Yup.

You see that among many who still, for some reason, consider themselves part of an "underground..."

Brilliant and informative.

Thanks so much for those kind words.

Thanks so much for the information. Functioning minds can never have too much of that. This presidential election could be the one that breaks the election cycle merry-go-round of accepting and voting for the nominee based solely that it is 'their turn.' You've shed some very important light on what Sen. Sanders is up against. Keep the info coming and we'll spread the word!

Go, Bernie Go!

Madfloridian's posts are always a good read and well researched!

by all of us and then spread to friends and allies.

I get very discouraged sometimes at the tone around here lately. What angers me the most is that the move to the right as a takeover was planned every step of the way. They are not letting go easily.

some of those 'shock troops' early in the Bush years and could not believe they were democrats, as they claimed to be. They were all over Dem forums, bullying and personally attacking actual Dems, worse attacks btw, than I had experienced from the Right at the time.

So they used Dem forums to plant their 'seeds' for the 'New Democratic Party'. But people were not fooled, we knew the party had been infiltrated.

However it's good to have the actual background. We don't see so many deniarls that the Third Way actually exists anymore. Too much proof now to seriously deny it.

Not caring about the party's constituents, but about being financed well.

ATTACKING good democrats KNOWING they were right when the began to questions what was going on. No wonder they are comfortable with someone like David Brock, but obviously despise Left Democrats, both candidates AND voters.

There needs to be huge pushback against this takeover, and anyone who doesn't help do so, imo, is part of it from now on.

To "fight" Reagan and the vicious turn to the right, trickle down, war profiteering, and unregulated plunder, run TO THE RIGHT of Reagan, promise even fatter profits and all with a good conscience because lip service is paid to "social issues", so that lip service can be used to maximum advantage in identity politics.

and where we are now with the party as a whole and the DNC position in particular. Thanks for the OP.

The same attitudes are showing again, and I think maybe a showdown of sorts is coming.

You can't do a hostile takeover and then tell the members they can have no say. It may work for a little while, but not forever.

Some resolution must be reached sooner than later to tone down the friction I hope. Right now DWS' obstinate attitude in the face of wide opposition to the debate restrictions is damaging relations and fueling the serious issue of the possibility of loosing the GE if matters don't change. I don't like what's going on and am concerned in many ways.

infiltration.

Very interesting read.

it began during the last two midterms, mostly starting at the local levels.

Who on earth ever allowed a person like From to have so much power over our system? There has to have been a serious flaw in the systrem itself in order for this to be possible. Such flaws will have to be fixed to make sure it never happens again once the people take back control of their party.

At least not one available to the general public. We only knew what the media or our party chose to tell us.

Lets not forget the Koch Brothers were a big contributor to the DLC.

But, here’s a key piece of information: the Kochs haven’t just given to right-wingers. Back in April of 2001, The American Prospect’s Bob Dreyfuss reported that the Kochs also funded the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC):

And for $25,000, 28 giant companies found their way onto the DLC’s executive council, including Aetna, AT&T;, American Airlines, AIG, BellSouth, Chevron, DuPont, Enron, IBM, Merck and Company, Microsoft, Philip Morris, Texaco, and Verizon Communications. Few, if any, of these corporations would be seen as leaning Democratic, of course, but here and there are some real surprises. One member of the DLC’s executive council is none other than Koch Industries, the privately held, Kansas-based oil company whose namesake family members are avatars of the far right, having helped to found archconservative institutions like the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Not only that, but two Koch executives, Richard Fink and Robert P. Hall III, are listed as members of the board of trustees and the event committee, respectively–meaning that they gave significantly more than $25,000.

The DLC board of trustees is an elite body whose membership is reserved for major donors, and many of the trustees are financial wheeler-dealers who run investment companies and capital management firms–though senior executives from a handful of corporations, such as Koch, Aetna, and Coca-Cola, are included.

