DLC Al From met with Bloomberg about the Presidency????

[aquart]

About an INDEPENDENT RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY???? According to CBS news they've been having meetings.

Anyone who still does not think the DLC is out to destroy the Democratic Party?

[tkmorris]

1. Need more info

I didn't see the report you are referring to, but I'd like to. Any link etc?

[aquart]

6. On CBS TV just a little while ago, no link.

From brokered some meetings trying to talk Bloomberg into running as an independent.

Bloomberg is intrigued but not yet biting.

WHY DOES FROM WANT A SPOILER IN AN ELECTION THE DEMOCRATS CAN WIN IN A WALK????

[paulk]

10. uh... Bloomberg is a Republican

wouldn't that tend to split the Republican vote?

[aquart]

17. No. Divorced. Jewish. Billionaire.

He got elected in New York City because DEMOCRATS voted for him. He was a Democrat before a fit of pique sent him over to the lonely Republican side to be their candidate.

[IndianaGreen]

23. Bloomberg is also pro-choice and somewhat gay friendly

not acceptable to the Party of Gawd.

And that's about all I can say about Bloomberg that is positive.

[KoKo]

27. Lots of INFO on this thread....Kick and "Bookmark" for those who don't

have time to read through it all "onsite."

This "Unity 08 PARTY" is really picking up steam from what I read here.

[madfloridian]

28. I am thinking Unity 08 might be a way for GOP to keep power....

by calling it something else. I am watching it carefully, watching the people connected with it.

I think though there are a few Democrats involved, they are basically now lobbyists and consultants who benefit as well.

Suspicious of them.

[Totally Committed]

2. The DLC IS out to destroy this Party...

No matter WHO they meet with or talk to... the REAL base of the Democratic Party is just NOT okay with them, and they just can't hide it anymore.

TC

[CarlVK]

11. And they are doing a smash up job.

I especially cherish all of their brilliant help in the '04 elections.

[madfloridian]

3. From Rolling Stone....it's true apparently.

And Bloomberg damns us for what we are doing to Lieberman...

Long read, looks interesting.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11274669/bloomberg_08_can_a_republican_mayor_of_new_york_take_the_white_house

[madfloridian]

9. Read these paragraphs from Rolling Stone. Ridiculous.

He is coming to seem, more and more, like the Republican equivalent of Sen. Joe Lieberman: a man seemingly out of place in his own party.

Bloomberg, in fact, identifies strongly with the defeated Democrat from Connecticut. "I think what they're doing to Joe Lieberman is a disgrace," the mayor volunteered when I met with him in his offices in July, shortly before anti-war bloggers helped Ned Lamont beat Lieberman in the primary. Lieberman lost not because he supported the war in Iraq, Bloomberg insisted, but because "he's been willing to say what he believes even if it doesn't help the, quote, party." The mayor was as apoplectic as he gets - not quite angry, exactly, but deeply, deeply annoyed. "My point is that there are things you've got to stand up for," he said. "And when we are intolerant of opposing views, what does that say about us?" What Bloomberg calls intolerance, of course, others call voting: The mayor has an unrepentant streak that can come across as undemocratic.

A few days later, Bloomberg was offering to campaign for Lieberman - and political observers wondered whether the move wasn't a calculated way to pull in support among centrist Democrats for Bloomberg '08. Although the mayor has frequently dismissed the possibility of a self-financed presidential run ("Which letter in the word 'no' do you not understand?"), he has recently turned more coy. At a dinner party this spring, he noted that he had half a billion dollars to devote to a bid for the White House, the kind of cash that would enable him to completely bypass the political parties. And in August, Bloomberg had dinner with Al From, the head of the Democratic Leadership Council and the centrist kingmaker behind Bill Clinton's run for the presidency. (Bloomberg, long a Democrat, switched parties to run for mayor.) This summer, when I met Bloomberg in his office, he told me in no uncertain terms, "I won't be announcing any candidacy for any office - sorry to disappoint." But one of his senior advisers, a few minutes later, walked up to me and said, "You're in for '08, right? You're on the bus?"

[madfloridian]

4. More about Al From and Bloomberg

http://agonist.org/20060804/a_bloomberg_bid_for_president_guests_won_t_say

"DIANE CARDWELL | New York, NY | August 4

New York Times - Sending a signal that despite his protestations to the contrary he is at least toying with a run for president, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg dined Wednesday night with Al From, a guru of centrist Democratic politics and one of the chief policy minds behind Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory.

