Iowa Democrats ‘embarrassed’ by progressive group

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story
By Eric W. Dolan

The antics of the progressive group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) have gone too far, according to Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky.

Thirty members of Iowa CCI confronted Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) at his town hall event on Monday, where they questioned him about supporting the Paul Ryan budget plan. After the town hall, some members of the group crowded a hallway, asking him further questions and blocking his exit.

"The behavior of Iowa CCI is unproductive, embarrassing, and has no place in a serious debate," Dvorsky said Wednesday in a statement.

"Yes, we should be working to protect Social Security, doing everything to keep our air and water clean, and ask our elected officials tough questions. Unfortunately, this group has become less focused on results and more focused on creating chaos that gets their name in the paper."

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/31/iowa-democrats-embarrassed-by-progressive-group/

[xchrom]

1. oy -- that was too much? nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

23. Don't you know - we can't just ask questions anymore.

All questions must be submitted for approval at least 24 hours in advance of any public forum at which they are going to be asked. It's just not fair to the other side to expect them to come up with appropriate answers, without checking on what Rush would say first.

Good relations with the other side is the prime goal of our side, doncha know.

(edited for last line)

[xchrom]

28. Apparently so. Nt

[tblue]

37. Tell her: [e-mail]

Let her know if you have a different perspective.

[RegieRocker]

2. Hmmm.....

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. What the hell is wrong with this Dvorsky female?????? Is she a Democrat or is she an idiot?

Democrats who can't act like Democrats need to get the hell out and RESIGN! I'm sick and tired of wimps kissing right wing ass.

[BeFree]

5. Bet she supports Empire

If she was against Empire, she'd be making crooked politicians uncomfortable: like those she bitches about.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. Wouldn't surprise me. She needs either a backbone or some honesty nt

[elocs]

8. "Is she a Democrat or is she an idiot?" I've read DU, it is possible to be both. n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

19. You're right, but I'm realizing now that real Democrats aren't idiots.

And I'm learning to separate real ones from fake ones.

[elocs]

40. That's easy: real Democrats are those who agree with me,

the rest are all whiners and posers.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

46. Not. Real Democrats are those that have the neediest in mind, not the wealthiest. nt

[elocs]

56. Well, I guess the sarcasm thingie really does need to be used.

I thought I was being obvious enough.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

58. You'd be surprised. There are people around here who would mean that seriously nt

[elocs]

59. Probably true. There are people here who get all bent out of shape is someone dares to UnRec

their thread. "How dare anyone disagree with me", which I think is really stupid. Too many want to glory in the echo chamber of the mutual admiration society.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

60. I don't think I've ever had my original posts unrec'd but I HATE unrec.

Either the thing is popular or it should be left alone.

To unrec is bs.

[elocs]

62. I disagree. If there is Rec it is only fair to have UnRec.

Anyways, there is way, way too much obsession here at DU about the whole thing anyways. You can only use that function in the first 24 hours anyway, but you can kick a thread to the top of it's forum until it is archived. Ultimately I think that is way more important than Rec because we all know there are well known posters here who could post any OP and DUers would fall all over themselves to Rec it.

I love UnRec and use it liberally because it is a choice and I hear that Democrats are supposed to like choice.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

66. I disagree completely. Unrec is bs. I have noticed that there are 'unrec groups' here

Again, not with my posts, but other people's posts.

Unrec has become a way to stop certain topics from being touched upon, and I think that sucks.

For example, I think Ralph Nader is a dickhead, but I will defend the right of Naderites to post about him. I don't have to approve. But if people want to rec it, well, so be it. However, I do NOT unrec those posts.

I unrec nothing at all. I think it's crap to unrec.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

67. It's bullshit to unrec and it has nothing to do with choice.

Unrec is destructive. You don't like something said? DON'T REC IT. But to unrec it is idiotic, childish, and reflects a really infantilized mentality.

[elocs]

70. That's your opinion and as they say, opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.

I like UnRec and will continue to use it when I feel it is appropriate. You can choose to use it or not, so how is that not a choice?

Ever consider that you may not be the final authority on what is bullshit or not?

[Critters2]

52. ...

:rofl:

[Bandit]

14. The trouble is, she is acting exactly like current Democrats...

:shrug:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

20. Well, Democrats need to have a backbone and stop kowtowing to the GOP

Those that don't, I don't consider true Democrats.

[gratuitous]

4. So, Iowa Democrats

What is the proper level of deference and respect that should be shown to Sen. Asshat Grassley as he dismantles the United States and restructures it into the Republican ideal of total subservience to monied interests? What have Iowa Democrats been doing to get results out of Sen. Grassley? Because whatever you've been doing up to this point hasn't been terribly effective.

