Liberals Convene — and Air Differences Over Democrats

[babylonsister]

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/06/liberals_convene_and_air_diffe.html

Liberals Convene — and Air Differences Over Democrats
By CQ Staff | 4:15 PM; Jun. 20, 2007 | Email This Article

By Miranda Blue, CQ Staff

It is hard to boil down anything about the highly diverse and often fractious Democratic Party to an either/or choice.

But there appeared to be two major schools of thought at the sixth annual Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C., this week — organized by the liberal group Campaign for America’s Future and attended by a mix of 3,000 pamphlet-pushing activists, headphone-wearing bloggers and buttoned-down political pros.

In one group are the Democratic Party regulars such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and the front-running candidates for the party’s 2008 presidential nomination, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, who were featured speakers at the conference.

Certainly characterized by the Republican opposition as liberals, these Democratic leaders hailed the party’s takeover of Congress in the 2006 elections and pledged to continue raising their voices against President George W. Bush’s policies on the Iraq war and other issues — even though the Democrats’ lack of filibuster-proof and veto-proof majorities has frustrated their ability to implement much of their agenda.

In the other camp at the conference were activists who view themselves as on the front lines of the progressive political movement — and who regard Democratic leaders as too willing to bow to Bush’s will rather than confront him.

more...

[MrModerate]

1. Much better than the Stepford Politicians . . .

who have -- until recently -- been the only visible participants in Republicanism among elected officials. Now the whole enterprise is fracturing, as well it should.

[leftchick]

2. “Take back the party!”

he got that right.