Is there a list available of the attendees/donors at the annual Kochfests of political influence and legalized bribery? I bet there is quite a bit of overlap, and that's without even considering Alec.

I wonder who designed the strategy for the Koch boys. I don't think they came up with it out of the blue. Someone(s) planned it out and presented it to them.

And that angers me so much.

For me, this is the story of the rot at the heart of our party. It is playing out in real-time in the Sanders - Clinton primary, but it's far larger than just this one primary, it's the very essence of what, and who, our party actually works for. Corporate wolves in donkey clothing.

welfare reform, tough on crime laws, the communications act, Glass-Steagall, for profit prisons, for profit healthcare plans, TPP, and a hell of a lot more.

Thank you Madflorida. Your time away was well spent in researching where we are at now.

How do we get the word out? This is not a small piece that can be posted on facebook and expect people to read it. I think one of the best ways to get this out there is to write a book that will hit the college campus and be discussed in classrooms. Also people like Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann.

Your list is my list, right on, all of those things are enabled by DLC third-way types. When there's no opposing force from our party, the sole area of intersection between the parties, which is the place where things get done, is the area of corporate interest.

Are you a book writer? Seems like a good idea. There are probably good books already out there that chronicle this history that MF is bringing up, though I haven't read any. Writing one specifically to tell that tale could do a lot of good.

book.

But you are correct during the early bush reign a lot of really good books were being used on college campuses that told us what was happening. It woke a lot of people up and we need that again with what is going on now.

So here is a call to all those Bernie supporters who can write - give us some really good books that are simple to read regarding what is happening and Bernie's revolution.

I'll never forgive them for that label!

Excellent post! Thank you, madfloridian.

obscenity. And then, we dutifully lined up again in 2012 to re-elect that administration.

But Hillary is no Obama. Hillary is not even Bubba.

told the truth was the Cass Sunstein suggestion 'Conspiracy Theorist', 'undermine them by calling them 'CTS'. Now we have to make sure they are exposed and all their talking points, for which I'm sure Koch money was used, against the Left, thrown back in their greedy, power hungry faces.

I believe the Third Way despises the Left far, far more than they despise the Right.

to a Republican, than to let a Pro-Union Democrat have a chance at winning it.

The Arkansas Democratic Primary of 2010 was a heart breaking eye opener for the Grass Roots and Organized LABOR. We were given a Look Behind the Curtain,
and it wasn't very pretty.

[font size=3]We did EVERYTHING right in Arkansas in 2010.
We did EXACTLY what the White House asked us to do to "give the President Progressives in Congress that would work with him."[/font]

We organized and supported Democratic Lt Governor Bill Halter, the Pro-LABOR/ Pro-Health Care challenger to DINO Obstructionist Blanche Lincoln's Senate seat.
Halter was:

* Polling BETTER against the Republicans in the General,

*was popular in Arkansas in his OWN right,

*had an Up & Running Political machine,

* had a track record of winning elections (Lt. Governor)

*Had the full backing of Organized LABOR and The Grass Roots activists

*was handing Blanche her Anti-LABOR ass

...and we were WINNING!

Guess what happened.

The White House stepped in at the last minute to save Blanche's failing primary campaign with an Oval Office Endorsement of The Wicked Witch that Wrecked the Obama Agenda who was actually campaigning at that time as the one who had killed the Public Option!!!

Adding insult to injury, the White House sent Bill Clinton back to Arkansas on a state-wide Campaign/Fund Raising Tour for Blanche,
focusing on the areas with high Black Populations, and bashing Organized LABOR and "Liberals" at every opportunity.

For those of us who had worked hard to give President Obama Progressive Democrats who would work with him, it was especially difficult to watch his smiling Oval Office Endorsement for DINO Blanche Lincoln which played 24/7 on Arkansas TV the week before the runoff Primary election.

White House steps in to rescue Lincoln’s Primary Campaign in Arkansas

made sense the Left so they couldn't force us to go along and used every nasty epithet they could think of without giving themselves away totally, they THOUGHT, to lash out.

