DLC : "anti-war critics betray an anti-American bias that undercuts their credibility"

[mod mom]

EXCELLENT PIECE BY KOS:

The calm before the storm
by kos

Mon Aug 22, 2005 at 01:18:42 AM PDT

Ahh, the DLC's handywork:




Ed Kilgore, policy maven at the centrist Democratic Leadership Council (which recently accused war critics of "anti-American bias"), urged caution: "At this sensitive moment in Iraq, there's no position unifying Democrats about what to do next. We need to give it a little bit more time. Troop withdrawal doesn't represent the full range of our party. It doesn't make any political sense."





Let's ignore for the moment the ridiculous notion that a troop withdrawal doesn't make any politican sense. Let's really ignore the fact that there's a higher moral issue at stake in Iraq than politics, like people's lives.

Instead, let's focus on that "anti-American" DLC quote. That didn't come from Kilgore. Rather, it was his boss Will Marshall's handiwork.





By dwelling obsessively on U.S. misdeeds while ignoring the far more heinous crimes of what is quite possibly the most barbaric insurgency in modern times, anti-war critics betray an anti-American bias that undercuts their credibility <...>

Patriotism is the ultimate values issue. Democrats need not be embarrassed by it. And they ought not to let Republicans monopolize the emblems of national pride and honor. Democrats need to be choosier about the political company they keep, distancing themselves from the pacifist and anti-American fringe. And they need to have faith in their fellow citizens: Americans will accept constructive criticism of their country if they know the critic's heart is in the right place.

-snip

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/22/41845/1251

WORTH READING!

[mod mom]

1. My favorite line from the article: "We need to make the DLC radioactive"

[Warpy]

12. You mean they aren't already?

Honestly, this degree of tone deafness won't allow them to sneak back to the party's lunatic fringe safely, they'll be tarred and feathered and ridden there on a rail.

Let's hope they keep thinking their glory days are still here and keep talking.

[Enrique]

2. happy birthday to that Kos post

it will be two years old tomorrow. :toast:

I wonder if Kilgore and the DLC did any rethinking in light of the 2006 congressional election?

[mod mom]

4. Great writing is timeless. Just read the Hillary headlines from today RE: surge.

[KoKo]

38. K&R....by the way...what's happening in "two weeks" that Kos is talking about?

:shrug: I'd run the DLC outta town on a rail if it was left to me...but what's KOS got cooking?

[ulysses]

36. re: rethinking - do you really suspect that they did?

[annabanana]

3. How dare they define "Patriotism" for us!

Anti-American my ass. I honestly think this crowd defines "Freedom" as being able to choose "paper or plastic" or "Coke or Pepsi". This crowd that would undermine the very concept of America does NOT get to call me "Anti-American"..:mad: :mad:

[Robbien]

5. It is no wonder the DLC/Blue Dogs are the minority of the party

and it is no wonder that the DLC/Blue Dogs are the darlings of the lobbyists and squirrel away all the money for themselves which belongs to the the party as a whole.

[MindPilot]

6. Well that pretty much lays it out

Frankly I'm offended by that comment; that someone in the leadership of the Democratic party would call me anti-American and question my patriotism because I'm not an enthusiastic war supporter.

And I really get pissed off at this idea that "the insurgency" is some great challenge America was called upon to meet. Hey Shithead, we started it; that "most barbaric insurgency in modern times" wouldn't exist if we hadn't invaded a county that didn't do squat to us.

[truedelphi]

20. We should all be offended

People are often dubious about my statements that if not for Hillary, MAYBE
Kerry would have had better info from his OWN G&^Damn team about whether he needed to concede or not.

But any time you look at the DLC, it seems fairly obvious that they are not really about what is good for this country - just about what is good for their own interests.

And if that meant we and the world had to suffer with another four years of george W,then so be it.

But Hillary must have the WH at any cost!

