David Sirota: Joe Lieberman & the Hostile Takeover of "Centrism"

[Larkspur]

http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=85C287B9-D4A3-1E07-F7F8749BA483603E

In my new book Hostile Takeover, I spend a good deal of time showing how ultra-conservative right-wingers have hijacked the terms "centrist" and "mainstream" and disconnected them from what's actually "centrist" and "mainstream" among the public. This is no small matter (and a topic I have focused on before) - it is a hugely important and powerful linguistic weapon deviously employed by the most destructive forces. That's right - today in Washington, positions that are way to the right of where the American public stands are regularly called "centrist" or "mainstream." That's no accident - it is a deliberate strategy employed by Big Money interests that run the Establishment to effectively marginalize the vast majority of the population from its own political debate and political system. It is, in short, a hostile takeover not just of our government, but of political discourse itself.

How this semantic strategy legitimates right-wing positions and politicians can best be seen in looking at Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), a man incessantly billed by the Washington media - and himself - as a "centrist." In fact, Lieberman's name has become so synonymous with Washington's propagandistic definition of "centrism" that some of the most insulated Establishment spokespeople are using the term in a pathetic attempt to defend him from grassroots primary challenger Ned Lamont (D).

As just one example, take Marshall Wittman. This ultra-right-wing former Christian Coalition official is now employed at the Democratic Leadership Council, and purports to speak for Democrats. He is one of the most odious icons of Washington's bought-off bipartisan Establishment - and has made a name for himself peddling right-wing talking points, narratives and storylines wholly at odds with actual facts. Last week was no exception. He told the Los Angeles Times that the Connecticut primary "is a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party" because "it will have repercussions for the 2008 presidential campaign and whether centrists will feel comfortable within the Democratic Party."

Wittman, a staunch Lieberman shill, is actually correct, though inadvertently. He's right - this is "a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party" and it will indicate "whether centrists will feel comfortable within the Democratic Party." But the actual data shows that the centrist is not Lieberman, as Wittman purports, but those opposing Lieberman. And if Lieberman wins the primary, it could mean that centrists will not feel comfortable in the party, because the actual data shows Lieberman is the out-of-the-mainstream arch-right-winger, and the movement that is challenging him represents the real center.

<SNIP>

David Sirota is my favorite progressive writer. He really nails Lieberman in this piece.

[redqueen]

1. oooh what a shock that that guy works for the DLC now...

thanks for posting this... what a sickening game they're playing

[Totally Committed]

2. Tell it like it is!

JOE HAS TO GO! And, so does his brand of "centrism".

"And if Lieberman wins the primary, it could mean that centrists will not feel comfortable in the party, because the actual data shows Lieberman is the out-of-the-mainstream arch-right-winger, and the movement that is challenging him represents the real center."

Gotta love David Sirota!

TC

[Warpy]

3. I keep trying to tell you that there is NOTHING CENTRIST

about the DLC. They are CONSERVATIVES, mostly southern, mostly male, rich, and all white.

Don't kid yourselves. There is nothing mainstream about any of them. They want to drag the party far enough to the right that it's the basically do nothing party of the Eisenhower years, there only to block civil rights legislation and make sure a working person never gets a fucking break.

The people of this country have spoken loud and clear on election day, and the DLC dominated party has lost us all three branches of government. Yes, they had help from Diebold. No, Diebold wouldn't have given the GOP enough help without the DLC torpedoing the candidacies of both Gore and Kerry.

If we don't manage to wrest the party from them in the primaries, we'll lose in 2008, too.

[redqueen]

5. Excellent post. They are not centrist, they are right-wing.

I notice you say we have to wrest the party from them... do you think the national party is controlled that much by them ?

[WiseButAngrySara]

4. Very interesting and informative. Thanks! ....n/t

[jonnyblitz]

6. damn good article!

:thumbsup:

[Douglas Carpenter]

7. excellent analysis

http://www.nedlamont.com



" Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut reproached fellow Democrats for criticizing President Bush during a time of war.

