I find the term "true Democrats" as offensive as "true Americans".

[banned from Kos]

Who are you to piss and moan about WHY I vote Dem?

Like it or not, Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln helped pass Health Insurance Reform.

[pnwmom]

1. And they insured that we have a Democratic majority leader.

And losing all those blue dogs in the House gave us John Boehner instead of Nancy Pelosi.

[Panasonic]

20. People do NOT want Blue Dogs

and I certainly am one of them.

I am itching to throw out one of my own - a person named Michael Bennet - he's DLC, Blue Dog Dem, and always an ass.

[dkf]

22. So you would rather the Republicans control the Senate too?

[Panasonic]

25. So that's your answer for every time I want Blue Dogs out?

No. I want a primary election without any money influencing the election - a real progressive Democrat vs a blue dog Democrat - which one would the voters rather have - a honest to God Democrat that'll work for you, and not be sold out to the wealthy.

Besides, the Republicans aren't going to control anything anytime soon. They are going to face a massive loss in '12, mostly thanks to Americans and the social media that's waking every single one up from their stupor.

Republicans were elected in '10 for one reason only - and they FAILED to deliver that promise to the ordinary Americans.

Therefore, the House will return to the Democratic hands, and the Senate actually gains a number of Democrats elected by the people to remove disgusting Republicans that needs to go back to its nearest box rocks.

[pasto76]

34. wow you seem to have quite a crystal ball there

the republicans failed to deliver everything between 2000 and 2010. But they won 2 presidential elections and took control of the house away from democrats.
Your choice here in CO is Bennet or a repub. Your make believe land where we can have another senator who you like more doesnt exist

[pnwmom]

39. It does no good for a progressive to win in a primary if s/he can't win the general.

I'll take a blue dog any day than a Rethug.

I will be very surprised if the House goes Democratic in the next election. Polling isn't showing a likelihood of that at all.

[Ruby the Liberal]

26. Can a progressive win in your district?

They may be DINOs, but they do count in the headcount for who takes Speaker (and can set the committee assignments, agendas, etc...)

Then we get to drag them through the mud for voting against us, but better to play offense than defense.

[Panasonic]

28. Of course. My representative is Diana DeGette

One of the better liberals.

We put her there, because we know who we want. Before DeGette, our rep was the lovely Patricia Schroeder.

[PavePusher]

59. Some folks obviously do.

Empirical evidence, y'know.

[mia]

2. K & R!

I agree.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. "No true Scotsman"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

[Zanzoobar]

24. This must be a joke

You are no true Scotsman.

[mia]

38. Thanks for the education.

I like apple Pie.

[quinnox]

4. I'm sure a lot of conservadems

and DINOs feel the same way.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. What in the party platform are you in agreement with?

(Not that platforms mean anything).

We know where you stand on regulating the poor bankers. So what drives you to vote with Democrats?

[banned from Kos]

9. hilarious - I am

pro choice
pro gay marriage
pro drugs
secular
pro ACLU
anti war
pro Dodd-Frank (bank regs to you)
pro environment
pro alternate energy
pro ESCR
pro science
pro education
pro labor
pro union
pro education
anti school voucher
pro contraception
pro national Health care
pro gun (2nd Amendment)
pro free trade
pro stimulus
pro Obama


A LIBERAL ALL THE WAY!

[Ruby the Liberal]

13. It wasn't meant to be hilarious.

You have been asked before, by many others. Glad you are addressing it.

[banned from Kos]

14. Now I am glad you asked!

I am an old fashioned pro-market liberal.

But, you are right. I don't think I have confessed my positions here.

[Panasonic]

21. Can one be pro-gun and be pro-gun control?

At least sane people who uses guns responsibly.

[sarisataka]

36. I like to think I am

mostly sane.

I learned a new term tonight "Rolling domestic"
We called 911 because we saw a vehicle swerving and it appeared the male driver was hitting a female passenger in the back seat. The police caught up with them and found out the true story.
They are a couple who is engaged, from a culture that does not allow any physical touching before marriage. They were playing a tickling game as they were away from the supervision of their elders.
At no time did I consider confronting them at any stop, even though I was armed at the time. We followed at a reasonable ditance until the police could catch up.

End result was a little embarrassment for all and the police wished them a very happy wedding on our behalf.

[Zalatix]

57. Yes.

[Robb]

6. Coalitions are complicated things.

[dsc]

7. I think that in the Senate we should at least institute the rule

that you can't be chair, or ranking member, of a committee if you don't vote with the party all procedural votes which would have made passing health care reform vastly easier.

[bullwinkle428]

8. Like it or not, Ben Nelson also pledged allegiance to Grover Norquist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Tax_Reform

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

10. Who are you replying to?

[quinnox]

11. he is replying to a thread that quite rightly said no true Democrat

would favor slashing social security, but apparently is too scared to debate the matter directly.

[banned from Kos]

15. Bullshit. I went there (on Manny's thread)

Check the time I posted.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

19. Thank you for clearing that up.

I wasn't sure where the post was going.

[NCTraveler]

12. What position do you hold that would make us believe you aren't? nt

[banned from Kos]

17. None. I am pro market (capitalism) but so are most Dems

on DU that might be different.

[Scootaloo]

29. Depends on how you define "markets" and "capitalism"

You say you are "pro-free trade," and that you are "pro-labor / pro-union."

Unless you're working under some oddball definition of "free trade," different from the one in common usage, you really can't be both.

[banned from Kos]

33. Good question. Like Krugman I am pro free trade (meaning anti-tariff)

If Labor wants input on auto quotas then I am pro-labor. There is a reason "free trade" agreements take years to negotiate.

