The enemy from within.

[Meldread]

Many people have been saying it for a long time. Bush is the enemy; Bush is the enemy, Any Body But Bush they shout. Yet they do not realize how we got where we are today, nor do they realize that there is an even greater threat to the world -- the threat from within.

I of course speak of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). The same people whose compromises made it possible for Bush to go to war with Iraq. The same people who indirectly murdered the young service men and women of our country. The same people whose message is failing -- as seen in 2002 -- when they lost the House and Senate to the Republicans. These people do not offer leadership. They offer costly compromises. They compromised your rights by supporting the Patriot Act. They compromised the lives of Americans by supporting the Iraq War. They compromised our children by supporting No Child Left Behind. They compromised our health by supporting Bush's Medicare bill. They compromised our economy by supporting Bush's tax cuts for the rich -- for the special interests that fuel their campaigns as well as Bush's.

We have focused our sites on getting rid of Bush -- the enemy -- but little do we know that we are about to be stabbed in the back. That the DLC has an agenda and it is not in the best interests of the American people.

Indeed, the DLC has taken it upon themselves to elect our candidates without giving us a chance to do it ourselves -- apparently the people of the Democratic Party are not smart enough to do it themselves. No, they have gone out of their way to support the right wing agenda fueled by the media. They have formed an alliance with the enemy to protect their own selfish gains. They hate America and Americans. They are the anti-America. They support the special interests that have corrupted our politics.

Take a simple look at how the DLC has engaged in smearing Howard Dean.

According to them anyone who still supports Howard Dean are "upscale, antiwar, white liberals". They have categorized the Democratic Party as "moderate, middle-class", and also go on to describe them as "Blair Democrats who supported the use of force in Iraq".

This goes beyond any single candidate -- everyone should be enraged. The same thing was done to John McCain of the Republican Party when Bush was running for the Republican Nomination. The establishment decided that they didn't want McCain and they tore him down. The same thing is occurring here before our very eyes.

Let us send a message to the DLC. Let us send them this message: We are the Democratic Party and we are diverse. We are poor, we are rich, and we are middle class. We are black, white, Latino and Asian. We stretch across all boundaries be them economic, racial, or religious. We can elect our own candidate without your interference. We do not want your interference.

I support Howard Dean be he the one who gains the nomination or not. I will not vote for anyone but Howard Dean. I will not vote for the DLC or anyone who supports it. I will not vote for the establishment -- I see the dagger they are holding and I will not let them plunge that dagger into my back. I will not let them continue on and run our country into the ground. I will not let them compromise our country for their own political gains. It is time to take our country back. It is time to take it back and place it into the hands of Americans.

I support Howard Dean and I urge all others who do as well to once again donate to his campaign. Do not let the DLC determine who will or will not be our nominee.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

1. The enemy from within is fear of presenting a clear, liberal alternative

to Bush.

[Meldread]

3. Exactly.

Dean has done just that. Read his recent speech here.

[blm]

13. Dean was a DLCer pulling the Dems further right his entire career.

Thankfully, good liberals like Kerry were pulling leftward throughout that same time. Imagine if Dean had gotten his way back then. The party would be completely CENTRIST like Dean.

[SeattleRob]

25. hmmm...

I guess that's why the DLC is happy about Kerry.

[blm]

33. Nope. They know Dean's just pulling legs for his campaign.

Some top DLC guys wanted Lieberman. Some backed Edwards.

They are happy about Kerry because they HAVE to be.

If you have doubts about Kerry's record, then explain how Kerry ended up with a lifetime liberal rating closest to Wellstone's.

Explain how Dean ended up being the CATO Institute's favorite Democrat during his governorship.

[eileen_d]

2. You know, the DLC hasn't interfered with my political views at all

This is a better post than the one about "Vote Dean or Nader will come and get you!" though.

[mmonk]

4. They have been anti-Dean

anyone thinking otherwise is not correct. It ALL has to do with the Iraq war issue. They do not want to make it an issue anywhere in the campaign. They either support it or are too cowardly to oppose it in any way, even if it only looks that way. Looking at what Dean is running on in other areas, it's the only real thing that could be described as an issue with them.