[mod mom]

24. Clinton's advisor Carville behind Kerry's concession (from TPM RE Woodward's book):

Did Carville Tip Bush Off to Kerry Strategy (Woodward)


By M.J. Rosenberg | bio




On page 344, Woodward describes the doings at the White House in the early morning hours of Wednesday, the day after the '04 election.

Apparently, Kerry had decided not to concede. There were 250,000 outstanding ballots in Ohio.

So Kerry decides to fight. In fact, he considers going to Ohio to camp out with his voters until there is a recount. This is the last thing the White House needs, especially after Florida 2000.

-snip

"Carville told her he had some inside news. The Kerry campaign was going to challenge the provisional ballots in Ohio -- perhaps up to 250,000 of them. 'I don't agree with it, Carville said. I'm just telling you that's what they're talking about.'

-snip

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/oct/07/did_carville_tip_bush_off_to_kerry_strategy_woodward

[knight_of_the_star]

31. Carville needs to change his party registration

With Democrats like him who needs Republicans?

[truedelphi]

33. Thanks for that. I was going slightly nuts trying

To locate proof on my hard drive - the article gave me key terms to search for.

(I must give thanks to the Universe that my system is still intact - years of Monsanto trying to bring it down, and probably the CIA as well. But although the computer system is intact, the grey matter, is unfortunately starting to go. Must be all those EMFS :-) )

Here's the thing: first of all I take Woodward with a grain of salt. Less than honorable man. Suck up to the Bush regime in far too many ways. (Though perpetually grateful for him and Bernstein circa 1972-74.)

The facts are these: On Nov 5th, Kerry needed about 136,000 votes to beat Bush in Ohio (or at least that was the word from officialdom)

he was told that there were UNDER 140,000 provisional ballots out there that were needing to be counted - and that would be counted regardless of whetheror not any lawsuits were filed.

Even assuming that he got a huge per centage of these ballots - he was only going to get something like 93,000 votes.

THE PROBLEM IS THIS: there were not 136,000 some ballots still out. There were 250,000 ballots out.

Blackwell - because of a chain of sequence of phone calls - Carville to Maitlin to Cheney and then to Blackwell - Blackwell's office said that there were only 136,0000 ballots still uncounted.

And Carville whispered this mis-info to Kerry. If Kerry had known that 250,000 ballots out there would he have conceded?? If he had had a better and more honest advisor whispering into his ear about the situation - what would he have done then??

At the same time, Hill was admonishing Edwards for his "grandstanding" about not conceding.

SHAME Hillary. Shame!!

[Mojambo]

7. It's a big tent, but not nearly big enough for these fuckers. n/t

[JNelson6563]

15. Succinctly put friend.

:toast:

[Zodiak]

27. Tothem,the "big tent"only opens on the right

On th left, there are millionsofthedisenfranchisedand the "left"that used to have a partyrepresenting them. For those people, the DLC would close the tent.

I think that the DLC/blue dogs have effectively destroyed the "big tent" concept of this party by hiding behind it so much while they undermine the rest of us.

I want the DLC gone to the dustbin of history...or I want them to go to the Republican party...they vote with them and take money from their donors, anyways. Perhaps they can go to the pukes and make that the new "big tent". They can even change the name of the new party to "Corporocrats" or "Wellfundicans".

Either way, this populist will not break bread with DLCers. There is too much bad blood between us...much of it shed from our constitution and our economic security.

[mod mom]

8. Here's a piece from Huff Po on who the DLC are (from a DU post):

Unmasking the DLC
Stan Goff

Few things will be as important between now and the election primaries of 2008 as making sure the public knows about the Democratic Leadership Council. Teaching the public about the role and methods of this powerful clique of Democratic Party operatives could easily be the difference between a Democratic Party that calls for an end to the war in Iraq and one that doesn't.

A strategic imperative for the antiwar movement must be to push for the defeat of any and all DLC supported candidates, and to expose and eviscerate the power of this ruling class committee. This is possible using the communications media available to popular forces through the internet, and combining this networking capacity with aggressive grassroots education efforts.

