The DLC must be removed like a boil...the sooner, the better!

[NDambi]

The Democratic Leadership Council argues that the United States Democratic Party should shift away from traditionally populist positions. The DLC hails President Clinton as proof of the viability of third way politicians and as a DLC success story while progressives assert that Bill Clinton won campaigning as a populist only to abandon those positions after getting elected. Critics contend that the DLC is a powerful, corporate-financed mouthpiece within the Democratic party - or "The Republican Wing of the Democratic Party".

The DLC's affiliated think tank is the Progressive Policy Institute. Democrats who adhere to the DLC's philosophy often call themselves New Democrats


Still other critics believe the DLC has essentially become an influential corporate and right-wing implant in the Democratic party. Marshall Wittmann, a former senior fellow at the DLC, former legislative director for the Christian Coalition, and former communications director for Republican senator John McCain, and Will Marshall, a vocal supporter of the war in Iraq, are among those associated with the DLC who have right-wing credentials.

Finally, detractors of the DLC note that the DLC has received funding from the right-wing Bradley Foundation as well as from oil companies, military contractors, and various Fortune 500 companies.

The DLC gave strong support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Prior to the war, Will Marshall co-signed a letter to President Bush from the Project for the New American Century endorsing military action against Saddam Hussein. During the 2004 Primary campaign the DLC attacked Presidential candidate Howard Dean as an out-of-touch liberal because of Dean's anti-war stance. The DLC dismissed other critics of the Iraq invasion such as filmmaker Michael Moore as members of the "loony left". Even as domestic support for the Iraq War plummeted in 2004 and 2005, Marshall reprised his right-wing credentials and called upon Democrats to balance their criticism of Bush's handling of the Iraq War with praise for the President's achievements and cautioned "Democrats need to be choosier about the political company they keep, distancing themselves from the pacifist and anti-American fringe."

[invictus]

1. Yes, I agree. The DLC is the enabler of the Republican agenda in the Democratic Party. n/t

[bellasgrams]

2. I never even hear anything about the DLC anymore except on

DU. The DNC should definitely have a shake up, especially getting rid of Dean after the screw up with FL & MI.

[Cassandra]

4. But we do hear a lot of DLC positions...

like yours.

[NDambi]

5. Dean is anti-DLC I say he stays..but I'm sure the DLC will once again go after him..like they did

when he ran for office and because he was anti-war.

Btw, I'm sure the DLC doesn't want to be talked about and probably wish it could control the discussion about their dirty deeds here on the DU!

[bellasgrams]

29. The DLC has never supported Voter disenfranchising.

There should be a congressional investigation. Dean and others in the DNC knew Hill would carry FL and the large states. This was one way to assure BO the nomination. You can bet that if BO had won those votes would have counted. The cards have been stacked against her from the start. The media drools over BO, Kennedy and family including Caroline, have severely damaged their image. BO can do no wrong even when he torchers the truth. He's disgusting.

[NDambi]

35. Oh please, nice try...blame FL & MI not Dean or Obama for the royal fuck up...

[dionysus]

38. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! "torchers the truth".....

you're torturing me!!!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Armstead]

7. Yeah...Hillary is chair of their Message committee

Not really important what the DLC is though, I suppose.. eyes:

[NDambi]

8. Oh btw, Dean didn't screw up FL & MI...Fl & MI did..

[cali]

17. Dean is leaving anyway at the end of the year- of his own volition

and frankly anyone who doesn't support Dean and what he's done at the DNC for the past few years, isn't really a democrat at all.

[NDambi]

20. agree 1000% !!!!!

[Cassandra]

3. Methinks we've been...

infiltrated.

[NDambi]

6. lol..hmmmm you think

[Mooney]

9. More and more, this is getting to be the thrust of this election for me.

Someone here coined the term "DLC-ectomy." Well, the Democratic party needs to undergo an emergency DLC-ectomy, if the last two presidential elections and this primary season are any indication. The "17-state strategy" alone is enough of a reason to toss them out on their asses. The "we'll never win red states" rationale is as much of a self-fulfilling prophecy as I've ever heard, and we have the DLC to thank for it.

[NDambi]

13. "More and more, this is getting to be the thrust of this election for me."

More should think like you...we need to get rid of the DLC...they are suffocating real Democrats with their New Democrat/Republican BS!!!

They hijacked the party..but now is the time to stand and stop it..they are evil and dirty and do not have the best interest of the American people at heart!

New Democrat Movement
GROUP

The right wing current of the Democratic party, characterized by its neoliberal economic policies, support of Israel, desire to increase defense spending, and links to heavy donors and fundraisers.

Believes that "left-wing" positions are not politically viable. Describes itself as "moderate and pro-growth". Probably responsible for erosion of the Democratic Party's historical labor and minority base due to support of treaties like NAFTA, lack of support for affirmative action and poverty programs, and their siphoning away of campaign funds from minority groups.

Since coming to power within the Democratic Party with Bill Clinton's presidency, the New Democrats/DLC have worked towards "essentially the same purpose as the Christian Coalition... to pull a broad political party dramatically to the right" according to John Nichols of The Progressive.

DLC operatives actively worked to sabotage Howard Dean's candidacy for the US Presidency in 2004, claiming that the "far-left" Democrat was wrong to attack George W. Bush's tax cuts and national security policies.

<snip>

The New Democrat Movement is sometimes referred to as the Dixiecrat movement due to the DLC's origination in the southern states, their desire to get rid of affirmative action, and their membership's overwhelming whiteness.

" shift the primary focus from racism, the traditional enemy without, to self-defeating patterns of behavior " --Chuck Robb, 2nd DLC Chairman, Governor & Senator of the Great State of Virginia, White Man, 1986.

