2016 Postmortem

Ferd Berfel

(3,687 posts) Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:20 PM Jan 2016

Let's understand The CLintons and the DLC

http://www.democrats.com/node/7789

The Rightwing Koch Brothers Fund the DLC

... the Koch brothers have also been funding the Democratic Leadership Council. Welcome fellow Democrat! ...

Do deep-pocketed "philanthropists" necessarily control the organizations they fund? That has certainly been the contention of those who truck in conspiracy theories about the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations funding liberal and neo-liberal organizations. As for the rightwing, journalists such as Joe Conason and Gene Lyons uncovered that the "vast right wing conspiracy" -- or the New Right network of think tanks, media outlets and pressure groups -- was marshalled under rightwing billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife for his Get-Clinton campaign. Prior to the work of Conason and Lyons, Russ Bellant extensively documented in "The Coors Connection" how the Coors Family, Scaife and other wealthy rightwingers have funded the New Right movement since the early '70's. Among these rightwing benefactors are the Koch brothers. But the Kochs have been working both sides of the fence. As Bill Berkowitz writes, the Koch brothers have also been funding the Democratic Leadership Council.

According to SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media & Democracy, the brothers are "leading contributors to the Koch family foundations, which supports a network of Conservative organizations and think tanks, including Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Manhattan Institute the Heartland Institute, and the Democratic Leadership Council."

Charles Koch co-founded the Cato Institute in 1977, while David helped launch Citizens for a Sound Economy [now FreedomWorks] in 1986.

This is no less stunning than if Scaife or the Coors family were funding the DLC. So do the Kochs just throw money at the DLC -- as long as the Council supports a free-market" (i.e. unrestricted/unregulated corporate power)

25 replies

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Highlight:

Let's understand The CLintons and the DLC (Original Post) Ferd Berfel Jan 2016 OP

Yep! nt Live and Learn Jan 2016 #1

That was written in 2006. The DLC no longer exists. MineralMan Jan 2016 #2

that changes history? Ferd Berfel Jan 2016 #3

The DLC lives on in its loyalists. It is entirely relevant. BillZBubb Jan 2016 #5

That is because the DLC WON big time in placing their conservative, Neo-Liberal bvar22 Jan 2016 #10

So....we should ignore most of Clinton's time in the Senate then? jeff47 Jan 2016 #11

Yikes! They've had as many name changes as Blackwater! RufusTFirefly Jan 2016 #16

Or PNAC. nt SusanCalvin Jan 2016 #17

You know well enough that it exist under a new name. Wilms Jan 2016 #12

Disappointed by this post Z_California Jan 2016 #14

It no longer exists because it is the party Establishment. Odin2005 Jan 2016 #25

A ten year old article about an orginization that doesn't exist. nt. NCTraveler Jan 2016 #4

Nice try at deflection. But a fail. BillZBubb Jan 2016 #6

Those are two undisputable facts. Pretty simple. NCTraveler Jan 2016 #8

10 year old story.... SoapBox Jan 2016 #13

The DLC way of thinking has morphed into the Third Way, which is alive and well and djean111 Jan 2016 #7

Agree with everything you wrote except the part about Warren and calling them DINO's. NCTraveler Jan 2016 #9

Third Way OP in the Wall Street Journal - here is a link to a HuffPo article about it - djean111 Jan 2016 #19

THe Lepord changed its spots? Ferd Berfel Jan 2016 #21

THe CLintons, and others, SOLD the Democratic Party to the corporatist Oligarchs Ferd Berfel Jan 2016 #15

"Stole it from the rest of us."< No they didn't. We climbed all over ourselves to give them jtuck004 Jan 2016 #18

WE? you have a mouse in your pocket? Ferd Berfel Jan 2016 #20

Thank you for the assist. n/t jtuck004 Jan 2016 #23

There's one cure for this ongoing crap: Ron Green Jan 2016 #22

Hillary and the Republicans ARE ON THE SAME SIDE... Odin2005 Jan 2016 #24

Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)

1. Yep! nt

Reply to Ferd Berfel (Original post)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:22 PM

Jan 2016

MineralMan

(146,338 posts)

2. That was written in 2006. The DLC no longer exists.

Reply to Ferd Berfel (Original post)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:31 PM

Jan 2016

What you've posted is 10 years out of date, I'm afraid, and has little relevance today.

