Cuellar, TX Dem, thumbs his nose at the left wing, says conservative Dems get a pass by leadership.

[madfloridian]

Dear Mr. Cuellar,when someone says things like that in the Wall Street Journal, where I come from we call that thumbing your nose at the majority of your party.

You gloat that leadership gives you a pass for voting against what is best for the people. Yes, that is called thumbing your nose.



President Bush greets Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) before going to the rostrum
to give the address.
By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post 2006

Democrats and Cannibals

In case you don't get it...we the party base are the cannibals.

Despite all the blogger bravado that they now run the show, Mr. Cuellar's experience has been more the norm than the exception. The press may adore them, but the Netroots simply haven't notched many concrete victories. "Every time I see Joe Lieberman in the hall, we like to say 'we're still here, aren't we?'" says Mr. Cuellar, a spunky tone in his voice. California's Jane Harman, reviled as a "warmonger," last year whipped antiwar activist Marcy Winograd in a primary, 62%-38%. Ellen Tauscher, who heads the New Democrat Coalition in Congress, was savaged by left-wing blogs for her votes authorizing Iraq and free trade, and in particular for her warning to her party not to "go off the left cliff." She walked away from her re-election with 66% of the vote.

Mr. Cuellar goes so far as to argue that instead of cowing Democratic moderates, the left-wing attacks have united them. More middle-of-the-roaders now believe that if the bloggers were to win a high-profile primary, it would only energize them to go after others. "This has brought us together to say, 'this is us, and we've got to stick together,'" he says.

But perhaps the Netroots biggest failure, suggests Mr. Cuellar, is that it hasn't bludgeoned his party's leadership into abandoning the middle. It was moderate Democrats who won their party the majority last year (the New Democrats now boast 60 members; 13 new additions), and Mr. Cuellar claims few people understand that better than Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "I've seen her behind the scenes, and I've always thought she was liberal, but she's done a good job of trying to bring us more to the middle."

Now this paragraph shows where we are going now. Cuellar is gloating that leadership in the party is giving them a pass because we can't win without them.

For proof, Mr. Cuellar suggests a look at "all the passes" the leadership has given red-state Dems on tough votes like Iraq, missile defense and immigration. This is an obvious recognition by the top ranks of the party that getting moderates re-elected is the only way to stay in power. They know that "if we go the way these Internet groups want us to go, we'll be the shortest-lived majority in congressional history," he says.

Dear Henry, give us some time. You forgot to mention one very important word...MONEY. Did you hear me? MONEY. Your DLC has the money, but we are getting better organized...and someday your big money won't mean so much.

You sir, have inherited the tendencies of AL From and Harold Ford, your leaders....to be rude and insulting to the people of the party. It's been going on a long time now that your group has been calling our group fringe and noisy activists

That's really unfortunate that you were so insulting. Too many of us are reaching a crisis time in our political views.

Your comments are some I am filing away in my memory bank. And I will be formally sending a letter your way. Not that it matters. Democratic dinosaurs will have to be replaced one by one, because they see themselves as above the people.

And a last few words...it is not about being conservative. It is about businesses wanting people like you in power to do favors for them. It is about MONEY POWER INFLUENCE.

And someday about votes...and that we have.

[madfloridian]

1. Oh, Dear Henry, one other thing. I see the DLC is closed for the week.

http://www.ideasprimary.com/?p=268

That's nice. The Democrats for the leisure class take a week off while the country is falling apart at the seams.

[Dr.Phool]

2. Hey Henry!

If you guys become the shortest majority in history, it'll be because of people like you. Turn off your base, and they won't show up on election day.

You guys measure success by how much money you carry away on K-Street. We have a better definition of success. It's called doing the peoples will.

Oh, and by the way. FUCK YOU.

[madfloridian]

3. "You guys measure success by how much money you carry away on K-Street"

I agree. That is a terrible measure of success. I hate these attitudes.

I have always said the candidates appeal more to the Republican than they do to us. I don't know if they realize it, but they do.

[madfloridian]

4. One sentence in another article really upset me....we can not even take care of our own.

We can't fund the care of the poor among us, we can't take care of our infrastructure....and he wants to spend hundreds of millions on this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/07/AR2007080702114.html?hpid=topnews

"Negotiators for Mexico and the United States have made significant progress toward agreement on an aid plan that would include telephone tapping equipment, radar to track traffickers' shipments by air, aircraft to transport Mexican anti-drug teams and assorted training, sources said. Delicate questions remain -- primarily regarding Mexican sensitivities about the level of U.S. activity on Mexican soil -- but confidence is running high that a deal will be struck soon.

"I'm sure that it's going to be hundreds of millions of dollars," Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) said in an interview. "If we're going to be successful in cutting out this cancer over there, we're going to have to invest a large amount."


Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) predicts a major aid deal may be reached this month at a summit in Quebec. (By Ricardo Santos -- Laredo Morning News Via Ap)

How about taking care of our problems at home.