Was there ever any good reason for the DLC to exist, or for the DLC take over this party?

[Ken Burch]

Corollary question: would anything be worse for the people Democrats have the greatest obligation to fight for and defendhe poor, people of color and working-class people in general-if the DLC had never existed?

12 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	No, there was no good reason for the DLC to ever exist or to take over the party
	10 (83%)
	Yes, there was good reason for the DLC to exist, but not for it to take over the party
	1 (8%)
	Yes, there was good reason for the DLC to exist AND for it to take over the party
	1 (8%)
	Not really sure
	0 (0%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[Warpy]

1. Of course there wasn't. They just sold themselves as the way to counter Nixon's southern strategy

by offering conservative Southern Democrats as candidates for the top spot and for concentrating party resources on winning sure things, only, neglecting districts that elected more GOP than Democrats on average.

They were initially funded by the Koch brothers. That should tell people everything they need to know about them.

[murielm99]

2. Was there ever a good reason to post

silly push-polls on DU?

I think you forgot that option.

[daybranch]

3. Great post

Maybe the one on DU who did not want to vote was Hillary??? Just kidding, but she shoulld be asked.

[1939]

4. 1980, 1984, and 1988 come to mind

as reasons to form something like the DLC.

They were trying to recover the Reagan Democrat votes.

[treestar]

5. Whoever formed it had their reasons

I couldn't answer this without learning more of the history of the DLC.

It's one of those DU root of all evil things that I don't really see has been the subject of any true analysis.

[Scuba]

6. Of course there was. The Koch brothers wanted to own both parties, so they started the DLC.

http://americablog.com/2010/08/koch-industries-gave-funding-to-the-dlc-and-served-on-its-executive-council.html

And for $25,000, 28 giant companies found their way onto the DLC’s executive council, including Aetna, AT&T;, American Airlines, AIG, BellSouth, Chevron, DuPont, Enron, IBM, Merck and Company, Microsoft, Philip Morris, Texaco, and Verizon Communications. Few, if any, of these corporations would be seen as leaning Democratic, of course, but here and there are some real surprises.

One member of the DLC’s executive council is none other than Koch Industries, the privately held, Kansas-based oil company whose namesake family members are avatars of the far right, having helped to found archconservative institutions like the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Not only that, but two Koch executives, Richard Fink and Robert P. Hall III, are listed as members of the board of trustees and the event committee, respectively–meaning that they gave significantly more than $25,000.

The DLC board of trustees is an elite body whose membership is reserved for major donors, and many of the trustees are financial wheeler-dealers who run investment companies and capital management firms–though senior executives from a handful of corporations, such as Koch, Aetna, and Coca-Cola, are included.

Bill and Hillary Clinton were founding members.

[HereSince1628]

7. The story that's pushed is to convince people that the Party was in disaster mode

but really the DLC was about shifting dominant influence in the party toward the South, where a variety of policies had led to an economy that had expanded some say at the expense of the 'old foundry' states, while many northern cities quite literally went rusty and jobless as manufacturers moved away.

The failures of the economy of northern cities, made iconic in the bankruptcy New York City faced in the late 70's, was probably more influential in the shift of public attitude and power than the losses of the 80's dem presidential candidates. The best evidence that it wasn't about presidential elections is that power swing and the development of the DLC was well underway -before- the Dukakis loss in 88.

[meow2u3]

8. The DLC should have formed their own party

instead of taking over the Democratic Party and kicking traditional Democrats to the fringes.

They're a bunch of disgruntled repukes kicked out of the GOP because they werent RWNJ enough for the crazy clowns.