Actual (enhanced) headline: "Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) will fold" (i.e. close down)

[WilliamPitt]

Democratic Leadership Council will fold

The Democratic Leadership Council, the iconic centrist organization of the Clinton years, is out of money and could close its doors as soon as next week, a person familiar with the plans said Monday.

The DLC, a network of Democratic elected officials and policy intellectuals had long been fading from its mid-'90s political relevance, tarred by the left as a symbol of "triangulation" at a moment when there's little appetite for intra-party warfare on the center-right. The group tried -- but has failed -- to remake itself in the summer of 2009, when its founder, Al From, stepped down as president. Its new leader, former Clinton aide Bruce Reed, sought to remake the group as a think tank, and the DLC split from its associated think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute.

But Reed left the DLC last year himself to serve as Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff, leaving Ed Gresser, a trade expert, to lead the group in the interim. Since then the board "hasn't been able to find someone who wanted to come on in a permanent capacity," a person familiar with the group's woes said, with the central problem the difficulty of raising money for a Democratic group that isn't seen as an ally of the White House.

(snip)

The DLC is already showing signs of disrepair. Its website currently leads a Harold Ford op-ed from last November, titled, "Yes we can collaborate." It lists as its staff just four people, and has only one fellow. Recent tax returns weren't immediately publicly available, but returns from 2004-2008 show a decline in its budget from $2.6 million to $1.5 million, and a source said funding further dried up during the financial crisis that began nine months before Reed took over.

The rest: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0211/Democratic_Leadership_Council_will_fold.html?showall

On edit: I know, this is Politico...so we'll see.

[Blue Owl]

1. Harold Fold

I'll miss Harold.

Not.

[PurgedVoter]

2. Made my day!

Oh, yeah!

[Ian David]

3. Whenever the DLC called me for money, I told them I was donating to DFA and MoveOn.org instead.

Which I did.

[tekisui]

4. Great news!

[babylonsister]

5. Who or what will everything be blamed on and/or compared

to now? :crazy:

[WilliamPitt]

6. .

:rofl:

[Wilms]

7. The DLC is going away.

Not the pro-choice republicans who've taken over the Democratic party.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. The Shadow DLC

You know they will all still be out there .



They have just chosen to hide from the prying eyes of those who may actually be paying attention.



Be Afraid!!! Be Very Afraid!!!!!







:sarcasm:

[rpannier]

19. I for one will be glad they're gone

However, you ask an interesting question

After Emmanuel left people cheered (including me - I'll admit it)
But people are less thrilled with his replacement (including me)

My mother used to say, "Be careful what you wish for because you may get it."

[aquamarina]

8. Good Riddance.

[GeorgeGist]

9. Perhaps they just go the memo.

To: DLC employees
From: The Democratic Leaders.
Subject: Termination

Dear DLC employees.

In these troubling times, we all face cutbacks. We have decided to outsource our leadership to Republican council. Therefore your services are no longer necessary.

[Davis_X_Machina]

11. I anticipate a crisis on DU..

..with the DLC gone, and Rahm gone, whose fault will things be now?

[Dappleganger]

12. well, it's rather redundant...

to have a DLC headquarters when they already are in control of the democratic party too. They've got their WH seat after all.

[progressoid]

14. Yup. +1

[obxhead]

13. I'm sure they are already working on plans for a new group

that will be even more successful at pushing the conservative agenda.

[mmonk]

15. The government is loaded with these guys.

Is the PPI going to fold?

[femrap]

16. Now that we're

all just one big happy party, who needs the DLC? There's Repugnant Lite, Repugnant, and Neo-Repugnant. Mission Accomplished.

[Dappleganger]

17. +10000

[salvorhardin]

18. Burying the lede...

I think a more accurate headline for this story would've been "DLC rebrands itself as Progressive Policy Institute".

The real story is in the last two paragraphs:

The DLC is already showing signs of disrepair. Its website currently leads a Harold Ford op-ed from last November, titled, "Yes we can collaborate." It lists as its staff just four people, and has only one fellow. Recent tax returns weren't immediately publicly available, but returns from 2004-2008 show a decline in its budget from $2.6 million to $1.5 million, and a source said funding further dried up during the financial crisis that began nine months before Reed took over.

PPI appears poised to pick up the group's legacy on the center-left; it has ramped up steadily since the two split, and now has 11 paid staff and two fellows, an official at PPI said.

[mmonk]

21. Bingo. And I don't consider the PPI "center left" and neither should

any thinking person.

[kath]

23. Oh, GACK! - so they're going to use the word "progressive" in the name of a Repug-lite group?

:puke: :puke: :puke:

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[salvorhardin]

24. Have you seen their website?

The HTML title on their front page reads: "Progressive Policy Institute: Defining The Third Way".

Also, notice the front page ad for "Progressive Fix: The Place For Pragmatic Progressives."

http://www.ppionline.org
http://www.progressivefix.com

[Starry Messenger]

30. PPI has been around for awhile

From the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20000229031325/www.dlcppi.org/

[salvorhardin]

31. I know

PPI dates to 1989 but they split from the DLC in Spring of 2009.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=D8A42147-18FE-70B2-A8B906ED25F961CA

[rpannier]

20. You'd think with all the people in DC that are members of the DLC they'd be flushed with cash

I guess not
Good bye and Good riddance

[Umbral]

22. It just that they're all too busy working for the Obama Administration... nt

[eridani]

25. Why not? They already won everything n/t

[neverforget]

26. I can drink to that!

:toast: Good riddance. Now,can we get rid of Third Way too?

[scarletwoman]

27. Big whoop. They've already rotted the heart of the Democratic Party.

Thinking that this is good news is a bit like cheering the death of a termite colony after it's already eaten through all the lumber in the frame of your house.

sw

[TheKentuckian]

28. Yeah, don't get the cheers or the snide comments of the DLCers

The Borg assimilated the party they don't need no stinking shadow government.

[Oilwellian]

29. The letters "DLC" have become so toxic

they're just regrouping under a fresh, new name. The same players are destroying the democratic party from within.