We should compile a list of their anti-Left talking points and send around Social Media so people KNOW who they are dealing with when they see these words and phrases.

Starting with 'I belong to the Reality Based Community' and the implication being 'and you Lefties don't.'

fooled. While they point an laugh at the Clown Car Republicons, the DLC/Third Way is picking their pockets.

So why do people calling themselves good Democrats support Clinton? Is it denial or they fall for the propaganda? "We will support same sex marriage if you let us steal all your wealth."

Netroots face bipartisan attacks on the rule of law.

"Politicians, legal experts and progressive activists grappled with Republican abuses of power at the third annual netroots convention on Friday, debating how an Obama Administration might restore the rule of law. Cass Sunstein, an adviser to Barack Obama from the University of Chicago Law School, cautioned against prosecuting criminal conduct from the current Administration. Prosecuting government officials risks a "cycle" of criminalizing public service, he argued, and Democrats should avoid replicating retributive efforts like the impeachment of President Clinton--or even the "slight appearance" of it. Update: Sunstein emailed to emphasize that he also said and believes that "egregious crimes should not be ignored."


Define "egregious"...Mr. Sunstein. Or ask someone like Don Siegelman.

The problem with our denocracy today is the professional propagandists and liars on the right who claim to be moderate.

They are anything but!

I wish they would both just retire and go away.

We need to cut off the head of this insidious snake.

Good read...an important read.

Read it and read it again.

And they DID (with very few exceptions).

Around here we are constantly brow-beated with "WHAT could Bernie accomplish if he were elected President?" I'd say that Al From and Bill Clinton knew that the Presidency gave an individual the power to reform the overall Party. So, THAT'S what.

And not only a Dem, but a former First Lady Dem whose husband was still head of the Party and who had plenty of buddies and contacts and juice, in Congress, the DNC and elsewhere.

I mean, Sanders is running against Hillary, not everyone in the rest of the world. So comparing their two performances is the issue, not Sanders against some unspecified imaginary standard or some dead President.

that is the first step in fixing this mess. Maybe the DLC traitors will split off from the party and start calling themselves what they are - republicans.

I would love to listen to Jeb! and Hillary debate.

In one of the videos about Presidential debates that leftcoastmountain posted, the statement is made that the 2000 Presidential debates were probably the "most agreeable" in the history of Presidential debates (the history of the televised debates, I assume). The the video shows clip after clip of Gore and Dimson agreeing with each other on important issue after important issue.

I love the total disconnects, too. In one breath, Poster A will say that Hillary is as liberal or even more liberal than Sanders and Obama is a liberal. In the next breath, the same poster will say that liberals are not electable. smh

infiltrated and their talking points and personal attacks on the Left totally gave them away. Watch how angry they become when people use the term 'Third Way'. They started out calling it a 'CT' but people were not about to let anyone deny the existence of this Right Wing group within our party, that is why they are now so desperate. Voters refused to elect their Third Way candidats in two mid terms now, mainly because contrary to their arrogant beliefs, the people are NOT stupid.

And now their plot to take over the party has been thoroughly exposed, their tactics don't work so well anymore.

No one should leave the party, though many have, it is the People's Party and we should make sure that if anyone leaves, it is those who plotted and succeeded in turning it into Republican Lite.

Last edited Wed Sep 23, 2015, 03:23 AM - Edit history (1)

I recently started to say to an older woman, "They say Mondale lost because he was a liberal, but". That was as far as I got because she laughed right over me and said, "Mondale was not a liberal." Wiki describes him as centrist. His policies were centrist.

