Lanny Davis: blame the left for Massachusetts

[Enrique]

Posting because I know there are some Lanny Davis fans here. Sometimes I think Lanny himself stops by once in a while...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703837004575013221708478134.html

Liberal Democrats might attempt to spin the shocking victory of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts by claiming that the loss was a result of a poor campaign by Martha Coakley. Would that it were so. This was a defeat not of the messenger, but of the message—and the sooner progressive Democrats face up to that fact, the better.

(...)

Then, in 2008, Barack Obama added something extra: a commitment to a "new politics" that transcended the "red" versus "blue" partisan divide. He explained this concept clearly in his 2004 Democratic Convention keynote speech and during his 2008 presidential campaign. It meant compromise, consensus and bipartisanship, even if that meant only incremental change. The purists on the left of the Democratic Party who demanded the "public option" or no bill at all apparently forgot that candidate Obama's health-care proposal did not include a public option; nor did it include a government mandate for everyone to either purchase insurance or pay a significant tax approximating the cost of that insurance—the "pay or play provision" in both the Senate and House bills.

Bottom line: We liberals need to reclaim the Democratic Party with the New Democrat positions of Bill Clinton and the New Politics/bipartisan aspirations of Barack Obama—a party that is willing to meet half-way with conservatives and Republicans even if that means only step-by-step reforms on health care and other issues that do not necessarily involve big-government solutions.

That's what Massachusetts Democrats and independent voters were telling national Democrats yesterday. The question isn't just, will we listen? The question is, will we stop listening to the strident, purist base of our party who seem to prefer defeat to winning elections and no change at all if they don't get all the change they want.

Stay tuned.

[bluethruandthru]

1. fuck lanny davis n/t

[ShortnFiery]

4. Yeah, we didn't see that dumb ass comment coming from "Mr. Corporate Democrat."

:eyes:

[izquierdista]

2. Why of course, Lanny!

As soon as progressive Democrats have no reason to go to the polls, Democratic candidates will win in landslides. :silly:

[bluethruandthru]

10. Lanny and his fellow "real" Democrats can just keep moving

further to the right (or as Lanny calls it - the center) and keep working for that bipartisanship that's reaped so many benefits this past year. Pretty soon he and his friends Obama, Rahm and the rest will all be one big happy party...known as REPUBLICANS!!

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Lanny is an asshole of the higest order...

He STILL believes centrism is the correct trajectory for the Democratic Party.:eyes:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. Major asshole makes the favorite argument of assholes

Dog bites man.

[alsame]

6. "We liberals", ROFL.

[PVnRT]

7. Fuck Lanny Davis

I'm getting a little fucking tired of first being told that the left doesn't really matter, but somehow we're responsible for any electoral loss. Davis can go fuck himself with some used sewage pipe.

[treestar]

8. They surely do prefer defeat

And nothing the Democrats could "deliver" to them would ever satisfy them anyway.

And they do not stick to it and allow for incremental change.

They only gave us one year.

They are already not going to get what they want. Health care is gone for another generation.

These independents obviously do not care that we will not be getting any health care at all and they surely did not put a republican in the Senate to prove a point that the health care plan was not enough. They have theirs and just don't give a shit.

[frylock]

27. you've had since 2006..

you can cram the "just one year" bullshit.

[leveymg]

9. Lanny is a neoliberal "radical centrist" that populists in both parties despise.

We really need to split both parties, and let Lanny speak for the Neoliberals.

[TomClash]

11. Excuse me if I am dense but . . .

Didn't Obama, Reid and Pelosi just spend the last six months compromising, trying to build bipartisanship and consensus during the negotiations resulting in the current health care bills?

And didn't their extended hands get slapped in return?

[ShortnFiery]

17. "... extended hands get slapped in return?" More like "pulling back a bloody stump ...

that was one's extended hand." :evilgrin:

Time for getting tough has MORE THAN arrived.

[atreides1]

18. If you try to pet a rabid animal and it bites you.

You shoot it, you don't try to pet it again!

A lesson obviously lost on the Democratic leadership.

"Democratic leadership", an oxymoron, like Jumbo shrimp!

[Blue_Tires]

37. we're not supposed to remember all that, just Obama trying to socialize our death panels

[karynnj]

12. Earth to Lanny: Bill Clinton endorsed her in the primary, Obama didn't

and she was not the candidate of the left.