[bhunt70]

12. as a fellow clark supporter I respectfully disagree...

It's not about just the war. It's about the tact, the presentation, the ability to have something other than just a microphone. I think it's shortsighted to think the only reason people oppose Dean is because he stood up against the war.

Sorry if I misinterpreted what you meant.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. "Blair Democrats" is a very apt descripition of what the DLC wants.

They want to transform this party into the moderate wing of the republican party. Ready to compromise on every issue, ready to sell out at the drop of a poll.

They are just as dangerous as bush as they try to lull Americans to sleep with their song of "not as bad" as the republicans and offer us yet another candidate who is not "too liberal".

To hell with them and their sell-out tactics.

[tnlefty]

6. Every time that I see "Blair Democrats" I want to vomit.

I seriously wonder how Kerry likes being referred to in this way.

[Meldread]

18. Exactly.

We must fight them every step of the way. They obviously fear Dean and his message. They *KNOW* he stands for the people; his record has proven it, and not the special interests that keep them in power.

This is why we must support him along with Dennis and Sharpton in anyway we can. Dean has a real shot at the White House -- a real shot at the Nomination and a real shot at beating Bush. He's in trouble right now, and he needs our help.

Everyone who supports giving our country back to the people, the core of what the Democratic Party should stand for, you should be supporting Howard Dean. He needs our help and we should be willing to do everything in our power to help him.

It isn't about beating Bush. It's about changing America. It's about changing our party. It's about leaving the country in a better shape than we left it.

[jsw_81]

35. Take a look at this

Before the DLC:






After the DLC:

[bhunt70]

7. I don't consider the DLC "the enemy within"

anymore than I think Dean is the saviour from without.

Sure, the DLC has floundered and acted like a chicken with its head cut off but seriously, to categorize them as the enemy because of it is ludicrous.

Dean is not really much different than the establishment to me, he's as conservative as some of those people on the DLC you speak about. Populism? How many candidates can cite a populist platform, too many to count throughout modern history.

Personally I am getting a bit tired of the split between the Dean camp and the democratic camp. For some reason, many democrats in the establishment and in everyday life have taken an aversion to Howard Dean...that should speak volumes. It's not just being flippant, some very well respected people have stood against Howard Dean (and Kerry, and Clark, and Edwards).

The whole outsider schtick is extremely beat and all it does is fraction our party.

Inclusion over exclusion.

[cthrumatrix]

14. no..it's "the people" vs the establshment ...the people picked Dean

and Mccaullifee was uncomfortable from day one....you could see it. He didn't embarce new members, deans record, his accomplishments etc....he was always..."well we have other guys"..

This was before Iowa...before the hit.

[eileen_d]

19. Guess I don't count as one of "the people" then

I never picked Dean and never will, unless he does win the primaries.

And I will go on record: I have never been on the receiving end of a loving embrace from the DLC. I could care less what they do.

[economic justice]

20. "The people" want Dean?????

In Iowa, 78% voted AGAINST Dean. In New Hampshire, 74% voted AGAINST Dean. These are Democrats! What do you mean that, "the people picked Dean"???

[eileen_d]

22. Dean didn't lose in Iowa

He just failed to win. </sarcasm>

[bhunt70]

28. Actually it's not.

It's a great scapegoat but no, the people of Iowa and NH did not chose Dean.

To think that Dean supporters are the only ones to be able to see through the "establishment bullshit" is once again...elitist.

[ithacan]

38. you need to read more on the DLC

it's not just "another view", it's a fifth column within the Democratic party. This is from a research thread at the old DU, started by Eloriel. The thread continues with lots of links that are very very damning about the DLC and who is behind them:

How the DLC Does It, TAP, April 23, 2001
http://www.prospect.org/print/V12/7/dreyfuss-r.html
This whole article is really a fascinating must read -- to see how thoroughly in bed with big business the DLC really is, as well as how they muscle in and "influence" policy.
For $5,000, 180 companies, lobbying firms, and individuals found themselves on the DLC's board of advisers, including British Petroleum, Boeing, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coca-Cola, Dell, Eli Lilly, Federal Express, Glaxo Wellcome, Intel, Motorola, U.S. Tobacco, Union Carbide, and Xerox, along with trade associations ranging from the American Association of Health Plans to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. For $10,000, another 85 corporations signed on as the DLC's policy roundtable, including AOL, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Citigroup, Dow, GE, IBM, Oracle, UBS PacifiCare, PaineWebber, Pfizer, Pharmacia and Upjohn, and TRW.