I don't remember the "official" organs of the GOP giving the Tea Baggers any well-deserved crap for their efforts.

[MuseRider]

6. These days creating chaos

seems to be the only thing that gets some people a hearing. Sadly nothing else seems to help. Being conventional and quiet is not working.

I am pretty certain that most of those people would rather not be making a scene.

[0rganism]

27. when progressives get feisty, all that gets covered is the official rebuke

Democratic bigwig: "those liberals shouldn't have been all uppity and such. don't know what got into them, etc." <- media covers this part

when Republicans teabag a politician, their attacks are broadcast directly and the GOP supports their efforts.

mass media gatekeeping is 70%+ of the problem, at this point.

[Uncle Joe]

72. Precisely. n/t

[socialist_n_TN]

7. Isn't this the same "Death Panels for Granny"

Chuck Grassley? He doesn't DESERVE any respect.

[durablend]

9. So the 'D' stands for

Or is SUPPOSED TO stand for "Doormat Party" ?

[disillusioned73]

10. Remind me of this....

"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans."

-- Paul Wellstone

[tblue]

38. Good one! Love him.

That's what we've been doing and look what it got us.

[Peregrine Took]

11. Doesn't she know we have to play nice so they like us?? How can she not

know that?? We have a great example in the WH.

[TheKentuckian]

12. What a stupid fuckwit!

[Generic Other]

13. Notice he admits the party that had 60 senators could do anything they wanted!

Wonder what party that was? The ones who got us universal healthcare, let Bush tax cuts for the rich expire, ended the wars, got rid of NCLB? Oh that's right. They did nothing with their majority. Nothing. Guess that's what they WANTED to do.

[zazen]

15. is blocking an exit non-violent civil disobedience?

For one, I don't have the guts, health, or freedom from children to risk arrest for righteous civil disobedience (not yet, anyway), and I seriously respect those who do.

So, if these folks were breaking the law and willing to get arrested for it, well, let's call it what it is. Why should we be embarrassed about Gandhi-style civil disobedience?

However, if the reports aren't exaggerating and they really created a safety hazard for the group by blocking exits and the Senator felt genuinely physically threatened, then doesn't that move into a form of coercive civil disobedience? I don't recall the Greensboro Four blocking the exits of the Woolworth's employees.

[Historic NY]

16. Wow looked like a whole room full of terrorists..........

[Generic Other]

21. I am listening to a bunch of gray haired people

having a very civil discussion...hmmm...halfway through the video...so far, not a single rude comment...still waiting for disruptors...the veteran with the belly is certainly a distraction -- that is some impressive girth...I am having a hard time spotting the troublemakers...three quarters way through this video...ok there's like a guy with a camera, two elderly gray haired women, a an older man...and one middle aged woman who raised her voice. They want to ask him a question after the event and follow him out the door of the auditorium. That's disrupting???

I guess Iowa is no Wisconsin!

[Historic NY]

41. The Gray Panthers strike again......really....the GOP is running scared.

if thats disruption. People showing up armed with knowledge.

[cyberswede]

17. This really ticks me off

I sent an email to Sue Dvorsky thanking her for reminding me to renew my membership in ICCI - and that my money will be going to them rather than the Iowa Democratic Party from now on. And I'm even a former county central committee executive committee member. sheesh!

ICCI was recognized as a top grassroots organization by The Nation last year. They just recently prevented a huge hog farm from being built in Iowa.

http://www.iowacci.org/

[Broderick]

22. The establishment running our ONE party system

just can't have dissent. To think we have choices anymore in this corporatized government is fodder. The only thing that will change things is when people take to the streets!

[joeybee12]

24. STOP ASKING QUESTIONS....

That's NOT how a Democracy works!

[Fuzz]

25. That sounds like a Democrat. Bringing a butter knife to a gun fight.

[Bluebear]

26. What is Dvorsky's DU name?

[Critters2]

54. HA!

:rofl:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

29. Embarressed? How sad. Tragic. Tsk,tsk, poor dears. Shocking.

[Bozita]

30. So, ... just when was the Iowa Dem Party planning to start that serious debate?

After the folding?

[ikri]

31. Just as conservatives believe in a non-existant golden age past

Democrats apparently believe they live in the Republican's fantasy world where serious politicians argued the policies of the day from different angles and compromised with a policy that was best for the country.

Fantasy World
Republican: We have a load of bricks, we demand the right to hit every voter in the face with a brick!
Democrat:What? Are you insane? You can't just hit people in the face with bricks! We demand that you do something else with the bricks!
Republican (laughing):Like what? Build something?
Democrat:Yes, build schools
R:Well, I suppose we can do that. We're going to get paid for the bricks right?
D & R together: We have reached bipartisan agreement on what to do with our brick surplus!