"It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril," Lieberman said."

link:

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/08/democrats.iraq/?section=cnn_latest

and this interesting comment from Sen. Lieberman while in Baghdad

"Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief Michael Ware on Morning Sedition this morning:

I and some other journalists had lunch with Senator Joe Lieberman the other day and we listened to him talking about Iraq. Either Senator Lieberman is so divorced from reality that he's completely lost the plot or he knows he's spinning a line. Because one of my colleagues turned to me in the middle of this lunch and said he's not talking about any country I've ever been to and yet he was talking about Iraq, the very country where we were sitting."

link:

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_11_27_atrios_archive.html#113328407009752558

[KoKo]

8. I purchased Sirota's book this weekend...can't wait to read it...

after I finish "Crashing the Gate" which has some interesting views about the DLC OPS/Campaign "Specialists" who ran Kerry's Campaign and criticisms about how they failed us.

Sirota's book looks like a good read building on how our Party is so used to "Old Group Think" and why they want to trash us Activists because they just don't know us and are afraid of us bringing the Dem Party back to roots and beliefs..that aren't the Centrist Right's way of dealing. And the "Centrist Right"s exactly what's been losing us elections by not standing up against Voter Disenfranchisement from Selection 2000 right through the choice of Party Loser Hacks who cost us votes by running to the Independents and Right of Center rather than going for BIG IDEAS that would rock the comfortanble losing boat.

[cascadiance]

9. I might call them "corporate" or "elitist" rather than "right wing"...

Because I think that more closely defines the mission of the DLC, etc. They are really there to help defend the corporations and the elite that controls them, not necessarily even the extreme right wing (those emotional xenophobic bible thumpers that proudly tout themselves as "right wingers").

Other than that distinction though, I think he's right on here. This is a focused attempt to marginalize the "liberals" and to push "dissenting thought" over to them and enforce more compliance to their "stealth corporatism".

Though I don't care for those that proudly call themselves the extreme right either, they are being exploited by this crowd just as much as the "centrists" are. Us progressives are the only ones that won't stand for such exploitation, but over time, I think at least the centrists as well as some of the right wingers will see the truth on which party "uses" them for their own agenda that isn't there to help them.

[killerbush]

10. Centrism worked under Bill Clinton

Since liberalism is a failed ideology, maybe it's about time we got back to the center of politics.

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. exactly let's get back to the center

recent polls by the Pew Research Group, the Opinion Research Corporation, the Wall Street Journal, and CBS News

http://alternet.org/story/29788

1. 65 percent say the government should guarantee health insurance for everyone -- even if it means raising taxes.
2. 86 percent favor raising the minimum wage (including 79 percent of selfdescribed "social conservatives").
3. 60 percent favor repealing either all of Bush's tax cuts or at least those cuts that went to the rich.
4. 66 percent would reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.
5. 77 percent believe the country should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment.
6. 87 percent think big oil corporations are gouging consumers, and 80 percent (including 76 percent of Republicans) would support a windfall profits tax on the oil giants if the revenues went for more research on alternative fuels.
7. 69 percent agree that corporate offshoring of jobs is bad for the U.S. economy (78 percent of "disaffected" voters think this), and only 22% believe offshoring is good because "it keeps costs down."
8. 69 percent believe America is on the wrong track, with only 26 percent saying it's headed in the right dire

Borrowed from:
LynnTheDem


a super-majority of Americans are liberal in all but name
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/alterman
Public opinion polls show that the majority of Americans embrace liberal rather than conservative positions...
http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2002-04-16-liberal.shtml
The vast majority of Americans are looking for more social support, not less...
http://www.prospect.org/print/V12/7/borosage-r.html

http://people.umass.edu/mmorgan/commstudy.html

Some more polls:

http://www.democracycorps.com/reports/analyses/Democracy_Corps_May_2005_Graphs.pdf

http://www.democrats.com/bush-impeachment-poll-2

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/US/healthcare031020_poll.html

http://www.cdi.org/polling/5-foreign-aid.cfm

[CTLawGuy]

13. in case you didn't guess

this board is full of liberals...

I happen to think liberalism is not a failure and so do 99% of people on this board.

I suggest you read the DU rules.
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2. Who We Are: Democratic Underground is an online community for Democrats and other progressives. Members are expected to be generally supportive of progressive ideals, and to support Democratic candidates for political office. Democratic Underground is not affiliated with the Democratic Party, and comments posted here are not representative of the Democratic Party or its candidates.

[PassingFair]

12. K & R for Sexy, Sexy Sirota And Sexy,

Sane Larkspur,too!