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.


Here's another interesting link:
http://csf.colorado.edu/pen-l/2001II/msg03274.html
But it seems odd to have have an ideologically conservative outfit -- one of the largest private companies in the US, owned mainly by two arch-conservative brothers (David and Charles) who support "free market" policies no matter the cost -- lined up on the same sponsor list as a liberal international union.

The Sheet Metal Workers Union (see www.smwia.org) is a member of the AFL-CIO and even lists includes a link to "BushWatch" (see http://www.aflcio.org/bushwatch/index.htm) on its home page.

By contrast, the Koch industries organization was a major donor to the Bush campaign and the Bob Dole campaign, and provided startup funding for both the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy, anti-labor advocacy groups with close ties to the Bush administration. (see http:// www.forbes.com/2001/01/04/0104faces.html and


Demonstrating the ideological kindship between the two, here's a pro-Gore, pro-DLC global warming initiative article written by the Cato's Institute's Senior Fellow for the Environment:
http://www.cato.org/dailys/11-14-02.html


Somewhat less damning, perhaps, but still puzzling, the Colorado DLC Think Tanks links page includes the Cato Institute:
http://www.coloradodlc.org/thinktanks.htm

there's much much more on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=23262&forum=DCForumID60&archive=

[montanacowboy]

8. Bravo!

eom

[janx]

9. Good for you!

:toast:

That sums it up very nicely!

[Faygo Kid]

10. You'll take your ball home if you can't be quarterback?

I like Howard Dean. I hold no truck with the DLC, and remain furious at the 2002 election strategy, reflecting their thinking. But your post contains some disturbing language. "They hate America and Americans." That's what you say about the DLC. Sorry, that's Limbaugh-Coulter-Savage language, and I don't like it from them, or in this context, either, not one bit. Your strident language is certainly not going to gain allies; rather, it will repel people. I will vote for any Dem who gains the nomination against Bush, and will do it wholeheartedly and proudly, because the alternative is too frightening to contemplate. "The threat from within" (DLC, I assume)is not, repeat not, "an even greater threat" than George Bush and this administration. I am under no illusions, given your language, that you will change your mind. You will, I am sure, taking you at your word, sit this one out if Dean fails to win the noomination. OK. But other people feel just as strongly about their candidates, even if you can't see it. And your accusatory language is not fair to them. And unwise; I hope, despite the attitude too often seen on this discussion site generally, that you are and remain in the minority. We'll buy our own football if need be, I guess, and let you stew at home with yours.

[cthrumatrix]

11. it's BS...and makes you wonder if they teamed up with Gep and Kerry

to fund the Osama/Dean ads before Iowa...witch they don't mention...they don't talk about the media "assasination"
after Iowa and how it affected the polls..in fact there is no rationla conversation at all:

Dean is +20 in Iowa ...and the he's third (the people have spoken...excuse me...there were a few steps in between)...same in NH

[RhodaGrits]

15. I went to the DLC's website via your link

and was revitalized in my support for Dean and sent him more money. I also dropped a note to the DLC and thanked them for reminding me why I was not supporting their choice. I think Howard will make the best leader for our country and I'm not switching candidates this early in the game based on white bread electability.

[Meldread]

24. Good!

Dean needs every dollar he can get. He needs to fight these guys on every front. Tell your friends. E-mail everyone you can and let them know. We have to earn as much money as we can for Dean -- he needs our help.

