Centrists, The 3rd Way, Neo Liberal, "I'm a new Democrat", all

[Samantha]

131. "Third Way" and "New Dem" are indicative of the former DLC crowd

As many know, Bill Clinton was the first candidate sponsored by the DLC to reach the Oval Office. During his term in office, he personally tried to come up with a new term to describe his politics. "Third Way" and "New Dem" both were labels he considered. I read this in one of his bios written a few years ago.

The DLC fell out of favor with many true Dems and eventually had to fold. It has risen from the ashes, and many of the former members use one of these two labels to describe their political approach. We here at DU commonly refer to these particular types of politicians as conservative Democrats. Less generous critics might call them Trojan Horses.

Bill Clinton is of course a gifted politician. During his terms in office, however, he made many compromises with the Republicans in order to pass legislation such as cuts to welfare. While I do appreciate his political gifts to the Democratic party, I do not personally support New Dems or the Third Way. I am a liberal and want to see the party represent the citizens of this Country -- not the corporations and Wall Street.

I arrived here in DU in 2001 hotly complaining about the DLC and its failure to support Al Gore during the 2000 election controversy. In 2004 while rumors were surfacing Gore might seek the Presidency again, that particular group publicly voiced its opposition to another Gore run. An article appeared in The Washington Post along with a sentence with words to the effect that while they (the DLC) did not actually choose the Democratic candidate, it had a lot of influence on who the Party chose, and it would not support a Gore candidacy. Talk about hubris ....

I took a lot of heat for my posts wailing on the DLC in 2001, but eventually those here at DU at that time came to detest the DLC as much as I.

Sam