Excommunicate the DLC!

[Spiffarino]

Jonathan Singer makes a great case for dumping Al From and the DLC - not that most Dems aren't thinking about it already - because for Singer this is the last straw:

Excerpts -

For some time we have known about the DLC's interest in an independent presidential bid by Michael Bloomberg, so it should not come as a major surprise that the organization is helping New York City's Republican mayor plan his potential campaign. Andrew Kirtzman has the scoop for WCBS-News.

CBS 2 has learned the details of a private dinner for the mayor that was held at an apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East Side last month. There, he spent the evening in serious discussions about the viability of a White House run.

Sources told CBS 2 Bloomberg brought three deputy mayors with him, and proceeded to talk through every angle of a presidential run. By the end, the group had zeroed in on his running as an independent in 2008. And, the sources said, he seemed intrigued.

The dinner was held at the home of Michael Steinhardt, a legendary Wall Street hedge fund manager and a Bloomberg friend. He brought along Al From, head of the Democratic Leadership Council, which played a part in Bill Clinton's rise to power in 1992.

I don't particularly like the theoretical aim of the DLC -- bringing the Democratic Party closer to the center, or at least making it more palatable to corporations -- not do I approve of its tactics, particularly Democrat-bashing. But as bad as these two things are, for the DLC to help advance the candidacy of a presidential aspirant outside of the Democratic Party is political treason, grounds enough for excommunication.

More...

[Nite Owl]

1. I'll second that

move to excommunicate them. They are democrats as much as ol' Joe Leiberman is and the party is not going to be remade in their image. They have to, at the least, drop the front that they are democrats in any way. Call themselves whatever they want but disassociate from the party.

[tk2kewl]

2. Absolutely!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2147043

[Spiffarino]

4. K&R

Sigh...beaten yet again. I should have searched "Al From" before posting, but I still want Singer's article to get some attention from DUers.

Great find, kewl!

[tk2kewl]

5. it can't bee said enough

;)

[snowbear]

3. LATER ---- after November ---- for now, we need **every** Democrat

And everytime we waste our time bitching about Al From and the DLC, we seem to bring down the enthusiam in our own party.

Lefty, Moderate or slightly to the right -- if they are DEMOCRATS we need them right now !!!!!

We'd all love all of our Democrats to be just like this one ------->

But it ain't gonna happen! --- Not until we get a majority and start winning again!!

>>> I would much rather have DLC'er Casey over A-hole ReTHUG Santorum!

>>> I would much rather have DLC'er Harold Ford over A-hole ReTHUG Corker!

>>> I would much rather have any DEMOCRAT over a THUG !!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Until the November races come and go --- I don't plan to spend time dissing any member of my party.

We have too much work to do!

[Spiffarino]

6. Good point, but...(and you knew there'd be one)

The DLC actively undermining the Democratic party by supporting non-Democrats seems more harmful than helpful. You may be right about this election cycle because it really is too important to leave to chance.

Pretty soon, once the grassroots grow up, we're going to start weeding and DLC-types will have to become Republicans. If Ford and Casey have to move a skosh to the left to fit in, so be it. America needs to become forward-thinking and progressive again, and we Dems have to get back to our roots to make it happen. FDR is a much better standard than DLC Corporatistas.

[snowbear]

7. Fine.. but let's bash them AFTER NOVEMBER ... it's too close !!

Sorry.. but everytime we "Diss a Dem" (any Dem), the lurking Rethugs LOVE it!

You think they want Lincoln Chafee in their party? --->

HELL NO.. they'd love to replace him with a Laffey type.

But Chafee can WIN for them.

(well, at least the primary.. we'll still get him in November! )

I'm just saying --->> as bad as DLC'ers may be --- the trashing and bashing should wait until AFTER November.

After we have won!

You can afford to be more selective when you have a majority!

[Spiffarino]

8. larissa, I love your "disagreeable" posts

Why do I always feel better after you take me to task?

:hug:

[snowbear]

9. Hmmmm, I dunno... maybe I should do it more often:

.
.
.
.


(just kidding )

[Spiffarino]

10. Eeeeek!!! Sissy slap fight!!!

:rofl:

[LynneSin]

11. Amen and Amen

:D

Primaries are our chance to go after democrats we are challenged over. Fall election is the time to go after republicans

[salin]

12. I *used* to think that was they way to play it... then there was Lieberman

and I believe the From crowd is supporting (at least informally) the Third Party candidate from Connecticut (running under the "Connecticut for Lieberman" party) over the Democratic candidate who one through the primaries?

Let's just replace the "D" of the DLC with an "M" for Moderate - as they seem to have jumped the line from providing "Leadership" for Democratic Party candidates to instead promoting Moderates - of which ever party.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

14. Loserman's new campaign director (Sun)

is "on loan" from the DLC

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=143x370.