The dinner took place at the home of Michael Steinhardt, a longtime friend of Mr. Bloomberg’s and a former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council. Also there was Mr. Bloomberg’s chief political adviser, Kevin Sheekey, who several months agogave the mayor a blueprint for running for president as a self-financed independent and has been working ever since to bring Mr. Bloomberg and the rest of the world around to that idea.

None of the guests would discuss what was said, and the dinner may merely have been one stop in Mr. Bloomberg’s routine travels through influential political circles.

But the fact that it happened suggests that Mr. Bloomberg has not shut down the idea of running. As the founder and chief executive officer of the Democratic Leadership Council, Mr. From helped develop and promote a brand of pragmatic, center-left politics that guided Mr. Clinton into the White House and that he says is still the key to victory."

[Totally Committed]

5. OMG....

Thanks for posting that, madfloridian!

Ugh.

TC

[mom cat]

7. Thanks for the indigestion.... I need to lose weight.

:puke:

The DLC is not my friend ... or yours either.

[paulk]

12. OMFG!!!!!!!!!!! This is HUGH!!!!111!!!!

oh wait....

it's all just rumor and conjecture.


sorry....

[madfloridian]

13. Would you stop that?

I posted nothing but the link and a quote.

[IndianaGreen]

22. "running for president as a self-financed independent "

"It is unacceptable to think."

-- George W. Bush

[Greyhound]

35. More than a former chairman of the DLC, he was a freaking founder

of this anti-Democratic monstrosity. A man (using the widest possible definition) that inherited vast wealth originating with his father Sol, who made it as the jewel fence for the Meyer Lansky mob ("behind every great fortune, lies a great crime"), has never been restrained by any moral ambiguity. In the early 1990s, he attempted to corner the market on Treasury securities, an audacious strategy which resulted in his having to pay $70 million in civil penalties to the SEC--a record fine at the time. Unfortunately, he made $600 million from the scam (ever wonder why Bill Clinton had nothing to say about this one?).

They are all in the same restricted club and we are not invited.

**Thanks to Tinoire from another board, for the research.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Would Bloomberg take more from Republicans or Democrats?

I know that he is generally considered to be a moderate Republican so he would probably take votes from both parties.

No matter which party he ends up taken more votes from however the thought of Al From pushing him to run does make me sick. I really don't think From has our best intentions in mind, he seems to think he should control every thing that goes on within the Democratic Party and then he goes to support and encourage a Republican like Bloomberg.

[Me.]

14. So Let Me See If I Have This Right

The head of the DC Democrats insiders club has been approaching a Repub to run as a presidential candidate in a third party run. The mind spirals. So will From promote Bloomberg over the dem candidate and campaign, send those donor dollars to Bloomberg? And what happens to the dem candidate and is From thinking he'll remain at the head of the DLC insider club? And I thought B*** insane! Well From can set up Bloomberg to run with Joe as his vice and good luck to the charismatically challenged threesome.

I do think word of this should be spread far and wide, for it makes the very point the progressives and grassroots have been trying to, that the leadership is not only out of touch but downright clueless. They are on the fast track for losing elections and still think they should be in charge. I would dearly love to know what the Clintons, Schumer, Emmanuel and all the rest of the chums have to say about this.

*shadow government*

[Pithy Cherub]

15. Al From just annnounced he and the DLC are irrelevant!

Supposedly, for pure theatrics the D was for Democratic.:rofl: We know the Truth.

Now that the DLC is a brand with a reputation like Halliburton, Cheney-like or Joementum-like, From goes outside of the DLC cesspool they created to find a disenchanted republican to run as his pet turkey presidential candidate and show he still has some clout - just not with real populist Democrats. Must make those DLC presidential wannabees very happy to know From is messing things up again like clockwork. Yikes. :crazy:

[True Blue Believer]

32. Lieberman Abused? Democrats Just Voted For Their Choice of Candidates

Since when is voting for the candidate whose views are closest to our own abusive or bad. Lieberman had the right to make a choice, the choice to vote in opposition to most Democrats on too many issues. Now he plays the poor, abused politician? Please. Lieberman needs to be an adult about this and accept his defeat and step down gracefully, not split the Democratic vote and give the GOP another seat.

All this shows is how little Lieberman really cares about our party, as opposed to his all important career.

[Pithy Cherub]

34. Huh?

Methinks this may be directed to another poster. My utter disdain for the sanctimonius Lieberman and his DLC ilk are well known. btw, welcome to DU. :hi:

[welshTerrier2]

16. here's another link ...

source: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_258181718.html

Sources told CBS 2 Bloomberg brought three deputy mayors with him, and proceeded to talk through every angle of a presidential run. By the end, the group had zeroed in on his running as an independent in 2008. And, the sources said, he seemed intrigued.