Black Commentator editor Bruce Dixon:

The DLC is the corporate-funded right wing of the Democratic Party. It was founded in the mid 1980s by a small group of mostly white, male, largely southern Democratic politicians, corporate lobbyists and fundraisers. The original clique included Tennessee Congressman Al Gore, Senators Chuck Robb of Virginia and Sam Nunn of Georgia, and Al From, a former political operative from the Jimmy Carter Administration. To them, the Democratic Party had become too open to the political voices of African Americans and Latinos, too respectful of the rights of working Americans and the labor movement, too responsive to the justice, peace and environmental movements.


Joseph Kay writes:

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) held its annual convention in Columbus, Ohio, last weekend, outlining its program for the upcoming 2006 mid-term elections and the presidential election in 2008. Speeches at the meeting and documents published in advance indicate that the Democratic Party plans to run an extremely right-wing campaign, particularly on the issues of "national security" and the war in Iraq.


-SNIP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3449707&mesg_id=3449955


BTW THAT DLC CONFERENCE IN COLUMBUS OH WAS MET WITH DEM PROTESTERS CARRYING A GIANT SPINE.

[Individualist]

11. Here's more

This is why the DLC is dangerous. For all their claims of supposedly wanting to help Democrats, they employ people like Marshall Wittman who specifically try to undermine the Democratic Party, even if it means he has to publicly defecate out the most rank and easily-debunkable lies. They reguarly give credence to the right wing's agenda and its worst, most unsupportable lies. They are the real force that tries to make sure this country is a one party state and that Democrats never really challenge the Republicans in a serious way.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/why-the-dlc-is-so-dangero_b_13640.html

Without a doubt, the DLC is the most fundamentalist organization within the caucus, the most ideologically rigid, and the most destructive to the progressive cause.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/5/24/1712/23448

An article published on the DLC website entitled, The Return of Liberal Fundamentalism attacks liberals for standing up for progressive values. Al From founded the DLC after writing a 1985 memo attacking feminists, gays, labor unions and other progressive interests and suggesting the need for an organization that would distance the Democratic party from them – the DLC. http://blog.radioleft.com/blog/_archives/2006/12/6/2553011.html

[mod mom]

13. Thanks, and lets not forget DLC's ties to PNAC (neocons):

DLC -- birthplace of the New Democrat movement and the Third Way in America -- and its companion think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), From leads a national movement that since the mid-1980s has provided both the action agenda and the ideas for New Democrats to successfully challenge the conventional political wisdom in America and, in the process, redefine the center of the Democratic Party.

-snip

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=191&contentid=1131



Will Marshall, the head of PPI signed PNAC letters.
(Called "Bill Clinton's idea mill," the Progressive Policy Institute was responsible for many of the Clinton administration's initiatives...)
Starting right after 9/11.
***************************
Along with such neocon stalwarts as Robert Kagan, Bruce Jackson, Joshua Muravchik, James Woolsey, and Eliot Cohen, a half-dozen Democrats were among the 23 individuals who signed PNAC's first letter on post-war Iraq. Among the Democrats were Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution and a member of Clinton's National Security Council staff; Martin Indyk, Clinton's ambassador to Israel; Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute and Democratic Leadership Council; Dennis Ross, Clinton's top adviser on the Israel-Palestinian negotiations; and James Steinberg, Clinton's deputy national security adviser and head of foreign policy studies at Brookings.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0522-10.htm

More about Will Marshall
Note the PNAC link to the left.
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1295

[AntiFascist]

43. I keep wondering if the DLC has joined the religious right wingnuts...

in their anti-Islamic bigotry. The comment that Will Marshall made in one of the papers on the PPI site is really bothersome: "draining the swamp of the Middle East" almost sounds like endorsment of genocide. Patriotic indeed. Sieg hiel!

