Brownstein, LAT: Strong Signs of Rift Among Democrats

WASHINGTON — The liberal challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) escalated Friday when the political arm of MoveOn.org, an influential online advocacy group, endorsed the political newcomer opposing his bid for renomination.

Gaining the support of MoveOn's political action committee was Ned Lamont, a businessman who wants to unseat Lieberman largely because of the veteran lawmaker's staunch support for the war in Iraq.
...
With the involvement of these groups, the face-off between Lieberman and Lamont in Connecticut's Aug. 8 primary has emerged as the focal point of tensions between Democratic liberals and centrists over the party's direction.

"This is a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party," said Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. "It will have repercussions for the 2008 presidential campaign and whether centrists will feel comfortable within the Democratic Party."
...
While the online poll was being conducted, Lieberman was at a Washington dinner receiving an award from the Committee on the Present Danger, a hawkish foreign policy group whose membership includes prominent conservatives and leading supporters in both parties of the Iraq war.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-lieberman27may27,0,5540870.story

What's centrist about being a war hawk? Murtha's a centrist!

The DLC is destroying us.

wholehartedly as Lieberman **still** does. There is nothing "centrist" about supporting a war that 2/3s of America no longer supports.

I have more Democrat in my toe jam than Big Joe has in everything has, is, or owns.

There is nothing moderate or centrist about people like him.

Time for him to find another way to spend his time.

think about him than what his constituents think about him.

the crazy radicals at moveon vs the adults over at the dlc with wittman and al from providing the usual quotes.

i'm not a dlc basher and i'm probably to the right of many here at du - but these assholes are really starting to annoy me.

"This is a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party," said Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. "It will have repercussions for the 2008 presidential campaign and whether centrists will feel comfortable within the Democratic Party."

"...whether the CENTRISTS will feel comfortable within the Democratic Party"??????????. This borders on psychotic. The DLC is up to its old trick of making implied threats of maybe having to leave a party just not centrist enough for them. CENTRIST? I know genuine centrists, and the DLC is not centrist, but downright RIGHT (and I don't mean "correct"...) The RW Christo-Fascists are always doing this -- crying that America is anti-Christian just because some want a seperation of Church and State, reproductive freedom, ownership of our own bodies, the right to marry, and tolerance. The DLC is doing the same thing. Instead of finding ways to, perhaps, move to find ways to include the thoughts and feelings of those in their midst in their agenda, they just whine and complain about those who don't agree with them, and imply the threat of schism. There is no compromise proposed. There is no discussion engaged. There is no acknowlegement that a "big tent" is going to cover MANY opinions and ideas, but insist that theirs are the only ones they will tolerate or they are taking their ball and going home. Their choices of candidates and strategies to "win" elections have fallen flat way too many times for this to be a threat any longer. WE NEED TO WIN, and the DLC's plank has not proved to be a winner for us too many times. My opinion? -- Don't let the screen door whack you on the way out.

I am sick of this bullsh*t. Truly sick and tired and fed up to the teeth.

TC

In the 60s the democrats held power based on being able to cope with having the George Wallace Dixiecrat crowd in the fold ...
We may have had to listen to some wild crap spew from their mouths but the thing was, we had the power and the great society.
There are always rifts ... I have some big issues, but none so big as I would work for Frist or Delay (s replacement) extended tenure.
I think this whole immigration thing was specificaly designed to test the fracture.
Wont work though. We know who reeks more and all the editorials in the world wont change that.

I supported Clinton wholeheartedly with the exception of NAFTA. Bush has moved the "center" to the far right, depicted us "centrists" as being on the left. and the press including Brownstein and some politicians including Lieberman has moved to the right with him. Yes. Murtha and we are the true "centrists."

So what's right and what's left?

Are you a "leftist" just because you think that you have a right to privacy?

Are you a "leftist" just because you think that the term "terrorist" should be defined more clearly, more narrowly, more precisely so that everyone can know what conduct to avoid before they do it?