"I'm from the democratic wing of the Democrat Party" --Paul Wellstone, progressive Democrat, criticizing the New Democrat Movement.

"Democrats for the Leadership Class" --Jesse Jackson, progressive black Democrat, describing the DLC.

[Mooney]

15. They've managed to pull the party to the right AND constantly lose elections.

Why anyone still puts up with their bullshit is beyond me. They were lucky to have a talented candidate in Bill Clinton, but they're not holding any other cards, and they've pretty much existed to the detriment of this party for quite a few years now.

Time to excise the tumor. Fuck 'em.

[NDambi]

16. "Time to excise the tumor. Fuck 'em."

Amen!!!!!

[Mooney]

18. Holler. n/t

[NDambi]

19. "Holler. "

Mooney, go for the cool, hip mode and say "Holla!" LOL

No seriously..peace and two fangas!

[Mooney]

23. Whenever I write "Holla"

people ask me what I mean by "Ho-La."

Some things really can only be said and not written.

[NDambi]

25. LOL...or it could be ...they simply aren't as cool and hip as you...

[Mooney]

26. That goes without saying.

Water is wet.

The sky is blue.

Other people aren't as cool or hip as me.

It's like the law of gravity.

[Benhurst]

10. I saw Harold Ford, jr., chairman of the DLC, being interviewed a while

back (I'm pretty sure it was on Charley Rose), and he said he couldn't be more pleased with our two front-runners, Clinton and Obama.

Sad, isn't it? Maybe neither candidate has managed to convince a majority of Democrats to support him or her for a reason. Republican Lite. Is this really the best we can do?

[NDambi]

14. But are they really pleased or playing possum or not wanting to offend..I agree with you I hear

it all the time from the talking heads..we are pleased with both candidates, but I will admit, I hear it more from the Clinton people..honestly I do.

If I didn't have a life, I'd start tracking how many times it is said and who says it..lol

[jgraz]

11. Unfortunately, it's more like a metastasized tumor at this point

The DLC toxin has gotten to all Dems to some degree. We need to pressure those who will listen and slowly replace those who won't. This is going to be a long process.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. The DLC carefully leaves out the fact that

the Democratic Party LOST their majority in the House in 1994, 2 years after Clinton was elected, and then went on to lose the Senate in 2000 under his 2nd term. It has taken 12 years to get the House back and 6 years to semi-control the Senate again, with Lieberman forcing the party to twist in the wind.

What a successful strategy!!!!!!!

(need I do this? ---> :sarcasm:)

[loudsue]

33. Right. On. The. Money. The DLC LOSE elections for dems.

Bill Clinton won as a personality, NOT as a shift of the party.

:kick:

[me b zola]

21. DLC = The republican wing of the Democratic Party

Lance that boil, let the puss/toxins ooze out.

[Perry Logan]

22. Ick! But if this were true, it seems like Bill Clinton would not have had such a great record.

I'm not pro-DLC. Just pointing out that Bill Clinton--who is a DLC guy--had an excellent record as President, which did not much resemble the record of any recent Republican President. He was also very popular, despite a multimillion-dollar smear campaign directed against him and his family. The record suggests that the DLC resembles the Republican Party a good deal less than people are saying.

[theredpen]

24. Amen (nt)

[death to the DLC]

27. a mighty kick

:kick:

the DLC can kiss my ass!

[L0oniX]

28. More like an impacted bowel that needs to move a load out.

[billyskank]

30. Hah. We've been saying that on DU since 2002.

Probably since 2001, in all honestly. My own memory only goes back to 2002. The DLC are still here.

[Yurovsky]

31. DLC=DINOs, time for them to go extinct ...

one more good reason to support Senator Obama.

Now if he can pick a good solid progressive for his #2, we can cut the cord and be done with the DLC once and for all.

[musiclawyer]

32. I wrote Obama's website saying the same thing

The way he distinguishes himself from HRC right away, for some of the less well read, is to say out loud that is a target of the DLC, the GOP and rigth wign media. He needs to explain what the DLC has become-- his enemy and the enemy of working and middle class America.

[Laelth]

34. Our party was hijacked.

I want it back.

:grr:

-Laelth

[mtnsnake]

36. Tell it to Obama, who's running his campaign with as DLC an agenda as it gets

His "reaching out to Republicans" campaing theme is the epitome the worst that the DLC has to offer.

Ford predicted the DLC will play a major role in the issues debate that unfolds in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary process. The group will not side with any one candidate, he said, even though the organization has close ties to a number of potential nominees, from Vilsack to Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Joe Biden (Del.) to Gov. Bill Richardson (N.M.). Even Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has expressed interest in "finding ways he could work with the DLC," according to Ford. (Ford describes Obama as a "personal friend" and says they talk regularly.)

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/fords_next_move.html

DailyKos straw poll shows shows Kossacks prefer John Edwards 37% to Obama’s 27% with Wesley Clark a distant third at 14% (the Blogometer has checked these numbers at 6K, 13K ,and 16K votes and there has been no change in the %s).

Netroots ambivalence towards Obama’s candidacy seems to stem from two related sources: 1) his perceived centrist/Liebermanesque/DLC rhetoric; 2) and his inability/refusal to lead take the lead on a major progressive issue (especially the war).

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/01/obama_wire_the.html

The DLC doesn’t necessarily pre-select candidates, but they do keep an eye out for possibilities. Obama has been on their watch-list for some time. Now that they see his sex appeal, they may rally behind him. He could be Hillary without the polarizing effect, a real possibility to hold the office.

http://pieceofmind.wordpress.com/2007/01/18/obama-lieberman-and-the-dlc/

[Medusa]

37. They've done as much to damage our party

as the GOP has.

[Norrin Radd]

39. A "boil?" You are being way too kind to the DLC.