[mod mom]

16. The DLC...has always had a base built on corporate money and lobbyists, not on activists

Wrong On The Right
Submitted by Robert Borosage on July 26, 2007 - 5:36pm.


The corporate wing of the Democratic Party - the Democratic Leadership Council—will meet in its "National Conversation" this weekend in Nashville. The press is already noting that while all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls will appear at the YearlyKos progressive blogger gathering in Chicago, not one is slated to join the DLC in Nashville.

DLC head Al From suggests this is because the candidates have "tunnel vision," and, focused on the Iowa caucuses, are chasing liberal activists. But From is certain that the party's nominee will turn to the DLC and drift to the right when it comes to the general election. "It's sort of like you play on one end of the field to win the nomination," From said, "but if you want to win the game, you've got to play on both ends."

This has been the DLC's theme from its inception. Democrats, the group argued, had to distance themselves from "liberal interest groups," bite their tongues, and appeal to a center that, over the years, moved ever further to the right.

But that threadbare theory, dubious when it was initially aired a quarter century ago, is divorced from reality now. The "center" of American politics isn't on the right; the center is increasingly progressive in its views. The majority of Americans now oppose the Iraq War, oppose corporate trade policies, want big reforms in health care and energy policy, and are looking for a new deal in the economy. They aren't looking for the triangulated, modest reforms that Dick Morris and the DLC championed—school uniforms and computerized medical records—they are looking for bold changes and a very new direction.

From is partially right. The progressive base of the party is driving the debate. It has grown in sophistication and capacity, from labor's revived political program to Moveon.org and the new blogger energy. And it is buoyed by a sense that a majority of Americans are increasingly in moving our way.

But the DLC—indelibly dubbed Democrats for the Leisure Class by the Rev. Jesse Jackson—has always had a base built on corporate money and lobbyists, not on activists. Its isolation isn't because it doesn't have troops in Iowa or New Hampshire. Its isolation comes because it simply has been wrong on the fundamental questions of our day. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/wrong_right?tx=3

[leftchick]

23. Hillary is the face of the DLC

she is using those DLC/Corporate dollars to secure Iowa it seems.....

http://political-fallout.blogspot.com/2007/03/dlc-merger-complete-hillary-inc-adopts.html


The inevitable finally happened when Democratic Leadership Corporation Diva, Hillary Just Hillary, acquired former DLC Chair Tom Vilsack. Even though Vilsack, Inc. went into the red after its failed presidential bid, Hillary, Inc. went ahead with the merger, promising to help Vilsack pay off his $400,000 campaign debt. Wow, that’s some dowry, eh? Maybe Vilsack should throw in a couple of goats to sweeten the deal. Although this is a mere pittance when compared to the multi-trillion dollar debt our next President stands to inherit, not including the Iraq War Bush threw in for good measure. King George may want to consider throwing in his two daughters as a peace offering.

The world of corporate politics works just the same as the traditional corporate world, meaning there’s no such thing as “money for nothin’.” So how’s Vilsack going to earn his keep? In addition to cleaning Hillary's stables and tendering his public endorsement, Hillary, Inc. gave Vilsack (formerly of Vilsack, Inc.) a title, National Co-Chairman, and we all know that titles work as good political fronts for the laundering of dirty money (e.g. Political Action Committees). Short of having any dispensable goats, Vilsack sacrificed his wife Christie, who was given the title, State Co-Chairwoman. This should help seal the deal; well sort of -- an Iowa Caucus victory for Hillary, Inc. sure would pay dividends for the DLC’s shareholders. Having already sold his soul to the DLC, I’m not sure what else Vilsack could use for collateral, should Hillary lose in Iowa.

To hold up his end of the bargain, Vilsack had already sent a letter to his list of 1,159 (1,059 after 100 of them defected to Edwards during the “Blue Scare”) supporters last week, begging them to help pay off his debt. On Monday, he sent an e-mail to Clinton’s supporters saying he planned to help Clinton win Iowa’s leadoff nominating caucuses.