[karynnj]

13. John Kerry's recommendation is far better - we need to fight for the people

KERRY ON TUESDAY’S SPECIAL ELECTION IN MASSACHUSETTS



BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today released the following statement regarding Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts.



“In Massachusetts, we fight like hell in political campaigns, we debate our differences, and the day after an election we go to work for the state we love. That's what we need to do now.

“I congratulate Scott Brown on his victory, and know that at this critical time our entire congressional delegation will do what's best for Massachusetts.

“Martha Coakley cares deeply about our state, and while we share in her disappointment we are all proud that she broke a glass ceiling in the politics of our party.She returns to the work of being an outstanding Attorney General for the Commonwealth.

“Tonight’s results will be analyzed and overanalyzed by the punditry. I hope as a Party we don't succumb to the temptation to form a circular firing squad. It does no one any good. One lesson Ted Kennedy and I both learned from defeat is, you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, chart a course forward, and get back in the fight.

“I didn't need any reminders, but this election encapsulated what was clear in 2006 and 2008 and remains clear today: Americans are angry. They're mad at Washington and they're mad at Wall Street. They've seen millions of jobs lost and been left no choice but to bail out those responsible. They're tired of insurance companies that charge exorbitant premiums but don't deliver decent coverage when they need it. They're fed up with sending billions of dollars a day overseas for foreign oil. They hate knowing that they pay taxes while powerful interests evade taxes and hide money overseas in Cayman Island bank accounts. And they expect all of us, Democrat or Republican, to fight for them. That's what I will keep doing in the Senate and will work with everyone who shares those goals."

[amb123]

14. LIBERALISM FOREVER! FASCISM NEVER!

ESAD Lenny!

:nuke:

[City Lights]

15. Piss off, Lanny.

:nuke:

[asjr]

16. Lanny Davis means well but I feel he

is wrong about the "purist base of our party who seem to prefer defeat to winning. . ." None of us wants to lose. We are still a two-party country. Independents matter of course, but they may have to choose one party or the other in order to make a difference. And, for me, it actually has come down to the Party that wants to do good things, and the Obstructionist Party. There is a middle ground but it should not be just the one party that wants to do good things that makes any compromise. When I look at the Republican Party now I can't believe I used to be a Republican. They have gone so far overboard since Eisenhower (who I think was a secret Democrat) I would be ashamed to call myself Republican. I don't speak for anyone but myself. But at least on this forum I can say what I feel. I have been on the media's case for ages but I still think they play an important part in what has happened to our country. I have stopped watching any of the channels, cable especially, now because they are so tied up in their ratings they don't care what they say or how it sounds. I really get upset when they say negative things about Obama. He is our president. They are not supposed to be cheerleaders for one party or another, but I can't remember them saying nasty things about Bush. And as far as I know Obama has not danced with Carl Rove on national television. Okay, I am a 77 year-old dreamer. But at least I can dream.

[Doctor_J]

20. No, he doesn't mean well

he is a Fox News employee and as such is a lying, propaganda-spewing traitor just like everyone else on that network

[asjr]

23. As I said I don't speak for anyone but myself.

[Doctor_J]

19. The TV "Dems" like Lanny, Juan, Cramer,

had better find really good hiding places when we finally decide we've had enough.

[Irish_shark]

21. Right-wingers often blame the left

It's a fact.

[Alcibiades]

22. The real lesson is that Democrats cannot ignore the left

Was the liberal base working as hard for Croackley as we did in every district in every state in 2008. I doubt it. Why? Because Democrats in Washington have been listening to people such as Davis.

Plus, it helps if you actually campaign. Voters don't like to be taken for granted.

[DrToast]

24. Worse than being an asshole (which he is), his facts are completely wrong

1. Obama's health care plan from the campaign DID include the public option.
2. The left doesn't give a flying fuck about the mandate. Lanny must forget who was actually pushing that position during the campaign last year.

Of course, I guess this is why only the WSJ would publish this garbage.

[QC]

25. We've been getting this same message around here nonstop for months.

It's enough to make one wonder if Lannie posts here. (Or if his underlings do.)

[Bluenorthwest]

26. Hey Davis. Got something to say? Get yourself elected

then maybe I'll listen. Martha strolled about for a while and called that a campaign.
Was Lanny in charge of her run or what? Sounds that way. He's a gas bag and a worthless one at that, a gas bag with a scant following.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

28. He stops by here occassionally? In that case --

"Lanny, go fuck yourself with a chainsaw. Here, suck on one of these:



The smell of corporate dick on your breath is too much for me to take."