15 years ago
Republican: We have a load of bricks, we demand the right to hit every voter in the face with a brick!
Democrat:What? Are you insane? You can't just hit people in the face with bricks! We demand that you do something else with the bricks!
R: Well someone needs to be hit in the face. Do you want to be hit in the face?
D: No. How about we look for a group who we can hit in the face?
R: Well, I suppose we can go for that. Which group do you suggest? The poor, immigrants?
D: Well definitely not anyone who might vote, how about immigrants and criminals?
R: Works for us
D & R together: We have reached bipartisan agreement on what to do with our brick surplus!

Today
Republican: We have a load of bricks, we demand the right to hit every voter in the face with a brick!
Democrat:What? Are you insane? You can't just hit people in the face with bricks! We demand that you do something else with the bricks!
R:I'm going to hit you in the face
D:Don't be crazy, you simply can't just go around hitting people in the face with bricks
R:I'm going to hit you in the face
Democrat supporters:This is insane, you can't just hit people in the face with bricks!
Democrat politician: There you go, hit those guys with the bricks
R (laughing): Come here commie and get your brick to the face
D & R together: We have reached bipartisan agreement on what to do with our brick surplus!

Tomorrow?
Republican: We have a load of bricks, we demand the right to hit every voter in the face with a brick!
Democrat:Hit me! Hit me! Hit me!

It's gone beyond an abusive spouse relationship into full on S&M territory. They're no longer opposing, they're no longer appeasing, they're lining up to be hit and asking for more.

[progressoid]

32. OMG! Look at these crazy people!

And who do they align themselves with?

Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment (CFFE)

Center for Community Change/Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM)
http://communitychange.org/our-projects/firm/

Farm Aid, http://www.farmaid.org/org/

Iowa Catholic Conference, http://www.iowacatholicconference.org/

Jefferson County Farmers and Neighbors, http://jfaniowa.org/

Massachusetts Immigration & Refugee Advocacy Coalition,
http://www.miracoalition.org/

National Family Farm Coalition, http://www.nffc.net

National People's Action, http://www.npa-us.org/

National Training and Information Center, http://www.ntic-us.org/

Occupational Safety & Health Administration, http://www.osha.gov/

Sunflower Community Action, http://www.sunfloweract.com/

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, http://www.ufcw.org/

Western Organization of Resource Councils, http://www.worc.org/

They're RADICALS!! EEEK!

http://www.iowacci.org/index.htm

[in_cog_ni_to]

36. That little gray haired lady scares the shit out of me! She's a menace to society!

:eyes:

They should definitely be locked up.

[in_cog_ni_to]

33. Don't be mean to the poor wittle Rethugs! You might actually get something done!

:eyes: Sheesh. The rethugs bring ballistic missiles to these fights and the Democrats take spitball straws. Pathetic.

[RandiFan1290]

34. Don't they know the script?

The Washington Generals are supposed to lose the game.

[B Calm]

35. I got news for these DINO's, go fuck yourself and get the hell out our party!

[in_cog_ni_to]

39. OR we start our own party! The Progressive Union Party. For the People, by the people and with the

the people...always. No corporate donors needed, wanted or allowed. Enough of this bullshit corporate owned government. We need a party that cannot be bought.

[kenny blankenship]

42. Maybe the big underlying problem with the Democratic Party is that its leadership is composed

of people who either already belong or wish to be accepted among the same country club class that staffs and funds the Republican Party?

If you want a working Democratic Party, maybe you'd better start insisting that it be led by working people? Looking to Harvard and Yale for leadership has proved to be a one way ticket to moderate, centrist bipartisan crushing failure - 3 decades of it, piled one on top of the other. Nice moderate irrelevant failures are the only kind of Democrat that is accepted in "polite society". To hell with them and their tasteful choices in executive neckwear.

[county worker]

43. If it weren't for the left, center would be the tea party.

Those who don't like what progressives are doing ought to thank them. They are kind of like the anchor in a tug of war game. If they stop pulling the rest of the Dems would be pulled over to the right and the center would move further right.

I like to look at it this way. We were a progressive country during the period just after WWII and up until Reagan took over. So the progressives are trying to get us back to that place or in other word to recapture lost ground. Most Dems today are accepting of something much more conservative than what we had in the 50's and 60's.

What passes as Democratic today is right of Richard Nixon!

[loyalsister]

44. Are we forgetting that a member of congress was just shot?

come on. Of course Democrats are, correctly, going to discourage anything that is the least bit physically intimidating.