Golly, that’s all he has to do for $400,000? Where do I sign up? Hillary, if you, or any of your paid supporters are reading this post, Political Fallout would like to offer its services in exchange for $400,000. For the sum, Political Fallout will publicly endorse you, accept a title of your choosing, and send e-mails to all my and supporters and yours that documents the founder of Political Fallout, T.M. Lindsey, will help you win Iowa Caucuses next January. (Note: this is not meant to be satiric, but rather, a desperate plea on behalf of a starving blogger.)

[JHB]

9. I love how they make statements like this then turn about-face...

...and call for unity.

If the officers of the DLC would spend even half as much energy attacking Republicans as they do attacking mainstream Democratic Party members, we'd HAVE unity.

[Elidor]

18. Even worse, they bash those against the war and then call us uncivil and "angry"

But people are slowly wising up to their game, which comes right out of the GOP playbook.

[ladjf]

10. "anti-war critics betray an anti-American bias that undercuts their credibility"

That statement is clearly the exact position of the Bush administration. In other words, anyone who doesn't support the war is anti-America.

Personally, I resent that remark, especially coming from self-serving crooks like the DLC.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. Bush doesn't need Karl Rove. He's got the DLC.

With friends like these, we, the people, don't need enemies.

[onethatcares]

17. so where do we go from here?

Seriously, I'm in my mid 50s, since the 2000 selection I've been aware of the vast differences tween the repubs and the democrats but I see people like Hillary and Al, and Obama, and since they are Democrats by name, I support them. I also know that they all get funding from the corporations that would like nothing better than to put an end to this freedom for all bullshit. How does one go about changing the political landscape?

Sorry if this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but to me it does.

[mod mom]

22. We need a populist candidate willing to stand up to the military industrial complex

and corporate interests. We need a candidate who doesn't push free trade-which is the reason for outsourcing of many american jobs and the reason we are getting crappy deadly products from China on goods that used to come from the U.S. Ask yourself who benefits from free trade? Is it the middle class worker who now must work multiple jobs without benefits to make ends meet? Is it families who have less time for interaction between parents and children due to the additional jobs? I don't think so. There is great economic disparity that came from free trade and yet the DLC endorsed it.

We need a candidate who admits the Iraq War was wrong, is immoral and has a plan to exit. The surge is NOT WORKING- while some areas are doing better, it is at the expense of other areas. We are stretching our military beyond the breaking point. We need a candidate who saw through the bs and was willing to speak out about what has occurred. My 2 cents.

[EFerrari]

19. By blaming the victims of a homicidal policy and by demonizing

their base, the DLC exposes themselves as neither democratic nor good leaders.

[AndyTiedye]

21. DLC = Da Lieberman Council?

[damntexdem]

25. DLC rhetoric has long betrayed both anti-democratic and anti-Democratic bias that ...

has long undercut their credibility.

[bbgrunt]

26. we don't need more stinkin' liebermans.

[Disturbed]

30. Blue Dog Dems are Rethug Lite.

The power elite in both parties do not want to end the US Occupation of Iraq. As long as third parties have no chance in the power sharing of Amerika, the two parties will rule. Amerika is a Plutocracy & always has been such.

[mod mom]

28. DLC attacks on Howard Dean:

snip

when Howard Dean came into view, the DLC was quick to underestimate Dean's potential resonance with Democratic voters, misjudge the transformative nature of his campaign and mischaracterize the ideological bent of many of his supporters. After supporting a losing candidate in Lieberman, the unpopular war in Iraq and an outdated platform, attacking Dean was the only way the DLC could shift the Democratic debate.

"What activists like Dean call the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party is an aberration; the McGovern-Mondale wing, defined principally by weakness abroad and elitist, interest-group liberalism at home," From and Reed wrote in a fiery memo titled "The Real Soul of the Democratic Party" on May 15, 2003. Four days later, after Dean won the endorsement of the 1.5 million-member public employees union AFSCME, the DLC denounced the union as "fringe activists." But others were having second thoughts--about strategy and the DLC. As Dean surged ahead, DNC chairman and Clinton confidant Terry McAuliffe told From to quiet the attacks. All nine Democratic contenders skipped the DLC's annual convention in Philadelphia.

