John Kerry and the DLC.

[PresidentObama]

I see some Kerrycrats, well one at least, trying to say Hillary Clinton is the DLC.

Well, Hillary is a DLC member.

And I hate the DLC. But I support her.

But unlike some of you, I don't disqualify candidates based on their involvement with groups like the DLC. I look at their positions, the issues they campaign, their records, their rhetoric, and the vision they present for the country.

But to suggest Hillary Clinton is the DLC is insane when John Kerry has been a member and been involved with the DLC in the past.

Want proof? Here you go:

http://www.nndb.com/group/269/000093987/

and back up link here:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/5/27/55951/1586

John Kerry's been a part of the DLC in the past. He isn't anymore, but he has. And to suggest he hasn't is lying and distorting the truth.

He also keynoted the DLC National Conversation in 2004:
http://www.co.cochise.az.us/PressReleases/Newman%20to%20Represent%20County%20at%20DLC%20Conference%20050504.htm

Hell, the DLC shows up on Senator Kerry's website:
http://kerry.senate.gov/text/cfm/record.cfm?id=181571

So I hate the DLC. And I love Senator Kerry.

But I'm not about to attack him nor Hillary for this.

Disagree with them for being a member of the DLC. But don't use talking points against my current candidate when you as a Kerrycrat believe in someone whose just as guilty or in the same lumping you're attacking Hillary for.

Got hypocrisy?

[sandnsea]

1. 1999???

:crazy:

Al Gore founded the DLC and so what. Times change. The Clintons haven't, they've gotten worse.

When you find a list of sleazy donors like this one, let me know.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4473288

[PresidentObama]

4. Not going to argue that times change.

But at least one Kerrycrat is suggesting John was never involved or a member of the DLC.

[MagickMuffin]

12. The FACTS about the DLC... was formed in 1984, by Al From & Will Marshall

At the national level, the movement was founded by the Democratic Leadership Council (501c4 educational non-profit, founded 1984) and includes the House New Democrat Coalition (founded 1997), the Senate New Democrat Coalition (founded 2000), the New Democrat Network PAC (founded 1996), the misnamed Progressive Policy Institute (501c4 think tank, "Bill Clinton's idea mill", founded 1989), and the umbrella funding group The Third Way Foundation (501c3 non-profit, founded 1996).

Since coming to power within the Democratic Party with Bill Clinton's presidency, the New Democrats/DLC have worked towards "essentially the same purpose as the Christian Coalition... to pull a broad political party dramatically to the right" according to John Nichols of The Progressive.

DLC operatives actively worked to sabotage Howard Dean's candidacy for the US Presidency in 2004, claiming that the "far-left" Democrat was wrong to attack George W. Bush's tax cuts and national security policies.

[karynnj]

13. Not to mention it included people like Gary Hart and Tim Wirth

in the beginning. Gore was the first candidate they endorsed for President in 1988. From 1992 on, the Clintons more than anyone else lead them.

[ProSense]

2. Don't you mean Hillary, not Obama (or Kerry):

From left to right: Harold Ford, Jr. is chairman of the DLC. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper is vice chair of the DLC; U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is chair of the DLC's American Dream Initiative; Al From is founder and CEO of the DLC. (Not pictured: Bruce Reed is DLC president; Pennsylvania State Representative Jennifer Mann is chair of the DLC's State Legislative Advisory Board (SLAB); Columbus (OH) Mayor Michael Coleman is chair of the DLC's Local Elected Officials Network(LEON).)

link

The DLC is not fond of how John Kerry votes:

[PresidentObama]

3. Attacking Hillary won't back up your FALSE claims that Kerry wasn't involved/member of the DLC.

You accuse the Clintons of lying, and then lie yourself.

Figures.

[ProSense]

8. No, he wasn't despite what you say! n/t

[PresidentObama]

9. Despite the numerous and countless member lists that have been posted?

Not just in this thread, but in the past?

You can't say the facts are untrue if you have no proof.

John Kerry was a part of the DLC.

Get over it, and stop the hypocrisy.

[ProSense]

14. No he wasn't. You have no current or significant proof except he spoke and the DLC's bogus list! n/t

[no name no slogan]

5. After 1988, almost everybody who wasn't to the left of Wellstone was kissing DLC ass

They had the money, they had the donors, they had the clout. That's how it worked back then.

[PresidentObama]

7. Alright. And? I'm not trying to be mean by that statement.

Just exposing some good ole fashioned hypocrisy!

[no name no slogan]

11. I know you're not. But everybody was kissing up to the DLC post-Dukakis

The party was seriously in debt, and the DLCers promised to lure big money into the party.

