Cleveland rightie rag worried "hard left" is getting money instead of DLC

[Algorem]

Hard cash on the hard left

http://www.cleveland.com/politics/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1153384568124700.xml&coll=2

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Some very rich liberals are pumping some very big money - more than $50 million in the last nine months, and counting - into building what they hope will become a bulwark of the left to challenge the ideological fortresses of the right.

But the ways in which the Democracy Alliance operates - its closely controlled vetting of recipients, the pledges of secrecy it demands - trouble not only Republicans and good-government groups, but centrist Democrats as well.

With good reason. As described this week in the Washington Post, the alliance might well suck the contributions upon which they depend from such centrist organizations as the Democratic Leadership Council and the Truman National Security Project, both among the numerous Democratic groups rejected for their too-moderate ideologies.


Some Democrats see it as a left-wing, below-the-radar effort to take over the party, much as GOP conservatives fertilized their bumper crop of offices by supporting the think tanks that ripened the political fields for harvest...



A New Alliance Of Democrats Spreads Funding
But Some in Party Bristle At Secrecy and Liberal Tilt

By Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 17, 2006; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/16/AR2006071600882.html

An alliance of nearly a hundred of the nation's wealthiest donors is roiling Democratic political circles, directing more than $50 million in the past nine months to liberal think tanks and advocacy groups in what organizers say is the first installment of a long-term campaign to compete more aggressively against conservatives.

A year after its founding, Democracy Alliance has followed up on its pledge to become a major power in the liberal movement. It has lavished millions on groups that have been willing to submit to its extensive screening process and its demands for secrecy.

These include the Center for American Progress, a think tank with an unabashed partisan edge, as well as Media Matters for America, which tracks what it sees as conservative bias in the news media. Several alliance donors are negotiating a major investment in Air America, a liberal talk-radio network.

But the large checks and demanding style wielded by Democracy Alliance organizers in recent months have caused unease among Washington's community of Democratic-linked organizations. The alliance has required organizations that receive its endorsement to sign agreements shielding the identity of donors. Public interest groups said the alliance represents a large source of undisclosed and unaccountable political influence...

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Democracy+Alliance+&btnG=Search+News

[wakeme2008]

1. Yep,,, DLCers get NO money from me

:)

[acmejack]

3. Ditto!

[GrpCaptMandrake]

2. I call bullshit on the editorialism in the reportage

This is another take on the "oh-can't-we-all-move-to-the-right-like-Lieberman-and-be-called-centrists" line of happy horseshit.

Witness the following from the article: "Democrats might well ask themselves if becoming the polar opposite of the hard right will open opportunities, or simply broaden the No Man's Land where so many politically disenchanted Americans huddle today."

The "middle" isn't in the middle anymore. It's Fascism-lite.

Maybe so many Americans "huddle" there (poor babies, shivering in the cold) because they're uninformed louts more concerned with Britney's pregnancy and Angelina's precious lumpkin and Tom and Kaitie's little alien baby THAN THEY ARE WITH THE HEALTH OF THEIR REPUBLIC.

Oh, stop. Just stop. What's the point, huh?

[OzarkDem]

5. The DLC isn't the middle anymore, it leans to the right

Its policies are not in step with mainstream Americans.

Here in Ohio, the corporate elite realize that the GOP has "screwed the pooch" in this state and they're headed out the door come November.

So now the big insurance, big banking industries & financial institutions, and the rest of corporate Ohio are seeking to find a place for their donations in the Dem ticket to hedge their bets and protect their interests.

They've had some degree of success in Ted Strickland's campaign as its being run by some old DLC'ers. ODP and the some of the unions that support Dem candidates (not all do) are also DLC/soft right.

But Howard Dean's grassroots are mainstream to left-leaning, along with Dennis Kucinich, Sherrod Brown and probably a few other Dem Congressional Candidates.

IOW, most of the Dems aren't lining up for corporate Ohio like they're supposed to.