For his part, Dean became the first serious presidential candidate to challenge the DLC openly since Jesse Jackson. But along with his clear antiwar stance, Dean frequently invoked his record of balancing budgets and his A rating from the NRA. (In fact, in 1996 the DLC had praised re-election of "the centrist Gov. Howard Dean" as indicative of a blossoming "New Democratic leadership.") This led many analysts to wonder whether the DLC's animosity was more about power than ideology. "Mr. From fancies himself a kingmaker," wrote then-Wall Street Journal columnist Al Hunt, "and Dr. Dean hasn't supped sufficiently at his table."

-snip

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0304-27.htm

[backscatter712]

29. So it's not just Republicans that call us traitors...

We're getting smeared by assholes in our own party. Because that's what the DLC is doing, when it refers to being anti-war as anti-American - calling us traitors.

If someone were to call me a traitor to my face, it would take an enormous amount of restraint, which I might not have, to keep myself from responding with a right cross and making sure that remark costs him some teeth.

We need to continue to push the Liebermans and the DLC triangulators out of the party.

[Zorra]

32. Only the republicans are more anti-American than the DLC.

Killing Americans in a senseless, counter-productive war is about as un-American as it gets.

How many American soldiers will these two groups of RW warmongers help kill off in Iraq until we can stop them?

[bigmonkey]

45. "The DLC, not quite as horrible as the Republicans" n/t

[MasonJar]

34. The US preemptive invasion is the heinous war crime he is describing, n'est pas?

And the barbaric insurgency is our Shock and Awe AGAINST INNOCENT PEOPLE, ISN'T IT?

[Individualist]

35. K&R

[JanMichael]

37. Fuck the DLC and the horse the rode in on.

Fuck them hard.

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. Amen

[TygrBright]

39. Speaking of "undercut credibility": The DLC?!? n/t

[ConsAreLiars]

41. Ah, Will Marshall, signed onto the PNAC invasion plan and led the DLC into the role of collaborators

His name is the short answer to The Question "What's wrong with the Democratic Party?"

The short Wiki biography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Marshall :
Will Marshall is one of the founders of the New Democrat movement, which aims to steer the US Democratic Party toward a more centrist orientation. Since its founding in 1989, he has been president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council.

He recently served on the board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, an organization chaired by Joe Lieberman and John McCain designed to build bipartisan support for the invasion of Iraq. Marshall also signed, at the outset of the war, a letter issued by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) expressing support for the invasion. Marshall signed a similar letter sent to President Bush put out by the Social Democrats USA on Feb. 25, 2003, just before the invasion. The SDUSA letter urged Bush to commit to "maintaining substantial U.S. military forces in Iraq for as long as may be required to ensure a stable, representative regime is in place and functioning."

He writes frequently on political and public policy matters, especially the "Politics of Ideas" column in Blueprint, the DLC's magazine. Notably, he is one of the co-authors of Progressive Internationalism: A Democratic National Security Strategy.

Prior to the founding of PPI, Marshall was variously a speechwriter for Lieutenant Governor Dick Davis of Virginia, Governor Jim Hunt of North Carolina and Representative Gillis Long of Louisiana.

(edit some capitalizations)

[eridani]

42. The right answer to that "anti-American" bullshit

When did you start confusing Bush, his Pioneer Club and his Saudi business pals with "America".

[followthemoney]

44. anti-war majority: "DLC critics betray an anti-American bias that undercuts their credibility"

The American government is to represent the sovereign people. To the extent that the government is opposed to the will of the people, it is anti-American.

The elected officials refer to themselves as public servants. To the extent that they operate in opposition to the will of the people they are servants in insurrection.