LAT: Some Democrats Unfurl a Map for a Middle Road

[DeepModem Mom]

Some Democrats Unfurl a Map for a Middle Road
Pocketbook issues form the core of a Leadership Council centrist plan to produce party members who are more "practical" and "accepting."
By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer
July 25, 2006

DENVER — Centrist Democrats, led by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, unveiled a policy manifesto Monday aimed at winning Congress and the White House and distancing the party from its clamorous left wing.

The prescription, directed at middle-class voters and focused on economic issues, capped a three-day meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council, another installment in the party's search for itself.

Highlights included proposals to make college tuition and home-buying more accessible, expand the availability of healthcare, and provide greater retirement security — all leavened with a smidgen of Bush-bashing....

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Four likely Democratic White House contenders made the trek to the Rocky Mountains to speak to and network with roughly 400 elected leaders, mainly from the state and local levels. Clinton, who was charged last year with drafting the agenda unveiled Monday, had a featured speaking slot, along with the group's chairman, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, and his predecessor, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson joined in a panel discussion; former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner telephoned his regrets from a long-planned family vacation in Europe....

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With a stated mission of moving the party toward the center, the organization has been derided as "Democrats for the Leisure Class" by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and as the "Republican wing of the Democratic Party" by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee....Lately, the attacks have been taken up on the left side of the blogosphere, where the council has been branded an enemy of true Democrats and where the council's acolytes — chief among them Sen. Clinton — have been declared sellouts....(T)here were underlying tensions even among those who traveled to Denver. At more than one session, participants suggested the party had gone too far to woo centrist and swing voters....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-dems25jul25,0,1061238.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Totally Committed]

1. Repeat after me: Hillary Clinton is NOT "Centrist"...

She is far Right of this Party. WE are the "Centrists" now.

What a bunch of cynical and disingenuous mumbo-jumbo-bullsh*t! Neither the DLC nor their candidates -- ANY OF THEM -- are "centrist" or can be trusted. I'm sorry if that offends some, but it is definitely my POV.

TC

[BillZBubb]

2. The problem with fools like the DLC, is that the "center" is now

the old right. This country's politics are now far right.

I don't want two Republican parties--one is bad enough. DLC's plan is sure to lead to more defeat for the Democrats. It's like CNN moving to the right to get Faux viewers. Both networks go down, but CNN more than Faux.

[Totally Committed]

3. But, their PR is good... I'll say that for them.

It pays to have corporate money and influence behind you and your candidates and the corporate media ready, willing and able to spread your lying bullsh*t to the masses.

TC

[Benhurst]

4. The only way being more like the Republicans would help the

Democratic party would be if they started rigging the voting machines.

:argh:

[Pithy Cherub]

5. Woohoo! The DLC's summer blockbuster has arrived.

Pirates of The Americas coming to a stolen ballot box office near you! The reviews on the DLC's perpetually interrupted by reality *Dream* are in:

"The sounds of no hands clapping in the audience was a stunner!" Parrot Press Corps.

"They spent a year on the corporate speak and doubletalk and it showed." The Liberal Blogosphere

"Rebranding right before an election is a sign of desperation as evidenced by the use of vapid framing seeming to be most likely to elicit yawns from Middle America - let alone those big electoral populations on the Coasts. The timing is due to a anomaly in the voting populace that embraces a Liberal ideology more with each passing poll." Political Science Professor from PPI