Re: The DLC/Third Way/Corporatist "Open Mind Meme"

[Zorra]

We see it over and over again.

This is the message. It has many variants, but the underlying message is always the same:

If you believe contrary to the corporatist drivel that we spout in order to try to convince you to abandon your traditional Democratic values, propaganda that is specifically fabricated for the purpose of moving the Democratic Party to the right and make it more like the republican party, then you do not have an open mind.

Oh, golly gee, how thoughtless of us, please forgive us Democrats for not listening to your thinly veiled, childish GOP junior varsity cheerleader slogans.

Third Way aims for front and center
11/2/10 4:07 AM EDT

The long-simmering battle between moderates and liberals for the soul of the Democratic Party is about to explode.
snip---
That presents a golden opportunity for Third Way, a five-year-old think tank that remains largely unknown outside the Beltway.
snip---
In addition, the group’s fellows and policy advisers will start rolling out memos and studies that offer a framework for how Democrats could reach common ground with Republicans. The economic team is developing a proposal that it thinks could win bipartisan support. It includes tort reform and incentives for research and development. And Cowan’s writing a paper with a colleague about “the danger of left-wing economic populism.”
snip---
Cowan’s group wants to play a role in 2011 akin to the Democratic Leadership Council’s in 1995. Then, the last time Democrats lost the House, President Bill Clinton’s willingness to “triangulate” between traditional Democratic orthodoxies and the Republicans who controlled Congress led to welfare reform, community policing and a slew of smaller accomplishments that helped propel Clinton to a second term.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44523.html#ixzz1STfCb1CN
:puke:

The Third Way is the conservative corporatist cesspool where the the bulk of the slimy anti-Democratic party talking points are coming from. Doing the work of the GOP for them.

The Third Way is clearly, in reality, a third party dedicated to eliminating the progressive ideologies of the Democratic Party, and should be treated as such.

"See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
George Walker Bush

What the Third Way does:


Peace

[Autumn]

1. Very good article K/R

[Zorra]

14. I actually found the article at the Third Way website.

It's like they were bragging about it by posting it right on the front page!

In my mind, as a traditional yellowdog FDR lovin' Democrat, it is a condemnation of the high order.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[21st Century FDR]

3. “the danger of left-wing economic populism.”

Yeah right..... so dangerous that it saved this fucking country the last time we actually tried it.

[myrna minx]

4. K&R n/t

[Yavapai]

5. We have a two party system - the only problem is that we are not invited to the party!

...at least it seems that way to me.

[Zorra]

8. Yes. Follow the money.

Who is financing Third Way? Who profits by shifting the ideology of the Democratic Party toward the corporatist ideology that is the very core of GOP ideology and policy?

The bottom line is that wealthy private interests are attempting to end democracy by taking complete control of our government by controlling both Party's in a two party system.

That's why we are not being invited to the party, IMO.

[nashville_brook]

6. "many of Third Way’s most sympathetic Democratic allies now appear likely to lose (in 2012)"

from the article:


Of 255 House Democrats, 102 are members of the Blue Dog or New Democrat caucuses. Only 38 of those running for reelection face non-competitive reelections, according to the latest issue of a monthly newsletter analyst Bill Schneider writes for Third Way (where he is a resident scholar).

Because of the reddish districts the new members represent, the moderates will suffer the heaviest losses. This means the Democratic caucus in the next Congress will be more liberal on the whole and thus potentially more leery of a third-way philosophy.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44523.html#ixzz1STpWuxjc

[kctim]

7. And they will lose

to Republicans, not progressives, which means a smaller and weaker Democratic caucus.

[KittyWampus]

10. You're quoting Bill Schneider? He's a tool.

From Politico? They're also a tool.


And you realize he's saying Democrats will be losing to Republicans thus making the Dem caucus potentially smaller?

[Zorra]

13. Can a Democratic candidate be more conservative than a progessive

Democratic candidate without being a Third Way party corporatist? Why do they have to be a Blue Dog?

The primary difference between a Third Way Blue Dog and a fiscally conservative Democrat is primarily that the Third Way party candidate believes that the commercial concerns of private wealthy interests take precedence over the needs of human beings.

I believe what you are saying is also a Third Way meme, that only Third Way/Blue Dog party candidates can win against republicans in conservative areas.

Democratic administrations are historically and consistently actually more fiscally conservative than republicans. We just spend the money on better and more useful things and we waste less.

Do you think that the average on the fence voter votes for a more conservative Democrat because that Democrat believes that wealthy private interests need more control of government, and that they vote for Blue Dogs because they are more likely to vote with republicans?

Democrats appear to actually be more fiscally conservative than republicans. We just spend money on different things, and less of it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x719875

Economic and political commentators have noted a pattern between changes in US national debt and US presidential terms over the last few decades. These commentators observe that US national debt (as a percentage of GDP) have increased under Republican Presidents, but have decreased under Democratic Presidents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

The DNC needs to start financing primary campaigns of fiscally conservative Dems that are not ideologically aligned with the republican party's core principle that business and profits trump democracy and also trumps the safety and security of the American people rather than Third Way Blue Dogs in conservative areas. The perception of the Democratic candidate simply needs to be framed as that of a more conservative Dem, nothing more. Logic dictates that it is moneyed interests that primarily back Third Way party Blue Dog corporatists in conservative areas for obvious reasons, they have more potential to make them more profits and do what their bidding.

Seriously, with friends like Blue Dogs, who needs enemies?

Blue Dogs Identifying Spending Cuts To Pay For Bush Tax Cuts For Wealthy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/24/blue-dogs-identifying-spe_n_738114.html

Blue Dogs threatening to quash health bill over surtax voted for Bush tax cuts.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/07/16/51188/blue-dogs-surtax/

Who Controls the Bush Tax Cut Debate?

That leaves the $3 trillion Bush tax cuts in the hands of the outgoing moderates, a motley crew of ousted Blue Dog Democrats in the House and retiring or rejected moderates in the Senate -- like Evan Bayh, Byron Dorgan and midterm casualty Blanche Lincoln. "There is a short window to stake out ground next week," the Treasury official said.

And so, it will be the conservative Democrats -- the group most victimized by the midterm shellacking -- controlling the debate over the Bush tax cuts. If Blue Dogs and Senate Democrats gravitate toward the party that just pulped them, Obama might have no choice but to acknowledge de facto Republican leadership a few months early by signing their full Bush tax cut extension. But if the moderates are itching to go out with a fight, the president might yet follow through on one of his oldest promises.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/11/who-controls-the-bush-tax-cut-debate/66319/

[damntexdem]

9. Oh, you mean The DLC/Third Way/Corporatist "Empty-Head Meme."

Well, empty headed for anyone who would fall for it who's among the majority who are hurt by it.

[MilesColtrane]

11. If I wanted to destroy the Democratic party...

I'd make sure the grassroots saw plenty of stories painting the centrists as corporate DINOs and the left as secret GOP plants paid to attack Obama.

The old Divide and Conquer seems to be in full swing here.

The different wings of the Party need to focus on their common goals and use a little critical thinking when it comes to the Rovian FUD being tossed around.

[HereSince1628]

12. The "third way" branding creeps me out.

Fascists and phalangists both argued their approach represented the 'third way.'