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

29. So he essential agrees with LIEberman. Why am I NOT surprised?!??!

[CreekDog]

30. I like hearing what Lanny Davis has to say. I save time simply assuming he's wrong

:shrug:

[Edgewater_Joe]

31. Lanny Davis is Joe Lieberman's Bottom

Fuck him.

[Robbins]

32. Reality

He Is no liberal.He like Lieberman need to join Republicans.We have been listening to Centrists and
conservitives over the past year.Health Care Is no govenment takeover.It Is largely a giveaway to
Insurance companies.We are supose to compromise yet Republicans and Conservatives are not.

What has all the bipartisan attempts gotten us? A weakened stimulas.No Health Care reform.

This Is a guy who never supported Obama but did Lieberman.And I am getting feed up with those saying
we need to comprosise but cosnervatives never do.

[truebrit71]

33. Fuck Lanny Davis.

And who's the "we liberals" this DINO is referring to?

Lanny Davis wouldn't know a liberal if one came up to him in the street and kicked him where his balls should be..

[avaistheone1]

34. Lanny...isn't he a lobbyist sellout of the highest order these days?

[quiller4]

35. Lanny Davis is right. I phoned in this campaign and Davis says what I

heard from many voters. They are really unhappy with the left. They were not angry at the "blue dogs". They cheered them and want the rest of us to behave more like Webb and Lincoln.

[Robbins]

36. If true

Then we might have well just stay home and have Blue dogs join Republican party and they become a one party government.At times I don't know why Blue dogs run as Democrats anyway.They seem to agree with
Republicans most of the time.

[Hello_Kitty]

41. They also want a public option and for the banks to be regulated more. eom

[Robbins]

42. And

If they think Republicans and Blue Dogs will give them that they are crazy.We may have had a different
result If the senate bill had public opotion In It.

[TheKentuckian]

38. As soon as I get any clue on what the left has had to do with anything since the election

I might bother to listen to Lenny's non-case. I might also listen if we haven't had a full year (at least and for argument's sake) of ass kissing, accepting Republiklan amendments without any votes, the Gang of Sev...er...Six, and compromising values to fail to get results.

Tell me what the "left" controls in the game and we can take come responsibility but it appears that the "centrists" have full institutional control.

Davis pleads for bending over and planting a white flag up our collective asses in a dressed up case for privatization and increased corporate control and anyone that listens to his dumbass, including Obama will reap the whirlwind.

Davis is a dipshit, a liar, a fool, a coward, and a conservative. The party follows him and his ilk at severe risk, their path to the elusive middle will end up running off a cliff and find only shadows.

[Jennicut]

39. Except the healthcare bill Obama had to compromise on IS a DLC type bill.

We didn't go far enough left. Lanny is also the world's biggest tool and hates Barack Obama.

[last1standing]

40. Not really a whole lot that Davis actually gets right here.

Obama did propose a public option as a candidate, that's been proved irrefutably. He's correct that Obama didn't support mandates while running for office, but then Davis tries to insinuate that this is a 'purist' position when in reality, we progressives are generally against mandates. Then he claims that the party has been held hostage to progressives when the truth is that we've been completely marginalized by this administration and congress.

Now he wants us ignored even more? How is this possible?

There is no creature on earth more craven than the kind of vermin Lanny Davis is. He uses his brief tenure in a centrist Democrat's white house to attempt the destruction of any real liberal legislation on behalf of his corporate masters - all the while claiming the mantle of liberalism for himself yet never articulating a liberal stance on any subject.

Yes Lanny, they're listening, but whose voices will be heard, those of the People or that of liars like yourself? That is the question.

[inthebrain]

43. This article would be sad if it wasn't filled with irony

Lesson from the MA election. RIGHT WING OUTRAGE AND TEA BAGGER BS HAD NO IMPACT ON THIS ELECTION.

THe numbers of voters clearly displays that. Brown saw only a slight increase while Coakley had about a 50% dropoff in voters from the presidential.

The left got you this far and are not going to continue giving this party welfare votes. They stayed home and it cost this party in one of the most leftist states in the country.

[ObamaKerryDem]

44. +1