Too bad. Dems are hedging their own bets and sticking to the strenght of their own agenda.

[cmd]

4. It's all legal - so why is the PD complaining?

Another clip from the PD:

"It's all legal - lots of lawyers see to that. But Democrats might well ask themselves if becoming the polar opposite of the hard right will open opportunities, or simply broaden the No Man's Land where so many politically disenchanted Americans huddle today."

It looks like a not so subtle hint to Peter B. Lewis (buy Progressive Insurance) to stop giving to Dems. That will give him a laugh for today.

[OzarkDem]

6. And its a false choice

"Either do what the corporate donors want you to do or, or, or we'll call you left wing, Michael Moore - loving dirty hippies."

Corporate Ohio is in a panic - the Ohio Dems they didn't give a nickel to for the last dozen years or so don't need their dirty money anymore. Faced with failing GOP races, the're all dressed up with no place to go.

On edit: And Howard Dean gets a large share of the credit for making this happen. He helped rebuild Ohio's grassroots Dems. :*

[cmd]

12. What a beautiful picture

All dressed up and staying at home. Ha Ha.

[Kolesar]

13. Coal and the electricity companies (AEP & First Energy) aren't in a panic

They have got Ted Strickland where they want him.

[OzarkDem]

15. I was wondering about that

Ted has been so quiet and he's raising money like there's no tomorrow, even when he's well ahead of Blackwell.

I'm beginning to become concerned about his campaign becoming GOP-lite. Ted is a great guy, but some of the people running his campaign are very DLC.

[Kolesar]

17. "Every" politician in Ohio has to "give something" to King Coal,...

...which exists in the form of the giant generating company AEP and the others like First Energy.

Ted has pledged to double coal production in Ohio as part of his "energy plan". Ted took $25000 from a Hunting Valley coal company owner named Boich. The same company funded 527-type anti-environmental ads against John Kerry.

To his credit, Sherrod Brown is running against the energy companies.

[Totally Committed]

7. Those of us who see the DLC for what it is

applaud this news. :applause:

TC

[Vickers]

8. Maybe we NEED a left-wing, below-the-radar effort to take over the party.

I mean, instead of these ass kissing dipshits like Lieberman, etc. :eyes:

[Totally Committed]

11. MAYBE???? -- We DEFINITELY need one!

below-the-radar, above-the-radar... who cares? We need to take this Party back. NOW.

TC

[nealmhughes]

14. SSSSHH! Don't let the Republicans or the DLC hear you, but we are already

starting it. Didn't you get your Hugo money? Ha!

No, I think it is underway, in all seriousness. If it isn't, then the Party may go the way of the Whigs in 1854...

[karynnj]

9. I suspect their worries that the Dems are moving to the left are not real

Notice that less than a third of the Senate Democrats were willing to back a pretty moderate Kerry/Lieberman Iraq proposal - and that the leadership worked hard to marginalize Kerry's and Feingold's efforts. Republican Senator Warner showed more respect for the genuine effort and the seriousness of the proposal than Reid and some of his allies did. (The competeing Levin amendment was simply a vague, non-binding call for Bush to develop a plan - it was mostly political - so Democrats could vote against K/F, yet say they were not in favor of how Bush was running the war.

At this point, even some Republicans are beginning to speak of withdrawing from Iraq.

[gratuitous]

10. Awww, the Plain Dealer is sooo concerned

I'm sure they have a plethora of editorials about the taint of Scaife money in the Republican party, right? A concomitant concern about the subtle poisoning of our political atmosphere by money from the Walton and Koch families? Yes? No?

Okay, no. Let's face it, this is concern trollery at its finest.

[calico1]

16. DLC=Republican lite .....

and sometimes not so lite.:mad:

[alvarezadams]

18. Oh my gawd!

$50 million to moderately centrists vs $1 billion per year, every year, election or no election (and not counting campaign contributions) spent on RW thinktanks, lobbies and PR firms.

And the idiots tremble.