The battle for the soul of the Democratic Party...

[marmar]

Published on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 by TruthDig
Warring Over the Heart of the Party
by Robert Scheer

Make no mistake about it: The fight within the Democratic Party over the Iraq war is as important as it is real. This is no sideshow between seasoned Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and upstart challenger Ned Lamont, between pros and bloggers, or lefties and conservatives within the party.

No, this battle transcends those labels and cuts to the obligation of politicians to be honest with the public. Indeed, a seasoned conservative Democratic politician should recognize the war in Iraq for the unmitigated disaster it is and seek to properly place responsibility for it on the incumbent Republican president.

It is one thing for Democrats like Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to admit that they bought into the Bush administration’s lies about Saddam Hussein’s alleged nuke program and partnership with Al Qaeda and to now seek to make amends by working to bring the troops home. It is quite another, as Lieberman has, to continue to defend as wise this patently absurd betrayal of the public interest. And it moves from dumb to evil to claim that those like Lamont who dare tell the truth are giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

“If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do — get out by a date certain — it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in England. It will strengthen them and they will strike again,” Lieberman said after his defeat in the Connecticut primary earlier this month, indicting not only his opponent but all those who voted for him.

In fact, Lieberman, along with the president and vice president, has become a full-blown McCarthyite smear artist, painting his political opponents with the tar brush of treason in an alleged apocalyptic battle for civilization.

“I’m worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don’t appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy,” said Lieberman on Aug. 10, an enemy “more evil or as evil as Nazism and probably more dangerous than the Soviet Communists we fought during the long Cold War.”

The complete article is at: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0823-20.htm

[ChiciB1]

1. OH. What A Great POST!

Just to put this in a nutshell... this is the SEED that is seeking to find fertile ground to grow.

Seems important on it's face because we've had so little to cheer about in quite sometime, so we get hyped! But this race may be the budding of some real change permeating in America/

I remain skeptical about most things today... but I saw a tiny spark here.!

[niceypoo]

8. Its just ol' Joe Blow being a dickhead

no reason to blow it up into more than it really is...

[theanarch]

2. yeah...so what?

we had this same "battle for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party" during Vietnam...and we lost. The only difference between then and now is that now, the politicians are dumber, the rhetoric is more insulting, and there's far less 'heart and soul' to fight over.

[ChiciB1]

3. Hey, I KNOW Where You're Coming Fromn...

they have really screwed us, I remain one who used to be "in" but simply had to "get out!"

I'm not saying it's time to "boost the beers", just wondering if this is a "tiny seed?' Tiny seeds need time to grow.

Need to brew a storm before the rains can wash it away!

[acmejack]

4. So what do you propose?

Are you here to belittle every hopeful thing anyone might say, demonstrating that you are the jaded old cynic. Are you advocating throwing in the towel since there is noting left worth fighting for? Just curious from your surly response, you must have something constructive to add to the conversation, or I certainly hope you have more than the 'all is lost' meme...

[marmar]

5. Agreed. Progress begins when excuses end...

You can do the "woe is us" bitching routine or get off your ass and affect change. It happened in Connecticut, it can happen all over the country.

[theanarch]

7. you want constructive? try this:

Fighting for the soul of the DP essentially boils down to who has a better right to wrap themselves in the mantle of FDR's "New Deal". On one side are the forgotten/neglected constituances of the New Deal (the poor, the uninsured, the unemployed), plus a few new ones (environmentalists and the peace movement); on the other, the pro-war, pro-corporate, socially "moderate" DLC. In between are tens of millions of nominal Democrats (upper and lower case alike), who generally agree with the former (because we are right), and vote for the latter (because they pick the candidates).

The DLC'er's want to return the DP to the good old days patronage, dispensed from electoral fiefdoms (big cities) or regions (the Lincoln-hating South; praire-populusts in the mid-West), before Roosevelt hijacked the Party (damn peasants!) in the midst of a depression with slogans such as "Vote Yourself a Job", "Repeal Prohibition" and "Stay Out of Europe's Wars". FDR won and partially transformed a third world country into a first world nation with psuedo-socialistic reforms of an egregously Darwinian economic system (Progressive Era regulations not withstanding). (Personal note: FDR spared the ruling class a French-style revolution by confining 'class warfare' to the electoral/legislative arena's; i wonder if doing so wasn't a mistake.)

Now we're looking for our own FDR to return--King Arthur-like--to reclaim the Party of the People from the GOP-lites who, at the zenith of national prosperity, gave us "Lets give the middle class a couple of micro-targeted tax credits", "Just Say Yes the to Prison-Industrial Complex" and "Keep the UN out of our wars". And have led the party to one humiliating defeat after another ever since, while giving us as "leaders" of the likes of Lieberman, HRC, Schumer, et al.

If Democrats (as a Party) want to support my agenda (pretty generic progressive/left) by ending the occupations and declaring ignomious defeat in the WoT; stop rubberstamping utterly unqualified appointees (bureaucratic and judicial); get serious about alternative energy and transportation; enact non-profit, universal, single-payer health care; advocate for a living (as distinct from minimum) wage, etc., i'll contribute/work/vote for any candidate with an adequate record on these issues. This is a far different thing than supporting the party as a whole, which is (IMO) fairly irredemable. And even if it can be saved, the wasted energies and emotions in doing so would havae been more productively invested directly in these issues.

[ChiciB1]

9. I'm Sorry I Didn't Respond Last Night, But I'm Not Sure If You

intended the comments you made for me. I'm just saying that what Ned Lamomt has done is GREAT! Maybe I worded my post incorrectly. I want MORE activism myself, I want to get out and MARCH or do something besides blog here all the time.

Down here where I live, it's extremely hard to get any movement going, but I have joined with ANY like-minded people I know to work for change! If I don't really see much, perhaps it's because my Representative is Cruella Harris. Where other states have people turning out in large groups to voice an opinion contrary to what is going on... we are lucky to have 40 or 50 people turn out for any type of event. I AM one of those who wants to see much more, and one who volunteers whenever I can.

Even in CT, MSM is still touting that The Lie will win. Personally, I think they may be wrong. My tepid reply comes from years of getting my hopes up on many many issues, only to have them destroyed by another "stunt" being pulled by these evil manipulators who seem to think they have the "RIGHT" to tell the rest of us just how WE are supposed to be jumping through hoops for them.

There has been very little change of any real value as yet! I see movement and agitation growing, but IF we don't take back Congress, where do you feel we are going to be THIS TIME next year?? If I don't show much hope it's only because I'm still waiting for the worm to turn!!!

Fear Not... get a coalition together in D.C., and I'll be there to march! I've signed more petitions, written more letters and made many many more phone calls than most people I know personally. I worked for voter registration, volunteered to get people to sign petitions for paper ballots in my area, but you must understand... Jebby is the Governor, here... Cruella is MY Representative, and I have to deal with The Idiot in the WH with his cohorts daily! And I'm one who doesn't think he even won EITHER election. I still doubt even Cruella won last time out. E-Voting scares me to death, is my vote going to REALLY be counted?? I've tried to get this issue front and center. I thought that by voting absentee it would make a difference, but now I'm not sure. I was told that many of the absentees were never even counted! When Democratic leaders won't even challenge an election, how much difference am I even making?

I'll stop for now, but let me assure you... I'm still in the game... just am still waiting to see any efforts I made show actual progress. We WILL see after November. But I DO worry about Gerrymandering and E-Voting and for me these are HUGE problems facing us right now.

[MadMaddie]

6. Is there really a battle....it would take two Dems to have a battle

Leiberman has declared his own party and it's not our party...he is No Democrat....