[sabrina 1]

53. Why were you banned from Kos?

[CreekDog]

32. you're probably one of the very, very few Democrats that would mislead about Glass Steagall

and do so in a way to discourage people from reinstating its strongest measures.

and by the way, that position you hold --it's anti market. what the banks were allowed to do hurt the market more than almost anything thrown at them in decades.

not a pro-market capitalism position. it led to bailouts, government expenditures to help the unemployed with things their former jobs providing prior to it.

[banned from Kos]

35. No, I am pro Dodd Frank which is much stronger than Glass Steagall ever was

I want the strongest regs.

Glass Steagall failed us.

[CreekDog]

44. there you go again with the trickery about Glass Steagall

you're brazen about it too.

you complained about Glass Steagall after it was gutted, saying the weakened version wasn't strong enough.

but you tried to conflate the strong Glass Steagall that existed before it was weakened --which was effective.

comparing what was left of Glass Steagall after most of it was repealed to Dodd Frank is something you know is misleading.

yet you seem determined to convince people of something false just to win the argument.

one thing is for sure, this type of obfuscation is the type that lobbyists have perfected when dealing with the public.

and that my friend, is a talent one can be paid handsomely for doing.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

58. This is a pattern. Make some idiotic remark. Then when people ask

for proof or debunk what was said. He gets real quiet all of a sudden.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

48. You have to help me out on this.

How could Glass Steagall fail us if it was repealed in the late 90s? Much of the corruption and implosion on wall street is directly linked to the repeal of Glass Steagall.

[Ruby the Liberal]

49. So why are Sandy Weill and friends lining up to reinstate it?

Weill was the push behind Phil Gramm because Citi wanted to buy his Traveler's group.

Or did you miss that news last week?

[Bonobo]

16. You just proved that you really don't get it.

In your mind, "Dem" is just the party, so your reasons for voting for "it" don't matter.

To many of us, it is the philosophy and morality behind the label, AND ONLY THAT, that gives it any meaning.

On edit, I also want to add that it is a very stupid comparison. People are BORN American, it is not something (usually) they choose, unlike a party which you choose to suit your beliefs. Dumb analogy indeed!

[leveymg]

18. Right. Thanks to Blue Dogs, we got a private insurance law rather than HCR.

Sure, it's nice to have the Majority, but it's what you do with it that counts.

[Selatius]

27. Folks like Ben Nelson and Max Baucus wouldn't have voted for a Public Option.

That's considered too far to the left. Plus, it would've been far easier not to challenge such a wealthy lobby in the run-up to a mid-term election year.

We basically got Romneycare except at the national level.

[CreekDog]

31. Oh, they would have

political animals can be dealt with on terms that motivate them.

[morningfog]

23. No true Democrat would be offended by the term True Democrat.

Only those squishy middle-liner conservative blue dogs would be.

[CreekDog]

30. Actually, the problem is that those two always thought they were doing us the favor

But let's just be clear how much we let those two jokers water-down our health care law.

Did we get their vote on it later? Yeah, after giving them what they wanted. She wanted, demanded to kill the public option --something that would've helped us on the legal front and would've helped us deal with states opting out of Medicaid expansion --see there are complications with the legislation on the exchanges where states don't participate. public option would've been a way to deal with that --another tool. Blanche killed it and lost her election anyway.

Honestly, those two jokers, had they left the health care bill alone, voted for it and lost their elections, would've done more for us than they did when we allowed them to weaken it.

Instead they weakened Obama's principal accomplishment and made the party look weak, made themselves look like vascillators and harmed the law in a way that makes it harder for the public to see results.

They hurt us. You know someone finally read them the riot act and they got on board, but by then the damage was done.

Nobody tells me that they are doing me a favor by being a Democrat when they hold progressive legislation hostage for something worse and support Republican ideas that are un-progressive, but want credit for supporting fewer bad ideas.

There is no soul in being a centrist anymore.

[99Forever]

37. ^That^

[pinboy3niner]

40. So what SHOULD we think of Democrats who propose or support cutting Social Security?

[Zalatix]

43. NOT true Democrats. That's what.

[pinboy3niner]

56. Yeah...

...I was kinda hoping for an answer FROM THE OP, that might better explain his objections to Manny's thread.

[white_wolf]

50. I tend to think of anyone who cuts social security as...

a corporatist sellout and any progressive party would do well to kick them to the curve.

[DJ13]

41. If you're holding up Blanche Lincoln & Ben Nelson as role models

You have already lost the argument.

[CreekDog]

42. .

[woo me with science]

45. I find fake Democrats offensive. nt

[Zorra]

46. I suggest you get used to it, or get over it. Centrist "Reagan" Democrats

helped ruin the country and the Democratic Party by getting Reagan elected, then, to top it off, started the DLC.

And things haven't changed all that much. The country is a total mess, and this mess is totally the fault of pro market Blue Dogs and republicans.

The trash Blue Dogs carry is well earned.

[99Forever]

47. Maybe if Dem Party leadership...

.. as much time and energy keeping Nelson and Lincoln in line, as they do browbeating rank and file members for being VERY disappointed with their crappy track record in doing for THE PEOPLE, they might not have such a crappy track record.

[whatchamacallit]

51. Hey man, what happened at Kos?

Just wondering...

[MotherPetrie]

52. If they echo Repug talking points, they are DINO's -- and fucking traitors who may as well be Repugs

And in my my book that ain't a REAL Democrat.

[sabrina 1]

54. Why do you find it offensive? I have no problem with it. You can call me a true Democrat anytime

and I will be proud to admit it. Can't imagine why any Democrat would find it offensive.

[Douglas Carpenter]

55. unless they are talking about slashing Social Security or something extreme right-wing like that