In the wake of the election, Paul Begala advocates a centrist (neolib) agenda

[marmar]

:puke:


from HuffPost:



Dear Democrats: I feel your pain. I've been there. I was one of President Clinton's chief political advisers when we lost 52 House seats and eight Senate seats -- and then we lost a ninth when Dick Shelby of Alabama switched parties.

So many commentators have compared the present situation to the 1994 debacle that I thought I'd put my recollections, thoughts and counsel on paper (or, rather, on pixels.)

First, losing the Congress was not good for President Clinton. The Republican Congress impeached him, for Pete's sake. They harassed him. They refused to confirm many of his judges. They shut down the government. They refused to listen to him on climate change. They did not heed his warning to "save Social Security first" and lock away the Clinton surplus so it would not be squandered. They even accused him of playing "Wag the Dog" when he tried to kill Osama bin Laden.

The only ways in which having a GOP Congress was good for Clinton is that it gave him some Grade-A villains to push off against, and allowed his centrist instincts to be seen in sharper relief. On balance, I would rather have had a root canal. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/a-centrist-democratic-age_b_777955.html

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Begala - SHUT THE FUCK UP.

We're not interested in centrist agenda. It's already been offered and rejected.

WE NEED TO GO LEFT BIG TIME, PRONTO!

Hawkeye-X

[ibegurpard]

2. Dear Paul:

That's what we already had.

[leftstreet]

3. How utterly shocking

not

[Lilyeye]

4. No shock. Most of these idiots are saying we need to be center and not left.

I have no idea why people thought the lost would make them think we needed to go left. I really hope the President does differently.

[w4rma]

5. That's his DLC appointed job. He promotes the DLC(Democrats Lose Congress) agenda whenever he can.nt

[SoCalDem]

8. DLC = Dems Lose Consistently

[marmar]

16. Perfect acronym.

[MisterP]

17. they're a Koch puppet as much as the Baggers!

it always makes me laugh when people say "THEY want to (insert conservative policy the Dems have passed) and undo (good policy the Dems didn't actually pass)--so GOTV! it's YOUR DUTY TO THE HUMAN RACE!!!!!!!!!!"

[SoCalDem]

6. You mean like he's ALWAYS pushing?

He's extinct...along with the other DINOS

[HughMoran]

9. What's old is suddenly new when an agenda is being pushed in this thread

What utter BS.

[HuckleB]

7. Hogwash.

[HughMoran]

10. Utter hogwash

Talk about pushing an agenda. :eyes:

[HuckleB]

13. Push. Shove. Utter. Ugh.

[Hello_Kitty]

11. Americans are clearly crying out of more free trade deals and outsourcing. eom

[RayOfHope]

12. shut up begala. n/t

[StreetKnowledge]

14. Shut your trap, Begala.

We don't need more "centrism". It didn't work then, it won't work now, especially with the psychopaths who will end up in command in Congress. if you give them a finger, they'll take your whole fucking arm.

[fishwax]

15. lol -- never would have seen that coming

:)

[deaniac21]

18. I thought he died.

[deaniac21]

19. I thought he died.

[deaniac21]

20. I thought he died.

[charlie]

21. Yeah, the guy who derided Dean's 50-state strategy

as "hiring nosepickers in Idaho."

And right on time, now that the shit imploded after the strategist left, he's pitching his Triangulation Miracle snake oil.

Fuck him. And Carville.

[TheKentuckian]

22. A fuckload of snide fail

Good for nothing but foisting Republicans on the party for a term, obstructing and watering down the agenda, and then getting punted for being weak tea Republicans and dogshit Democrats.

All they got is we get fucking suckass sad sacks in to suicide the party and mealy mouth around.

[mod mom]

23. read the comments, he is getting an ear full!

What was behind the enthusiasm of '06 and '08? Try Howard Dean's 50 state strategy and progressives fired up with promises. Instead what the party delivered was broken promises, disparaging attacks on Howard Dean and progressives and more effort to appease the GOP than work w progressives. Go f yourself Begala. Try blaming rahm & robert gibbs.