[Critters2]

55. Did you watch the video? nt

[and-justice-for-all]

45. That is the only way those fucks are going to answer real questions...

and those Progressives pay taxes just like everyone else and ALL reps need to stop acting like kings and queens and be knocked back down to the public servant level.

I do not disagree with their actions at all.

[treestar]

47. If Tea Partiers blocked some Democrat's exit, I don't think we'd

dismiss it.

[JoseGaspar]

48. No... The Republican Party would dismiss it,,,

...which was exactly the point.

[0rganism]

73. not dismiss, ENDORSE

If those were teabaggers obstructing a politician's exit (especially a Democrat), it would go like this:

Republican party official: "Well, clearly, there's a lot of anger out there. The people are hurting, and we're letting Democrat politicians know we're fed up with them."

local media whore: "Why are people so angry at Democrat politicians?" <plays excerpt of angriest teabagger antics> "Yep, clearly a lot of public dissatisfaction with the Democrats."

Republican radio pundit: "Democrats are just getting in the way of this country! Listen to how angry these people are: " <replays audio from same clip, which is by now also a viral youtube video> "You can't shut that kind of passion down! The people are standing up to oppression, and making themselves heard. We ALL need to be doing this at every opportunity, or else those liberal elites will think it's okay to continue raising taxes to buy votes from illegal immigrants and taking away your second amendment right to self defense."

When Republicans see this kind of rage on their side, they use it. They don't apologize or ignore, they double down.

And if it was somehow a Republican politician the teabaggers were protesting? The GOP officials and the media whores would just pretend it was a Democrat. Fox News would conveniently print a "D" after their name -- oh so sorry, such a tiny mistake, it'll never happen again, we promise.

[EFerrari]

49. Democracy is messy.

:)

[JoseGaspar]

50. "Getting results" or "getting things done"...

...are the two worst bullshit memes in the Democratic Party. One of these two is always the phrase that comes before abject surrender.

To contrast principle with "reality" is the false dichotomy of the professional liar. People who lack principle have never ever gotten anything "done".

It's almost as bad as when they tell you what they "believe", before they say what they've actually done.

[Skidmore]

51. This Iowan just dropped a few lines to Ms. Dvorsky

and let her know that her concerns were certainly not voiced so adamantly when Grassley was tossing out BS like "killing Grandma" during the healthcare mess nor have we heard much from her regarding the outrageous behavior of the Teabagger contingent. I told her while we will vote for the President in 2012, state and local Democrats will rise or fall based upon how well they support and work to actualize the Democratic Party platform.

BTW. We will get to the next meeting ole Chuck has in our area and we will make certain that those concerns get voiced. This needs to happen everywhere.

[Critters2]

53. I love watching citizens explain legislation to this Senator.

What an asshat! Why do people keep voting for him!

[bullwinkle428]

57. KISS MY IOWA ASS, Sue! If you think this helps the GOTV effort

for 2012, you've got a screw loose!

[Douglas Carpenter]

61. how embarrassing!! Could anyone EVER imagine Republicans acting this way?

[Hugabear]

63. You mean like this?

[Le Taz Hot]

64. Ah yes, the "must keep the powder dry" Democrats.

This scenario could have occurred anywhere in the nation. The bottom line is that the Democratic Party is terrified of pissing off the Republicans and Obama leads the way on that one.

[Douglas Carpenter]

65. The Democratic Party establishment see themselves as running a business. The GOP establishment see

themselves as a cause in a life and death struggle. Let's face reality, the vast majority of professional Democratic Party operatives don't really believe in anything. They are kind of like the ecclesiastical leaders of a religious domination that has long lost any passion of faith and concerns themselves with building programs, raising enough money to keep things well funded and functioning, maintaining order and protecting their careers. It's not that they're really conservatives or liberals or centrist or moderates or left-of-center or right-of-center or anything. They are there to keep things running, avoid controversy and above all to protect careers.

In contrast the Republican Party establishment are true believing ideologues on a mission to reshape America and the world according to their beliefs.

If one understands this then one understands why as David Frum put it in one of his rare moments of lucidity, The Republican Party fears its base. The Democratic Party loathes its base."

[Rambis]

68. Somebody with some balls steps up IDP castrates

Dems are like republicans and republicans are marginalized whack jobs- Where do I go?

[Fuddnik]

69. Why, the nerve of those fucking retards!

"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." Thomas Paine

[librechik]

71. so now we know EXACTLY what would happen if the Dems had a "Tea Party"

they are lucky they weren't arrested by their own representatives. Democrats hate hippies. And all it takes to be a hippy is to ask a question.