Are you a "leftist" because you think the government should be honest about the reasons it commits troops to war?

Are you a "leftist" because you want American intelligence to be trustworthy?

Are you a "leftist" because you want whistleblowers in government (and business) to be protected?

Are you "leftist" because you believe in a free press, free speech, the right to free association and free political expression as long as it is peaceful?

Are you "leftist" because you believe in the freedom to choose your own religion -- or no religion at all?

Are you "leftist" because you believe "all men are created equal"?

Are you a "leftist" because you want to breathe air that is as clean as possible?

Are you a "leftist" because you want to be able to drink clean water?

Are you a "leftist" because you want a "marketplace" in which you can live a decent life if you work hard and play by the rules?

To me, these are common sense, middle of the road, "centrist" values that Americans have shared for a long time now. Problem is, the John Birch Society (remember that old organization), the American Enterprise Institute, Reagan, Bush and Pat Robertson have succeeded in pushing what is perceived as "centrist" so far to the right that "centrist" now means fascist. And the DLC has moved right along with them.

Let the DLCers become Republicans. Maybe they can run against the rightwingers in the Republican primaries and pull that party closer to the "center." Or let them form a third party and see how little support for compromising the fundamental values that most Americans have shared for a long time. They want to "win" for the sake of "winning." That may have made sense in 1992 and 1996. But, our basic American ideals have been so trampled on since 2000, that "wins" of that sort would be useless.

We have to win back our right to privacy in November. We have to win back a Congress that will demand honesty in government and big business. We have to win back a safer environment. We have to win better jobs for Americans. We have to win an accountable foreign policy. If we don't we will have lost our way of life forever. Nothing less than "winning back our country" will do.

Anyone to the left of Hitler is now a liberal to this crowd!

member, I believe.

So now he's a republican plant, er, I mean a senior fellow at the DLC?

The guy is a fucking neo-con.

The DLC seems to be orchestrating an all-out propaganda blitz to destroy the Democratic Party, which, IMO, is why corporations, er, I mean conservatives, founded the DLC to begin with.

PPI | Bio | September 22, 2004
Marshall Wittmann
Senior Fellow

Marshall Wittmann is a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Previously, he was Director of Communications for Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Mr. Wittmann has served in various positions with the Hudson Institute, Heritage Foundation, Christian Coalition, and in the administration of President George H. W. Bush.

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=87&subsecID=112&contentID=252919

Wittman is example NUMBER ONE of why the DLC is a grave danger to our party and our political philosophy. He is a RW, Xtian Fundie mole.

What gives him the right or basis to talk about ANY position of real Democrats? He's always been a big supporter of Repugs and RW ideology. The fact that the DLC gives him any face time speaks volumes about them and their agenda.

and influence. People like this guy don't have any moral compass.

Among Democrats. Alluding there is this major upheaval going in the the rank and file of the Democratic party. Oh, the media will by August turn on the Dems and be pro repugs.

the fact that the media fan the fire does not mean there is no fire ...

Are you both enjoying those new subscriptions to 'Tough Shit' magazine I just got for each of you?

First to you, Mr. Brownstein. On page 47 there's the article titled 'Truthiness'. You know, the article you decided to skip. It talks about shots being fired across bows. We're not looking to throw anybody over the side. We're far more interested in curing a non metastisized cancer that seems to be taking hold. I woiuldn't call it a rift in the party so much as I'd call it a curative exercise. You know .... kinda like that laxative you take every day for your sour disposition.

And for you, Mr. Whittmann (by the way, what's with those double consonants?). You and your boys from the ol' DLC are geting pretty desperate. Here's one for you: Moveon.dot.org is not an official arm of the Democratic Party. Have you forgotten they're really just like you. Where you could be considered a NOC for the right, they might be a NOC for the left. Think about it. They have just as much right to do what they're doing as you do. Just because you stole the word 'Democratic-with-a-capital-D' for your name and they didn't doesn't put a sliver of daylight between you. Well, not technically. Morally, there's quite a difference.