Ferd Berfel

(3,687 posts)

3. that changes history?

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #2)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:34 PM

Jan 2016

And it's the Third Way now. So?

BillZBubb

(10,650 posts)

5. The DLC lives on in its loyalists. It is entirely relevant.

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #2)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:41 PM

Jan 2016

The fact that some Democrats embraced a Koch funded operation AT ANY TIME is disgusting.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)

10. That is because the DLC WON big time in placing their conservative, Neo-Liberal

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #2)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 05:15 PM

Jan 2016

members in positions of ultimate power. The DLC realized they had picked up some negatives from those of us paying attention. SO, like any reptile, the DLC shed its old skin and adopted NEW packaging:
"New Democrats, or 3rd Way.... same people, same goals, same corruption.

jeff47

(26,549 posts)

11. So....we should ignore most of Clinton's time in the Senate then?

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #2)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 05:30 PM

Jan 2016

After all, that was before 2006 too.

Also, the DLC re-formed as the New Democrats when the original name got too much baggage. New Democrats then re-formed as Third Way when that name got too much baggage. So while the DLC name is inactive, the governing philosophy is still quite active.

RufusTFirefly

(8,812 posts)

16. Yikes! They've had as many name changes as Blackwater!

Reply to jeff47 (Reply #11)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 07:15 PM

Jan 2016

I mean ~~Xe Services~~ Academi.

Same old wine. Different bottle.

SusanCalvin

(6,592 posts)

17. Or PNAC. nt

Reply to RufusTFirefly (Reply #16)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 07:18 PM

Jan 2016

Wilms

(26,795 posts)

12. You know well enough that it exist under a new name.

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #2)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 05:41 PM

Jan 2016

That kind of distraction does not look good on you.

Z_California

(650 posts)

14. Disappointed by this post

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #2)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 06:52 PM

Jan 2016

Even though you support a different candidate I've respected your opinions for their intellectual honesty. Disappointed by this one because I think you know better.

Odin2005

(53,521 posts)

25. It no longer exists because it is the party Establishment.

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #2)

Sat Jan 23, 2016, 04:31 PM

Jan 2016

NCTraveler

(30,481 posts)

4. A ten year old article about an orginization that doesn't exist. nt.

Reply to Ferd Berfel (Original post)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:34 PM

Jan 2016

BillZBubb

(10,650 posts)

6. Nice try at deflection. But a fail.

Reply to NCTraveler (Reply #4)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:41 PM

Jan 2016

NCTraveler

(30,481 posts)

8. Those are two undisputable facts. Pretty simple.

Reply to BillZBubb (Reply #6)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:44 PM

Jan 2016

Sucks that facts are called deflection around here anymore.

SoapBox

(18,791 posts)

13. 10 year old story....

Reply to NCTraveler (Reply #8)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 06:40 PM

Jan 2016

And Hill supporters (or was it even her?) that spout that Bernie was supposed to have a communist flag in his office in Vermont...30 years ago.

Point?

djean111

(14,255 posts)

7. The DLC way of thinking has morphed into the Third Way, which is alive and well and

Reply to NCTraveler (Reply #4)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:42 PM

Jan 2016

advising that New Democrat Coalition (of DINOs) and believes Liz Warren has "gotten out of hand".
The names change, but the players and the intentions remain the same.

NCTraveler

(30,481 posts)

9. Agree with everything you wrote except the part about Warren and calling them DINO's.

Reply to djean111 (Reply #7)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:46 PM

Jan 2016

Can you tell me who said she has "gotten out of hand"?

