Shall we purge the party of centrists???

[The Sushi Bandit]

like leiberman?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. liberman is not a centrist,

he is a dino, big difference

[LightningFlash]

2. There is no way Joe is a centrist.

The guy Lieberman is most definitely a DINO (and should have left a long time ago....)

[AndyTiedye]

3. Lieberman is a Lot Like Tony Bliar

Lieberman reflects the ideals of the Democratic party
like Tony Blair reflects those of the Labor party.
i.e. not at all, when Boosh** and PNAC come calling.


we need one of these for Joe.

[aquart]

4. Creepy crawlies come out after midnight.

Trying to make us destroy each other.

[Coastie for Truth]

5. For a minute

I thought this was another "100% pure" complaining Pennsylvania Democrat who could never vote for a "Pro Lifer" like Bob Casey - and would rather let Santorum win by default then vote for Casey.

Like the Dems who voted against NOW founder Molly Yard for the Pennsylvania Legislature -- and gave the 14th Ward seat to the GOP (14th Ward is the Bluest District in the whole state).

Like the Dems who sat on their hands in 1968 - cause Humphrey didn't come out against the war soon enough --- and "gave" the election to Nixon.

Like the Democrats who voted for Nader in 2000 - to "send a message to Gore" and because "There's no difference between Bush and Gore."

Well you folks purged the Party of Centrists - how's it feel to be "pure" - and with Nixon or Bush in the White House?

Don't start the luxury of "purging" until we have the Presidency and House and Senate majorities --- otherwise we'll be the minority party. And, remember - "centrist" Demos vote to organize the House and Senate and support a Dem President.

[T Town Jake]

12. You nailed it...

...and right on the head.

But I doubt the "purists" are listening and are (so it seems) content with the conditions as they are - out of power, to be sure, but well, hell; at least the self-righteous bitching can proceed.

Results are for other people.

[wyldwolf]

14. I wish we could nominate 1 post instead of the whole thread

Because the opening post is pure far left elitist arrogance (IMO) and isn't worthy of being on the "Greatest" page while your reply is.

[Adelante]

17. Absolutely right

And we are Democrats; not Republicans and not Stalinists.

[Selteri]

6. Lie-ber-man is not a centrist

He's a petty petty man.

[autorank]

8. Lie-ber-man...

:rofl:

Here's one for you Tony bLiar.

Great, I will use it whenever I speak of the Perfumed Princess of Pettiness

[yurbud]

7. If a centrist is someone who puts business interests ahead of people...

yes.

If you mean someone willing to entertain more than one view on abortion or consider whether the private or public sector does a better job at something on a case by case basis, no.

I think Howard Dean is scaring the corporate whores in the democratic party more than he's scaring republicans.

We would be better served by at least three parties: progressive, religious right, and one corporations own.


Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[man4allcats]

9. Well, I don't know about Lieberman,

but personally I don't like the idea of purges. I expect your question is more general with Lieberman merely being an example, but in any case purges to me sound like something they do. I do not in any way think of myself as a centrist. I like to think that I lean to the left, maybe even the far left. Still, I like even more to think that we are the party of dialogue. We are better than they are because we respect polemics and dialectic. To put it both eloquently and simply in the words of John Travolta's thinly veiled portrayal of Bill Clinton in the movie Primary Colors, "our ideas are better." They are better because we listen; not because we run people off that say things we might not want to hear. Your question is a good one, and I thank you for raising it. It is one that will help us to maintain our perspective at a time when perspective could easily be lost. After all, it happened to the Repugs, and contrary to popular belief, they're not all stupid. :hi:

[OneBlueSky]

10. centrists, no . . . whores, yes . . . and Lieberman's a whore . . . n/t

.

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. I really don't think that would be wise

Let us take a look at how the right-wing gradually took over the GOP.
It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when there were liberal Republicans who actually took the lead on issues like civil rights, fighting poverty and even opposition to the Viet Nam war. Committed right-wingers like Bill Buckley actually speculated out loud about running Reagan as a third party candidate. But through maneuvering and organizing the right-wing gained control and won the ideological debate within the party. The liberals were not purged per se--the reactionary forces just gradually became dominant. By the mid to late 70's the liberals of the Republican Party were no longer a factor. The Reagan party solidified the Republican Party as a right-wing party. This was further solidified in the early 90's with the rise of the Gingrich congress.
It may take some time. But I think it wiser for progressives to learn from the right-wing on how to make the Democratic Party a genuinely progressive party.

I might suggest reading "Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus" by Rick Perlstein. Rick Perlstein is the chief political writer for the Village Voice and is obviously on the left. I think this book gives some real insight to the rise to dominance of the right and begs the question, "what can we learn from them?".

[wyldwolf]

13. how about you just leave if you're not happy?

I hate to break it to you but the most successful Democrats have been "centrists" or moderates.

FDR
Truman
JFK
LBJ
Clinton

Honestly, why do some here have the delusion that they can purge anyone?

(see, I didn't suggest purging purists like you, I just informed you that you have the option of leaving if you're not happy.)

[Clark2008]

15. Why would you do that? That's half the party.

Not that Lieberman is a centrist - he's a Bush-enabler - but there are numerous rank and file Dems who are centrist on some issues.

[quaker bill]

16. This will take care of itself

Just speak the truth and those who can handle it will stick around and listen. Those who can't handle it will find an alternative.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. I'd like to see you try

Despite the opposition of a few the far left, centrists like Lieberman, Diane Feinstein, and Ben Nelson continue to win elections.

[Tesha]

19. Purge the party of *Rightists* and Corporatists (like Lieberman) (NT)

[Old_Fart]

20. Lieberman is a centrists?

I thought that he was a re-pug on the inside and a fake democrat on the outside. He belongs to that special group that Zell is in.

[losdiablosgato]

21. If you like losing to Repug, go for it.

[Moderator]

22. locking

flamebait