Those elections were not lost because either candidate was a liberals. Before McGovern was even nominated, Democrats knew whoever ran against Nixon was going to lose. Reagan was a phenom of a candidate; the Carter-Mondale administration was troubled. Anyway, it's neither 1972 nor 1980.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=3950141 (woo me with science: It's not 1972 anymore.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12778825 (demwing: This ain't 1972).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12778872 ("What about Mondale?" indeed: Candidate Reagan)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12778873 ("What about Mondale?" indeed: 1976-1980)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12779277 ("What about Mondale?" indeed: Walter Mondale)

Oh, and Carter did not lose the election because Kennedy challenged him. Kennedy challenged Carter because Carter was going to lose the election. Had Kennedy won that primary, with the way that the Kennedys were revered then, the chances of a Democratic win would have been much greater.



The memes we are fed take the country right because that is what they are designed to do. And they are undemocratic, because the more say we the people have, the less the country will go right. Reject these plutocratic, undemocratic memes at every turn.

We have been fed a steady diet of BS and spin for years, using the words liberal or fringe. Or even elite used in a mocking way.

They have done so much of it they have to stop and think what they are all about.

The more say that "We the People" have, the more the country will go left.

I must have typed the original post on Opposite Day.

"I was tired of having the DLC labeled as conservative. I decided to call our think tank the Progressive Policy Institute because I thought it would be harder for reporters to label it as the “conservative Progressive Policy Institute.”

And THAT is why when the Third Way Hillary supporters profess themselves to be "Progressive", we know they aren't. Not even close.

You cannot support:
Fracking
TPP
XL pipeline
Big Banks
Prisons for profits
Wall St. Over Main St.
Destruction of our education system
Citizens United
Corporations buying our government
Corporate tax loopholes

And call yourselves Progressive, because you're not!

Thanks for the great post! K & R!

You cannot support:
Fracking
TPP
XL pipeline
Big Banks
Prisons for profits
Wall St. Over Main St.
Destruction of our education system
Citizens United
Corporations buying our government
Corporate tax loopholes

And call yourselves Progressive, because you're not!

all those years was true, after-all. Well, that Sucks!
Thank you for this post!

Edit: I know most everyone here has already watched this...but it just seems appropriate here again:

Al's entry in SourceWatch details his affiliations, including his support for Charter Schools.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Al_From

One thing that unites these DLC/Third Way types is their absolute disregard for unions. It may be more than the chintziness. Unions represent potentially organized opposition.

From argues that the public school system too often serves the interests of teachers and administrators at the expense of the students themselves. It is a "monopolistic" system that "offers a 'one-size-fits-hardly-anyone' model that strangles excellence and innovation" he says.

Characterizing charter schools as "oases of innovation," From writes, "The time has come to bring life to the rest of the desert-by introducing the same forces of choice and competition to every public school in America."

From also says Democrats should work to redefine the very notion of public education itself.

Madfloridian, what you've posted is one of the most important pieces I have seen here lately, that describes EXACTLY how the DLC/Third Wayers/Blue Dogs/Triangulators infiltrated the Democratic Party, starting in the late 80s and have since so bastardized what our party once stood for, one that was for all the people. It was the party of lifting everyone up.

We are in for the mother of all battles to clean out this party and return it to The People. And it's one that we are not afraid to fight.

My hat is off to you, Madflo, for this very timely piece, in a time when all of us want and need to know "how we got here". Thank you.

Only by understanding that, can we do what's necessary to reclaim our party and to determine who we want to lead it.

Thanks for the kind words. You have contributed so much good stuff to DU that I am pleased at your compliment.

Anti union. Anti public education. Anti democratic.

Al works with the "other side," the same people who brought us voodoo economics and worked to "eliminate" the Department of Education. The Captain of that Tyrannic wrote about his experiences.



And they go back to 1981 and the installation of Pruneface I where those who got smart, got along; and those who asked, WTF, got the ziggy at the ballot box or wherever.

Clinton loved to talk about ideas, and he had a striking ability to explain the most complicated concepts clearly.