Unfortunately, we had to sell our souls to get it, as the continuing decline of the party in the 1990s bore out (loss of congress, minority of governorships and state houses, etc.).

[Armstead]

6. One reason he isn't President Kerry

He's usually a great Senator (my Senator) but he ran a mushy and phony campaign in 04. And he got mushy and phony by voting for the IWR resolution in preparation for that.

I watched him answer the simple question "Are you a liberal?" with at least three minutes of squirming and bobbing and weaving and saying "Well I don't know if I'd actually call myself a liberal, because blah,blah'blah."

Meanwhile conservatives are willing to say "Yes I'm conservative and damn proud of it."

The part of Kerry that towed the line of the DLC lost him the election. If he'd followed his true instincts, he'd most likely be president now.

The difference -- and a big difference it is -- is that Hillary is DLC all the way. There is no balancing factor to prevent her from running the Democratic Party further into the DLC ditch.

[Bread and Circus]

10. Hillary Clinton is a LEADER of the DLC

Leader

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_sub.cfm?kaid=137&subid=900111

DLC Leadership Team
Hillary Rodham Clinton

DLC | Blueprint Magazine | October 18, 2006
Fulfilling the American Dream
By Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
In 2005, Sen. Clinton took charge of the American Dream Initiative, a collaboration to strengthen the middle class. A year later, she unveiled the product of that effort at the DLC's National Conversation.



DLC | Speech | July 24, 2006
Remarks of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at the 2006 DLC National Conversation
By Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
"Our strength, our economy, our values derive from the promise of America, the promise of lifting yourself up through hard work in a society that rewarded results."



DLC | Blueprint Magazine | July 22, 2006
Saving the American Dream
By Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Tom Carper, and Gov. Tom Vilsack
We must build an opportunity agenda for the middle class and all who want to join it.



DLC | Blueprint Magazine | October 21, 2005
America in 2020
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
The chair of the DLC's American Dream Initiative has an optimistic vision of the not-too-distant future.



Office of Sen. Hillary Clinton | Press Release | September 6, 2005
Clinton Unveils Legislation to Restore FEMA to Independent, Cabinet-Level Status
On the heels of her visit with victims of Hurricane Katrina in Houston yesterday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is introducing legislation today to restore FEMA to Cabinet-level, independent federal agency status to ensure that it has the authority it needs to effectively manage recovery efforts for future national crises.



DLC | Speech | July 26, 2005
Remarks of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to the 2005 DLC National Conversation
"We have come to Columbus today to begin a new voyage of discovery toward the America our children deserve from us. That is our solemn responsibility and our great calling as Democrats and Americans."



DLC | Press Release | July 25, 2005
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Accepts Position as Chair of the DLC's 'American Dream Initiative'
The American Dream Initiative is a year-long project of the DLC that will engage political, business, labor, civic and intellectual leaders in a "national conversation" to help shape a positive agenda for our country and the Democratic party.



DLC | New Dem Of The Week | August 5, 2002
New Dem of the Week: Hillary Rodham Clinton
New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton last week hosted the 2002 DLC National Conversation in New York City, anchoring the two-day program with a stirring keynote address that focused on the major themes of the event: security, opportunity, and responsibility.

[karynnj]

15. The DLC leadership is known and it is pretty clear that

Kerry has been at loggerheads with them since 2004. Kerry clearly was in the DLC at one point - and the press releases they have for him are almost always about technology and innovation - things like the internet. Among the earliest people in the DLC were Gary Hart, Tim Wirth and Al Gore. Kerry was allied in the Senate with Wirth and Gore on global warming. Kerry had reminded me of Gary Hart when he spoke of innovation and technology as part of his speech on alternative fuels and the environment.

His keynote speech in 2004 is as the nominee - if he were an active member, you would expect that he would mention that or the importance of the DLC - he doesn't. The memo you found on his web site identifies From and Leiberman as DLC, but not Kerry - he is there proclaiming - as a good MA Senator - that MA was number one on technology readiness.

I think the argument on DLC is silly. It has no current list of members and the last time they did was 2004. I assume that's because they are shrinking. From did not include Kerry in his list of possible DLC nominees in 2006 - when he outpolled 3 of them.

I actually think we are seeing a new Democratic alignment developing behind Obama. Some of the most liberal members (Kennedy and Leahy) and some of the most conservative seemed alligned against the current DLC leadership. Kerry is with them.

There are many reasons I do not support HRC, but the fact that she holds a leadership position in the DLC is not one of them.