So anyway, I hope both of you enjoy your monthly copies of 'Tough Shit'. Its a good read. :)

:rofl: :spray:

Yep. Just wait until November.

the media like clarity ... in this corner, the Party's elite Dems ... in that corner, the "blogosphere" ... nice and neat and tidy ...

the "blogosphere" may be more aware of politics than many others but it MAY be wrong to assume the "blogosphere" is not representative of how the general public sees the issues ... the image of a bunch of online extremist radicals waging war against the mainstream MAY be inaccurate ... and even if true, it's clear that more and more, opinions commonly promulgated in the "blogosphere" have become far more mainstream ... we saw the truth about bush; our views are now widely reflected in public opinion polls ... we were strongly opposed to the invasion of Iraq; Americans no longer support the war ... we talked about corruption with DeLay and Halliburton and the Plame outing and on and on and a once skeptical public now agrees with us ...

and yet the Party elites still cling to the myth that we must project a macho image rather than acknowledging that the war in Iraq was a tragic mistake ... and they refuse to speak against war with Iran at all save to mumble a few barely audible words about diplomacy ...

perhaps the heated dialog will lead to progress and eventually to some kind of accord ... far better would be a genuine intra-party dialog where ALL had a real chance to participate and to be heard ... a "compromise" solution, not a "get on board or else" is the only path to progress ...

i don't see the "elites" offering any such process ... i think it they, not the left, who are the "purists" ... until we have real democratic reform of our processes, i can't see what's currently "brewing" as "a curative exercise" ... i truly wish that were not the case ...

because of Lieberman's siding with religious hospitals against rape victims.

He proudly claims to be an independent, closer to a Scoop Jackson Democrat than anything. Yet he is one of the DLC's official bloggers who can simply not stop insulting anyone who opposes war.

The DLC must be making some moves now to get the word out about us fringe activists. Just like they did in 03.

Marshall Wittmann quoted above is Bull Moose, and his definition of centrist is wrong.

so he, and others like him, are trying to turn the Democratic Party into what the Republican Party used to be before it was taken over by the religious rabble.

THAT'S why I vote green these days!

All you uppity MoveOn types just need to put up and shut up and go along with these DINOs who have sold us down the river time and time again. You know, this kowtowing to the Republicans has been Soooooooo succeessful for us! Don't try to change a thing, folks, or else you might be accused of being LEFTISTS :scared: because you don't believe in slaughtering thousands of innocents for no good reason, screwing over rape victims, and supporting our boys Bush and Hannity with everything you've got!


:sarcasm:

Anyone who supports Bush's war in Iraq is either an imperialist or an idiot.

I'm not sure into which camp Lieberman falls, but I hope enough Democrats in Connecticut realize he is unworthy to be their Senator.

Remember, John Murtha is a centerist who opposes the continued war in Iraq.

disintegrating Republican coalition.

It would be better for Joe to be an independent when he gives his "spitball" speech as the keynote speaker @ the republican convention.

"It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be Commander-in-Chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine Presidential credibility at our nation's peril" Joe Lieberman.

Joe pretty much called Democrats who oppose the war traitors. Notice he didn't include republicans who oppose the war in his lecture.

LaMont is OK. We need to get Lieberman out before he and Bush start a nuclear war with Iran and LaMont is the only ticket. Lierberman should consider going to Israel and getting into politics there. A lot of Jews oppose these stupid wars. It's a shame he's such a hawk.

We also need to get out Feinstein. Colleen Fernald is a great candidate but Feinstein is getting all the attention from the corporate media.

We didn't polarize the nation. The election thieves did.

If Wittmann doesn't "feel comfortable" because there's no longer a coward's fence to sit on, so be it.

This is a fight Our National Soul.

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