention to them in the first place, when many of us never knew they existed. When someone calls me fringe, I learn more about them quickly. I am about as far from fringe as anyone could get.

[Hawkeye-X]

39. ...and that comes from a DLC'er (or ex-DLC'er) that I TRULY respect.

Yes, From has hijacked the DLC agenda and made it his own right-wing bullshit. I know you didn't sign up for that kind of crap, and as a bundler for many Democratic candidates, I know you don't usually put up with this crap. Right? :D

[The Magistrate]

31. Mr. From Is Doing Nothing Of The Kind, Ma'am

He does not write the newspaper's leads; that is their job.

Two leaders of the state Democratic Party seem to have announced the D.L.C. meeting to the press, and may stand in some sponsorship role towards it. The journalist's account is pretty sloppy, but that is his business.

[madfloridian]

33. This....

"We believe that this 2006 national conversation comes at a critical time for our party and our country," From said. "America is in great need of visionary leadership, and we intend to show here that the Democratic Party will supply it."

The Democratic Party is supplying it through the DNC, the DSCC, and DCCC. They are supplying visionary leadership. Has to do with impressions.

[Zorra]

44. "they have already formed a 3rd party without the rest of us"

Exactly. And this party that they have formed has abandoned the core ideology of the Democratic Party:

Maintaining a government of, by, and for, the People.

The DLC can be considered RWers solely based on the fact that they have abandoned genuine democracy in favor of promoting policies that foster a government of the economically elite. This in itself, IMO, is the essential defining characteristic of a political body that is "right-wing". The DLC can support all the "left" leaning domestic policy in the world, claim to be "centrists" and "moderates" til the cows come home, but they can never be anything but a right wing organization simply because they advance anti-democratic policies that will result in further corporate control of our government.

And that is why this Democrat, like so many other Democrats, despises the DLC.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

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

[NoPasaran]

25. To hell with Al From

He needs to retire and play golf or something. Surely he must be tired of giving Democrats bad advice by now.

[IndianaGreen]

48. The MSM always portrays the narrow view as the mainstream view

Al From is portrayed as speaking for all Democrats when he doesn't even hold a party office, like Howard Dean for example.

When the MSM covers a story about LGBTs, who do they have to present the Christian view on LGBTs? Homophobic Lou Sheldon, or Pat Roberton and one of his TV evangelist clones.

When the MSM covers a story about Catholicism, who do they have to speak for all Catholics? Nope, not the Pope, but William O'Donahue of the small Catholic League. O'Donahue is the man that said that liberals "would anally rape their mothers".

And it goes on, and on, so much so that many unsuspecting people truly believe that the rightwing crackpots they see on TV or hear on the radio, truly represent the views of the vast political mainstream. I heard a talking head on TV saying this morning that Rush Limbaugh is the most popular journalist in the country today. Journalist!

[Cha]

49. The mainstream

mediawhores have their agenda and it doesn't include letting Liberal Progressive have anything to do with governing our Nation.

Did they have it so bad when FDR was in charge?

[Stinky The Clown]

51. My e-mail to Mr. Osher

Dear Mr. Osher,

Your recent article in the online version of the Post here:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3751006
is factually inaccurate. Your headline, while correct from a technical perspective, is misleading. Your opening sentence is just plan wrong.

Your headline reads: "Dems plan strategy summit in Denver". The fact is, the people planning to meet for this session are, indeed, Democrats. The implication of your headline is that they officially represent the Democratic Party. They do not. More below.

Your opening sentence/paragraph reads: "The Democratic Party on Tuesday announced plans to hold a national strategizing session in Denver this summer, boosting hopes that the city will also be able to snag the party's 2008 convention."

That is factually inaccurate. The group holding its session in Denver is the Democratic Leadership Council, as you point out in your next paragraph. They are a separate organization, outside the official Democratic Party. In many ways, they are in the same category as, say, moveon.org.. They are political activists with an agenda. Neither moveon nor the DLC are official party organs.

If you wish to know what the Democratic Party is doing, I have no doubt that the Democratic National Committee in Washington DC (surely you can find them) would be happy to enlighten your readers through a follow up article by you.

Cordially,

<Stinky the Clown>,
<Stinky City>, Maryland