Democratic Party is growing more liberal

[proud2BlibKansan]

CHICAGO — The Democratic Party is growing more liberal for the first time in a generation.

It's more antiwar than at any time since 1972. Support is growing for such traditionally liberal values as using the federal government to help the poor. And 40 percent of Democrats now call themselves liberal, the highest in more than three decades and twice the low-water mark recorded as the conservative Reagan revolution swept the country in the early 1980s.

While politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama shun the liberal label, they're rushing to court new power brokers who wear it proudly and constituencies that could barely win a nod from party leaders just a few years ago. For example, the top Democratic presidential candidates all planned to attend the YearlyKos convention of liberal bloggers in Chicago this weekend and a Human Rights Campaign debate this week in Los Angeles on gay, lesbian and transgender issues.

They all skipped an annual gathering of the Democratic Leadership Council last week in Nashville, Tenn. The DLC is the centrist group that pushed for welfare overhaul and a pro-business agenda in the 1990s, helped launch Bill Clinton to the presidency and stood by centrist Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., when liberals attacked him for supporting the Iraq war and he effectively was drummed out of the party in a primary last year.

more . . .http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/18692.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I hope this is true, 'cuz lately you coulda fooled me...

Or maybe it's just that the politicians haven't been listening to the people who elected them. Send the Blue Dogs to the pound!

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Yes we need to tell the Blue Dogs

[Breeze54]

7. To STFU?

OKAY!!! :evilgrin:

K & R

[FormerDittoHead]

3. Oh. I thought this was about elected politicians. Who cares about what the PEOPLE think? n/t

typo

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Apparently not enough of our reps care about what we think

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. THANK GOD!!!!!!!! Look what it took! How terrifying! Were we all comatose all that time or what?

I don't understand us Democrats, really. Why don't we stick to our guns and stop swaying?

[LordJFT]

6. Say it Loud, I'm liberal and I'm proud

[Kadie]

8. .

:kick:

[TahitiNut]

9. 60% of 'Democrats' DON'T identify themselves as "liberal."

If there were EVER a good reason for me to be an independent, that's it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Hey we're almost halfway there

:)

[many a good man]

11. Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

They haven't gotten the memo yet that it's OK to be liberal and conservatives suck.

I'd like to see a similar poll taken of our Dem Congress critters. For all our bitchin', maybe they are to the left of the people after all!

[Downtown Hound]

12. Best news I've heard in a long time

More than anything what needs to happen is Liberal has to stop being a dirty word. We really let the Republicans walk all over us with that in the 80's and 90's, so much so that many of us denied being liberal at all or said stuff like, "I'm an economic conservative and a social liberal." Anything to avoid that L tag.

No more. Liberal is about to become a household word again, and far from being ashamed, I'm damn proud.

[Lugnut]

13. Count me in

I've been a proud liberal forever.

:kick:

[Fearless]

14. I would give more than my right hand for this to come true.

Seriously.

[Anita Garcia]

15. k and r

NO WAR!

[Dragonbreathp9d]

16. Its the classic pendulum

when shit goes as far to one side as it is now, people are bound to respond by going further to the other, you can see it throughout history

[annabanana]

17. The American people are moving back to the center...

(It just looks like we are moving left)