[economic justice]

16. DLC = Clinton Message = WIN IN 2004

Yes, you are right, the Republicans picked up seats in 2002. The losses came by being soft on defense and too far left on cultural issues. Yet, you want to malign the major organization that works for policies that could appeal to independents who went Republican in 2002. Calling the DLC and our members of congress murderers only consigns you to the fringes. That kind of bombastic message is a major turn-off and would cost Democrats the White House. Of course, you do realize, that NONE of the candidates are calling the DLC and congressional members murderers don't you? The fact is that Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996 with a clear message to middle-class families, calling for a strong national defense, and a call for economic justice across class lines. That is a winning message. A radical straight-from-Berkeley leftist message gives us 4 more years of George W. Bush. This is the United States....not Brazil or Venezuela.

[mrgorth]

17. Fuck the DLC!

[nancyharris]

21. I don't understand

<"According to them anyone who still supports Howard Dean are "upscale, antiwar, white liberals". They have categorized the Democratic Party as "moderate, middle-class", and also go on to describe them as "Blair Democrats who supported the use of force in Iraq"">

Could you point to WHO in the DLC has said these things?

[eileen_d]

23. The DLC is a nameless, faceless boogeyman

Don't expect any specifics. Just revel in the fear and loathing.

[nancyharris]

27. I assume that the author is quoting someone

As there are lots of quotaion marks in the post.

[RhodaGrits]

31. follow the link to the DLC website she's quoting from:

http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=131&subid=192&contentid=252351

[nancyharris]

42. Perhaps there are a little bit upset

That Governor Dean called the DLC "the Republican wing of the Democratic Party". How do you expect them to react?

[RhodaGrits]

43. I knew he said he represented the

Democratic wing of the Democratic party... did he call the DLC the Republican Wing? After looking at that website, I wouldn't blame him if he did.

[Meldread]

26. Visit the link.

Visit the link I posted in the first post. It takes you to where the entire article is posted.

[jsw_81]

29. I disagree

Although the DLC is far from perfect, we should remember that it includes many fine Democratic moderates like Evan Bayh, Mary Landrieu, and Harry Reid; both Clinton and Gore served in the DLC leadership. Without these kinds of people, our party would collapse and we'd never win the presidency or Congress.

It would be foolish to only limit the Democratic party to angry white liberals who live in major cities; this was Howard Dean's strategy, and in case you haven't noticed, he's losing.

We need a big, big tent if we want to win.

[Meldread]

36. It's about inclusion not exlcusion.

They have no right to post that type of material on their website about a Democratic Candidate for President, and then turn around and call themselves "leaders" of the party. They are excluding Howard Dean and thereby extension those who have, and will in the near future vote for him as part of the party.

Read what they said carefully. Combine what they said along with their recent actions. Then look at their rumored involvement in dirty campaigning against Dean. I will not support them. Period. I will not support a candidate that supports them. Period.

[jsw_81]

37. You didn't support Clinton or Gore?

In case you forgot, they both served in DLC leadership positions. Who did you support in 1992? Jerry Brown?

[bhunt70]

40. Inclusion is understanding that there is more to it than

being a supporter of one candidate and not putting the views or goals of one person above the betterment of the whole group.

[economic justice]

39. Absoultely! Very well-said. <eom>

[KFC]

30. At least get some new Dean propoganda

This crap has been repeated 500 times.

Example:
The "scream" was caused by a hyper-sensitive wireless microphone.
Silly, but at least fresh.

[Dark Star]

41. LOL!

A sudden breath of fresh air. Thanks.

[AntiCoup2K4]

32. Blair Democrats?? Does that mean...

...spineless cowardly dictator-appeasing poodles??

Thank God I'm not one of them, and neither is my candidate.

And another point about Blair...

He now admits there were never WMD's in Iraq. That doesn't bring much comfort to the 500 or so Americans, or the Brits, or Iraqis killed as a result of his ass kissing.

How bad will the damage to the country have to get before the "Blair Democrats" admit they were wrong.

I'd really rather not find out :scared:

[bhunt70]

34. well

you say appeasement and others say compromise.

Sounds as if you would only be happy if everyone thought like you. Politics is more that just pounding your message through like the current establishment is doing. It seems like you would like your candidate to be the same type of leader (although with different views).