I think she is awesome.

djean111

(14,255 posts)

19. Third Way OP in the Wall Street Journal - here is a link to a HuffPo article about it -

Reply to NCTraveler (Reply #9)

Sat Jan 23, 2016, 12:52 AM

Jan 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/jim-kessler-elizabeth-warren_n_4400713.html

Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy and a co-founder of Third Way, said Friday morning that Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) backing of a plan to expand Social Security compelled him and the president of the group to hit back with a Wall Street Journal op-ed lambasting the plan and economic populism.

"The impetus was really -- we saw after the most recently, this push that okay, it's time to really move the national Democratic Party to a much more liberal agenda, in this case, Senator Warren was the standard bearer -- she's on the cover of a lot of magazines," he said in an interview on Sirius XM with Ari Rabin-Havt. "We were a bit alarmed by that."

He added that Warren was an excellent senator from Massachusetts but questioned whether she could be good for the party nationally.

"She is a very compelling elected official and national figure," he said. "Her involvement in that particular bill, we just looked at it and said 'okay, this seems to be starting to get out of hand.'"

Yes, she is awesome.

DINOs - Last year, before the campaigning really got underway, the agenda on the new Democrat Coalition boasted that it was not concerned with "ideology" and looked forward to working across the aisle - and we all know what happens then. The GOP gets what it wants. This is presented as See! We did not let them cut the baby in half! We convinced them to just cut off a leg, and then they won't cut the other leg off until they can slip that little amendment into next year's budget!!!!!

The New Democrat Coalition is advised by the Third Way. Easily Googled. They are proud of it.

I have been keeping track of how the politicians from Florida vote, and they do seem to vote with the GOP most of the time, and they belong to that group. That group's agenda has been prettied up for the campaign, but I consider them as not too different than Prosperity for America, the Koch's group. And I stand quite firmly and am immovable in that I am not ever going to vote for a politician who voted for Fast Track, and/or votes yes on the TPP or TTIP. That is not a single issue thing - those agreements will affect us all in a myriad of ways. Not good ways. IMO, of course, but that is where I am.

Ferd Berfel

(3,687 posts)

21. THe Lepord changed its spots?

Reply to NCTraveler (Reply #4)

Sat Jan 23, 2016, 02:09 PM

Jan 2016

huh.

They changed their name and now they are the DNC Third Way

They fooled ya huh?

Ferd Berfel

(3,687 posts)

15. THe CLintons, and others, SOLD the Democratic Party to the corporatist Oligarchs

Reply to Ferd Berfel (Original post)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 07:01 PM

Jan 2016

and Stole it from the rest of us. And we should just forget that?

It's still a problem

This is what gave us: NAFTA, GATT, WTO, Ending welfare as we knew it, Telecommunications Act, Glass-Stegall, and most recently, the coup de grace to democracy, US Sovereignty and the middle-class - THE TPP.

We'd damn well better NOT forget it.

what was that...

“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” ― Edmund Burke

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)

18. "Stole it from the rest of us."< No they didn't. We climbed all over ourselves to give them

Reply to Ferd Berfel (Reply #15)

Fri Jan 22, 2016, 07:55 PM

Jan 2016

and their ilk the keys to the kingdom, and then too many decided to stand with them against working people and the country. "They" didn't steal it so much as the rest of us found that we could pay for our lifestyles with mere pieces of our Freedom. Many seem to be convinced it's cheap at twice the price.

Note: The wealthy never had anything we didn't give them. We stop, they will fall of their own weight.

...
"The tyrant has "nothing more than the power that you confer upon him to destroy you. Where has he acquired enough eyes to spy upon you, if you do not provide them yourselves? How can he have so many arms to beat you with, if he does not borrow them from you? The feet that trample down your cities, where does he get them if they are not your own? How does he have any power over you except through you? How would he dare assail you if he had no cooperation from you?"
...
"Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces."
...

- Etienne de La Boetie wrote those words about 1552. Nothing has changed.

https://mises.org/library/politics-obedience-discourse-voluntary-servitude/html

Once upon a time there were people, in this country. who lived as if "An injury to one is an injury to all".

There are over 300 million of Us, and only a few thousand of Them. If enough of us ever decided to live that philosophy again, we could create the world we say we want.

Maybe Burke should have stopped with “Those who don't know history are doomed".