The dinner was held at the home of Michael Steinhardt, a legendary Wall Street hedge fund manager and a Bloomberg friend. He brought along Al From, head of the Democratic Leadership Council, which played a part in Bill Clinton's rise to power in 1992.

Sources said the man who put Bloomberg together with Steinhardt and From was New York City Schools Commissioner Joel Klein. <skip>

[KaptBunnyPants]

18. Please just go ahead and flip, Al.

People don't like conservative economic policies, this fantasy of the socially moderate economically conservative stalking horse plowing ahead to victory is a joke. If conservative economics were a winning strategy Republicans would run on it, instead of all this fake Chistian-esqe religious bigotry. They don't stoke all this fear and hatred for fun, they need that to get their extremely unpopular economic agenda passed.

Republicans offer people hate. We should offer people a chance to live a dignified life. Let From run his 3rd Party campaign. Let's see just how many economic conservative, pro-War, abortion and gay rights supporting voters there are out there. Somehow I doubt it's a message that will resonate with the American people, taking the least popular aspects from each political party and rolling them all into one candidate.

[OzarkDem]

19. Fuck them, many, many times

As a former DLC'er I'm sick of this. Go away Al From.

[Zhade]

31. If I may, what made you turn away?

Your story may help crack the delusion of our resident DLCers, who somehow erroneously think they're on the side of truth, justice, and all that good stuff.

[madfloridian]

20. Singer from MyDD has a few choice words for Al.

http://mydd.com/story/2006/9/15/212342/902

I won't repeat them here. But I will say how dare they support Bloomberg while trying to form our party's agenda as I posted today about the Democrats for Life and Third Way/DLC.

I mean it....how dare they.

And they are apparently verbally supporting Lieberman in many ways. Bloomberg is, I know. Marshall Wittmann is, I know.

Read this.
http://mydd.com/story/2006/9/15/212342/902

"For some time we have known about the DLC's interest in an independent presidential bid by Michael Bloomberg, so it should not come as a major surprise that the organization is helping New York City's Republican mayor plan his potential campaign. Andrew Kirtzman has the scoop for WCBS-News."

[flaminbats]

21. why not run in the Republican primaries?

if Bloomberg wants to promote his cause, he would accomplish more by promoting sanity within the Republican Party! But independent candidates always give the other two candidates a needed slap in the face during the fall. It makes Democratic candidates embrace strong positions on the issues and forces Republicans to defend their mistakes made in office.

[MysteryToMyself]

24. You are probably right.

Obama and Harold Ford both seem to be dissatisfied with the Democratic Party.

The Democrats always stood up for the middle class and poor. The republicans have always stood up for the rich and businesses. The DLC doesn't do that. For the past 20 or more years, the DLC Democrats are more like the old Republicans and the old Republican leaders are right wing nuts!

The Democrats should get all new people to run in 2006 to replace the DLC Democrats. On their front page, it says we work with Republicans. They sure do and it is to the detriment of the middle class and the poor.

I wish I had never heard of the New Democrats. I didn't understand what was going on for a long time. I kept waiting for them to stand up for the middle class, but they didn't.

Even Bill Clinton kept republicans on didn't appoint all Democrats. He did things that a normal Democrat wouldn't do. The Clintons are a big disappointment.

[Zhade]

25. And this is a surprise because...?

The DLC is made up of conservatives painting themselves as 'centrists'.

I always suspected something like this would happen with them.

[LWolf]

26. Perhaps it's time.

Time to acknowledge one of the following:

Either the DLC is not a legitimate part of the Democratic Party and needs to be separated, free to work on a separate agenda,

or the Democratic Party no longer represents the non-corporate working class, and everyone falling below "middle class," and half of those in the "middle class," need a different party to represent them.

[KoKo]

29. Quite Frightening that Gangs of Dems would Join with Gangs of Repugs

to Do THIS SHIT!!!!

[KoKo]

30. I read the Rolling Stone article....this is so disgusting in so many ways

I hope DU'ers will take the time to check it out......:-(

[madfloridian]

33. It was awful, wasn't it.

:hi:

[saltpoint]

36. Bloomberg sometimes says he's not running but there's a 'maybe' in

his tone.

And I believe he has the dough to run for president.

And he's term-limited, isn't he?

So he'll need something to do here pretty soon.

I'm not a huge fan. I was for Mark Green in their very-close mayoral race.

I hold Bloomberg much higher than many other Republicans but not as high as any Democrat.