Emboldened Democrats court party's left wing

[papau]

From the NY Post we learn that Susan Sarandon "doesn't think Sen. Hillary Clinton belongs in the White House. "I find Hillary to be a great disappointment," the lefty actress tells More magazine. "She's lost her progressive following because of her caution and centrist approach. It bothered me when she voted for the war. There were brave people who didn't. She's not worse than other politicians, but I hoped she would be better."

Meanwhile, Nina Easton below is a Fox News contributor (A wantabe Brit Hume replacement who says Bush’s Katrina failures are explained by "Bush didn’t want to be an ambulance chaser” like Clinton) and here gives her opinion on Hillary and the discovery by pollsters Penn, Schoen, and Berland that self-described liberals make up only 16 percent of the population, compared with 36 percent who call themselves conservatives and 47 percent who say they are moderates - and may well be backing folks other than Hillary in the primary.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/17/emboldened_democrats_court_partys_left_wing/


Emboldened Democrats court party's left wing
Sen. Clinton seen abandoning turf
By Nina J. Easton, Globe Staff | March 17, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Former senator John Edwards got high marks from labor for a new effort to unionize hotel workers, and Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold's demand this week that President Bush be censured was music to the ears of activists on the left.

Meanwhile, Mark Warner, former Virginia governor, recently hired one of the leftist blogosphere's biggest names to run his Internet outreach campaign, and Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana began a blog on the liberal Huffington Post, peddling his foreign policy views.

The next round of prospective Democratic presidential candidates, even those with centrist credentials, is actively courting the Democratic Party's left wing -- which speaks loudly through its blogs, enjoys rising fund-raising clout built on Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, and is imbued with a confidence that it can build on Republican disarray. The Democrats are rushing to fill a void left in the hearts and minds of many liberal activists by New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's efforts to move to the center, particularly on the Iraq war.<snip>

Clinton's supporters, and others on the left, maintain that she still has plenty of credibility among liberals. But if, as expected, Clinton seeks her party's nod for president, she will face an increasingly crowded field of candidates who are already picking up support among the left-wing voters and activists whose voices dominate during primary season.<snip>

[Warpy]

1. "Courting the left" isn't the point

They need to reconnect with working people, their traditional base. They need to hold town meetings, shut up, and listen to ordinary people voicing ordinary concerns about jobs, healthcare and WAGES. Then they need to change that damned yuppie do-nothing platform of theirs.

At that point, people will feel a glimmering of hope, get off their sofas, and VOTE.

No party can ignore its base and get elected. The GOP knows that. It's time for the DNC to discover it.

[papau]

2. I agree n/t

n/t

[Zimmy44]

3. No lib no more

At least someone is saying out loud that Clinton is no liberal any more, and that that fact disappoints people. Most of the MSM seems to still think of her as a liberal.