Harold Ford's Words in Wall Street Journal Opinion Page Article

[EV_Ares]

As the WSJ is a paid subscription, can't post the link so will put some snips from the article about the left and Ford's comments.

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Democratic Dustup
August 10, 2007; Page A10
'They'll find their way back to the middle. And if they don't, they won't win." So says a blunt Harold Ford, Jr., chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, of his party's current crop of presidential candidates. The question is just how many would-be Democratic presidents recognize the wisdom of his words.

Mr. Ford is in a feisty mood throughout our chat, as well he might be given the shelling his group has recently endured at the keyboards of the far left. Skip back 15 years, and the DLC stood as the proud architect of Bill Clinton's "New Democrat" campaign victory. Liberals derided the outfit's goals of nosing the party back toward the political center, but Mr. Clinton understood the perils of running as Jimmy Carter. He took the DLC's advice, talked up "opportunity, responsibility, community" and won.

<snip>...............

Making it harder is that this newly energized left is directing inordinate firepower on the DLC itself, in a crazed, purist drive to purge any group that would exert a moderating influence on the Democratic Party. New Republic scribe Noam Scheiber let loose a few weeks back in a New York Times hit piece, calling the DLC "radioactive" and "quaint," gloating that its "fading influence was good news for the entire party," and arguing that it should just get lost. Markos Moulitsas, chief flogger-blogger on the Daily Kos, this week slammed the DLC as a group that wants to "blur distinctions with the GOP," and reveling that Democrats had won in 2006 because liberals like himself had "forced" Americans to pick sides.

The real target audience for these pronouncements is the Democratic presidential field, and the threat is clear: Touch the DLC, and you will be (to use a favorite, medieval Kos word) "punished." At least a few activists danced a victory lap, too, a few weeks back when every last Democratic candidate spurned the DLC's annual convention in Nashville, instead turning up at Mr. Moulitsas's YearlyKos event in Chicago.
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<snip>

No doubt the ultimate nominee will backpedal and finesse these points for the broader national audience. Just how much finessing goes on -- just how far the candidates come back to Mr. Ford's "middle" -- will be the ultimate test of whether groups like the DLC have a role in the future of the Democratic Party. Mr. Ford, for his part, has dark warnings for those activists selling the line that last year's election is proof that their liberal ideas are now "mainstream," or that Democrats' reputation on national security and the economy is so secure that the candidates run no risk going left. "That's called short-term memory," he says, with a few references to Carter, Mondale and other ghosts of failed Democrats past.

As he does his convincing, Mr. Ford is going to be holding up a few key facts, ones that no belligerent blogger has yet been able to refute. The party's most impressive gains last year all came from politicians straight out of the DLC cast. Four governors spoke at the DLC convention this year; all four had beat Republicans. The vast majority of the pick-ups in the House came from DLCers in red states in the South and Midwest. The Senate wouldn't be in Democratic hands were it not for Montana's Jon Tester.

"The reality is, without the DLC, and without candidates who subscribe to our platform, Democrats wouldn't be in the majority today. If we abandon that group, we will lose the majority and we will lose the White House," says Mr. Ford.

[Gloria]

1. How's his gig on FAUX doing??

[AX10]

2. DLC Harold Ford LOST his election last fall.

Let us remember that Harold. You lost! Several Democrats ran in a much more conservative enviroment than you did and WON! They were REAL moderates too, not the center-right faux "moderates" that the DLC is.

[EV_Ares]

6. Absolutely, I am really disappointed in this guy. Now, I know how he

got the DLC Chairmanship job. He certainly fits well in tha position and they got a Hillary backer. Actually, according to his words in this article, he should have won his race.

[HereSince1628]

3. The dlc was the architect of Clinton's campaign? Cart before horse?

BC was one of the founders of the dlc.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Yeah, I Remember How We Dominated Elections When The DLC Ran The DNC

Not.

As soon as the DLC took over the DNC, we lost majorities in both houses of Congress. As soon as an actual Democrat (Dean) took over the DNC, we won back both houses.

"If you give the people a choice between a Republican and a Republican, they'll choose the Republican every time."
- Harry Truman

[tularetom]

5. Bullshit utter total bullshit

This is such bullshit on so many levels I don't even know where to start.

Clinton didn't win because he sucked up to the Dem "centrists" - he won because it was a 3-way race, nobody liked old poopy boosh, and mostly because he was Clinton probably the best campaigner in the last 50 years.

Recent economic trends refute the DLC claim thaqt people in the country are conservative. People don't trust big corporations anymore and if Mr Ford would get his head out of his ass for a minute or so he'd realize this. And all these bullshit issues like abortion, gay marriage, and other things that get the religious wackos all steamed up do not really matter to the majority of voters.

Ford is a horses ass. After I saw him flinch on Bill Maher's TV show when Maher said "fuck" I knew he was a stick up the butt who should have run as a repub. And his constant jeezus references during the campaign were excessive even for a bible belt state election.

Democratic economic issues ARE now mainstream and most voters in 08 are gonna vote their pocketbooks> Corporatist bullshit won't cut it with them.

[Tsiyu]

7. Yeah, that strategy worked real well for you, eh Harry?

This is so much tripe.

No one is reading about harold's "wisdom" in real America. They are watching their kids come home in caskets and watching their sons and daughters and wives and husbands struggle with war injuries; they are scrambling to eat and pay their bills.

And they are OVERWHELMINGLY sick of the Centrist Crybabies like Ford who want my vote but don't want to represent ME.

Face it, Harry. You hate women like me. Any vote that might come up that might help me you would vote against, just like your mentor Lincoln Davis does.

So cut the crap about how I'm supposed to just be broken and submit to your "vision." You're just another wolf whose sheep clothes aren't very convincing.