He was not afraid to challenge old orthodoxies. In the early 1980s, long before I knew him, he and Hillary Clinton pushed cutting-edge education reforms, like pay for performance and public-school choice, against the opposition of the powerful Arkansas Education Association. Speaking about education in his Philadelphia speech, Clinton said the Democratic Party was “good at doing more. We are not so good at doing things differently, and doing them better, particularly when we have to attack the established ideas and forces which have been good to us and close to us. We are prone, I think, to programmatic solutions as against those which change structure, reassert basic values or make individual connections with children.”

...for meaningful change. From unions. From education. From thinkers. From free people.



SOURCE: http://www.muckety.com/Alvin-From/26918.muckety

Waltons mean Jackson Stephens who means BCCI and we know what that spells.

I do.

As with Public Education, they "reformed" the anti-Bankster parts of the New Deal in the name of "deregulation for competitiveness." Thus, they repealed Glass-Steagall to create oases of innovation in "Wealth Management" such as the nice one at UBS, a unit headed by vice chairman ex-Sen. Phil Gramm, who hired both ex-President Bill Clinton and and ex-pretzeldent George w Bush.

http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html

Goes back to the ever increasing transfer of wealth from those who create it to those who loot it seemingly brought about by voodoo, but really just another legal scheme under Reaganomics 2015 Edition.

They endorsed Hillary early on against the wishes of many many members.

Many of them won't endorse the one who stands strongly with unions because it does not bring them needed funds.

not want to move until their Union does. One is an iron worker and the other two are in health care.

I keep at them.

And that directly led to tipping over that one bigger domino.

Here in the USA, who knows if a strike could topple Just-us.

They are angry but a lot of us who are no longer in the Union or never have been in it are sharing their anger. Let us hope that they will be able to make some changes.

Solidarity.

I learned some things on my commute this morning.

Hope you had a good commute.

K&R And bookmarked!!

Very informative and concerning.
Great work madfloridian.

exposes the "party line over all" and "reagan's eleventh commandment" lines being bandied about. monied astroturf and crab grass to smother real change.

I think some of us old timers take this info for granted and assume all Dems know about it. But for those just entering the realm of politics, this info can be quite eye-opening and enlightening.

K&R

How about a system where both groups make an argument and voters get to choose? I think there's a word for that.....

Like debates.

Yes, there's a word for that. It's called Democracy.

How about y'all centrist triangulators go start your own third party.

Of course, typing complaints in the blogosphere will be a lot easier....

And sorry, I won't be leaving the Party; the "real world" voters, candidates and elected officials don't seem to mind.

And it's meant to anger those of us who think the party should stand for things that are important to most people.

It's hurts the party more than you realize because it implies that we don't don't experience reality.

Why do it?

FAR , FAR from the DLC. Which never was on the chart. Just influential at the Club and the wine and cheese parties.

A top down organization whose leadership can never be addressed, spoken to or met with, except by special invite, yet you consider them "progressive." ???

washingtonpost.com: Good afternoon Mr. From and welcome. There is a lot of speculation out there on why former vice president Gore lost the election? What are your thoughts?

Al From: To begin, Vice President Gore won the popular vote. But regardless of how we feel about the election, the reality is that George Bush was elected according to our constitutional process. Our analysis shows that the Vice President won on most of the specific issues, but President Bush won on the big themes. Bush's ability to paint Gore as a big government liberal, which was reinforced by the Vice President's populist message, proved decisive. As a result, Gore ran poorly among a key group of swing voters - men who live in the suburbs, work in the new economy, and have moderate political views. In addition, the vice president did not run strongly enough among self identified moderate voters to win the election.

Lieberman that is. I remember we wondered why in the world he was chosen by Gore as VP. Sort of makes sense now.

The Democratic Party of FDR and JFK ended in 1992. Before that, people used to say Democrats would rather be right than president - and that was true. But not anymore. Now it's they'd rather move to the right and be president. And that's what "new" Democrats have been all about since 1992.

True statement. Welcome to DU.

They have done one thing and called it another for way too long now.

That was the beginning of the end.
Reagan took it to warp speed, but it started under Carter.