[salin]

15. Motion: instead of bashing DLC at DU, let's just rename them: MLC

Frankly, I think they are moving this direction because they have lost more and more influence - that more strategists aren't following - and that they are now seeking a new constituency.

[Zhade]

26. We can't - they're not moderates.

At best, they're conservatives.

[salin]

29. relative to current conservatives?

The bushera has shifted everything to the right. I would say they are right-leaning centrists/corporatists - moderates on the right spectrum... conservatives on the left spectrum. But regardless - they seem to be divorcing themselves from the label "Democratic" - and it should be erased from their organization's name... or at least not acknowledged (as in someone refers to the DLC... should say the Who? Oh the MLC - or Oh the 'antidemocraticparty but not quite self-admitted republican LC'.

[Greyhound]

18. Have you forgotten how and why we started losing in the first place?

The DLC embodies the very philosophy that has brought us to this sad place. I don't imagine that they will be jettisoned in time to make a difference in this election, but their toxic influence is why we are being told now that we may win the House but not the Senate.

They are why you can say "Lefty, Moderate or slightly to the right" and, apparently, believe it. They are re:puke: in every respect other than having the guts to just come out and say it. They are the influence that has granted the re:puke: wet dream of NAFTA, Welfare "reform", out-sourcing and off-shoring, etc. etc.

[Totally Committed]

20. Great post...

and, the real truth of the matter, too.

TC

[Greyhound]

28. Thank you.

It just infuriates me that so many in "our" party just close their eyes to what this little cabal has done, and is doing, to the party and to us. They are why so many of our natural base don't even bother to vote anymore. They are the latest iteration of the power brokers that, back in 1968, showed the world they would rather live under re:puke: rule, than surrender any of that power.

[Totally Committed]

30. I know....

I can't understand whay ANYONE in this Party still believes the DLC is with us rather than against us.

They've done everything but take out a billboard in Times Square saying they hate the base of this Party, love neverending war, and NEVER met a corporation who didn't deserve consideration over every voter.

Ugh.

TC

[Totally Committed]

13. I'm totally with you on this!

The DLC Has got to go!

TC

[Orangepeel]

16. how? do we take away his keys to the building?

As much as I would like to be the one who says who gets to be a Democrat, it doesn't quite work that way. Pretty much anyone can claim a party affiliation.

[w4rma]

27. Democrats leave his organization for an alternative "moderate" one. (nt)

[SOS]

17. Lucky for us

The nearly defunct DLC now seems more interested in promoting McCain, Bloomberg and Lieberman, none of whom are Democrats.
They seem to realize their days of influence in the Democratic Party are over.
Good!
Go support Bloomberg in 2008 and leave the Democratic Party to Howard Dean.

[Zhade]

19. The DLC helping conservatives? What a shock!

Heck, some of their supporters post bald-faced lies about Lamont, so it's not like this type of thing is surprising.

[CarlVK]

21. THANK YOU!!

More and more Democrats are waking up to the nonsense of the DLC. Better late than never.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

22. An outrage-- Lieberman, Hillary, now From obviously care

far more about their own personal ambitions and cronies, and their own corporate sweetheart deals, than they do about the Democratic Party, let alone the American people. They're the single greatest threat to our having any sort of viable Progressive movement in this nation.

[CarlVK]

23. The good news is, they have been found out.

Now what remains to be seen is if Democrats remember during the elections, and don't fall back on "Hey, any phoney ass GOP-arse licking Democrat will do considering the alternative!"

[mom cat]

24. They went way over the line this time!

[nealmhughes]

25. Let the Purge begin after the November election.

Take them to task for all their "litmus test" nonsense. According to From et al. the progressive wing runs with scissors, eats paste, wets the bed, and don't play well with others, wear sandals in the snow and bicycle to the organic market, in short "museli eating sandal wearing Guardian readers," as a Brit once said (was it the gin-soaked Chris Hitchens?)...

Let the DLC tout their corporate agenda. And, Lord, open thou the eyes of the junior senator from New York!

I don't want the Democratic Party to be "Republican Lite." I can respect Republicans who ARE Republicans, but I of late have little use for the DLC, the Blue Dogs, or anyone who never met a "free trade" or pro-corporte, pro-war bill they didn't like. In fact, I recently screeded a small rant pro-PDA, which while attacking the "Republican Corporate Party" at Screeching Rats at http://screechignrats.wordpress.com , an impassioned plea for the working people to rejoin the Democrats in the progressive PDA wing of the party and left out the original "and Democratic enablers".

Let the civil war between the Democrats begin after we take back the House and probably the Senate!