Hartmann says, progressives must take over the Democratic Party from within.

After months of pondering, Clinton decided to run for reelection as governor and become chairman of the DLC. Nearly a year after our Little Rock meeting, at the DLC’s Annual Conference in New Orleans on March 24, 1990, Bill Clinton became the DLC’s fourth chairman. Calling Clinton a “rising star in three decades,” Sam Nunn passed him the gavel. Nunn quipped that when the DLC was created “we were viewed as a rump group. Now we’re viewed as the brains of the party. In just five years, we’ve moved from one end of the donkey to the other.”

Money and power matter to some more than plain simple truth. Yes, it explains a lot.

You and Madfloridian. And to have both of you in one topic is a real treat!

was better off with Clinton/Gore in the 1990's-2001. Which other Democrat could have beaten Bush? Tsongas? I don't think so. Clinton brought an era of peace and prosperity that this country have not seen in a long time. Not all Blue Dogs are bad people. Brad Henry, Phil Bredesen, Mike Beebe are "New Democrats, New Dogs", but you know what, if the Democratic Party wants to be a national party, it has to appeal in the South. Bernie Sanders will have a hard time in Southern battlegrounds like Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia. New Democrats and New Dogs could open a new wave of Southern Democratic progressive roots. You have to have a balance in the country. Democrats need to appeal to Southerners, and Bredesen, Henry, Beebe were governors in the 2000's that did that, but since they left office, we have not heard from them at all, especially Bredesen and Henry. I think that if DWS does not produce a good Democratic ground game in 2016, that Brad Henry, former Oklahoma governor, should be in contention to be the next chair of the DNC. He knows how to win in a red state!!! He did it in 2002. Democrats need to have a bold agenda that appeals to all 50 states. Southerners need to be included as well.

They hold tight reins on the party's mechanics and structure.

BTW how's that working out on appealing to Southerners? How did we lose both houses of congress?

They have no more right to control our party than I do.

Many of those you mention were more like Republicans than Democrats.

This post is not about Bernie Sanders. It is about the ones who grabbed hold of the party and refuse to let go.

They need to speak about what they did in Oklahoma and Tennessee to make life better for those residents. I would like to see them be the head of the DNC, if DWS leaves in 2017. The DLC has been in control of the Democratic Party since 1992, but the party is still center-left.

A recurring theme here is third-way Democrats equals Corporate Republicans and they are everywhere plotting to give the country to the Board of Directors of Sherman Adelson's company or WalMart.

It's a battle no amount of facts will transcend. Forget the fact that the DLC closed down in 2011.
Their agents are everywhere, and if you actually hold any kind of ownership position in a company on Wall Street or a bank, you are automatically suspect as complicit in the evil plan to revive the DLC into a zombie bent on becoming a right wing subtext of the republican party.

The DLC had its place in time and did give us the Clintons, a vibrant economy, a surplus and a peace dividend. But That was then.

So are the anti-DLC arguments.

I made my point well, that they decided the party was theirs for the taking....and they did. They may have shut down, but then that is addressed in the OP.

I learned a lot about messing with the PTB in 2003, 2004. Or maybe not. The same thing seems to be happening now, with different names on one side....same ones on the other.

are they? We are where we are in part, thanks to them. We have lost our democracy and they aren't concerned one bit.

"The DLC had its place in time and did give us the Clintons, a vibrant economy, a surplus and a peace dividend." Bullcrap. Clinton benefited from the ".com" market spike (part of the pyramid scheme market economy) that eventually crashed hurting millions of the 99%.

The DLC gave us the lose in 2000. Thanks a lot. And if they have their way, they will do the same in 2016. Most likely Clinton, if she steals the nomination, will lose just like Gore before her.

There's no DLC, they closed up in 2011.

But there's certainly no cabal of DLCers loose on the planet. I think the only people that read From's crap are here at DU , because looking for bogeymen is always en vogue here.

Had he been elected president Reaganomics would have received far greater (false) validation.