General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo who's our boss now? Who has our politicians firmly in hand?
First off, I neither trust nor like Fox News Democratic (?) strategist Kirsten Powers. I find it hard to believe the name of her new book... The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech. ''
But in 2011 when the Democratic Leadership Council, our old policy shop by their own words, died it just automatically became the Third Way. Her post from that time at The Daily Beast was very clear on that.
DLC Shut Down: The Democrats New Power Base
The Democratic Leadership Council may be shutting down, but the progressives haven't won. Centrism is alive and well in the think tank Third Way, whose advice on health care and the economy has swayed the White House.
Mondays news that the Democratic Leadership Council is folding after three decades was greeted with glee by those on the left who see it as evidence that centrism has gasped its last breath.
Not so fast.
...Third Way was launched in 2005 with four employees and has since has grown into a serious player within the party, with 37 staffers and a budget of $7.5 million. It was founded by veteran Democratic politicosJon Cowan, Jim Kessler, Matt Bennett, and Nancy Halewho previously launched and ran a successful centrist gun control organization, Americans for Gun Safety.
...These are no mere hacks. They are as steeped in the policy as they are wise about the political realities that Democrats face in a country where liberals are a distinct minority. They dont deign to tell Americans what they should believethe favorite game of too many liberalsbut instead craft realistic policy proposals that have a chance of gaining some sort of popular support.
And catch this part:
More recently, when the White House announced that the theme of the upcoming State of the Union would be shifting from economic security to economic growth, a light bulb went off. The phrase was one I had heard time and again from Third Way, which had been arguing that Democrats needed to make a dramatic shift away from focusing on the safety net and economic security to an aspirational, positive vision of private sector economic growth. It turns out Third Way formulated a memo making this case that made its way to the White House, and a new strategy was adopted.
Remember the Chained CPI? That was their brainchild as well.
The head of the Third Way, Jonathan Cowan, has spoken out for cutting Social Security benefits since the 90s. Here is an editorial by him from 1993.
An Appeal To Grandma And Grandpa
We write to ask for your help. We're in a financial mess, and unless everyone in our family gets together to fix the problem, we're heading for "economic and fiscal catastrophe." That's not a phrase we picked up on MTV-it's from a recent U.S. government report on the budget deficit.
.... We are not ungrateful. We respect and value the sacrifices you've made for our country and have no desire to take money away from those in need. But our generation is in trouble. We were educated in a collapsing school system. Our incomes and skill levels are lower than any previous generation-by the year 2000 over one-third of younger Americans will be living in poverty. And we will be the first Americans to inherit a lower standard of living than our parents.
We're not asking that your generation solve all our problems. And there certainly are many other programs that also must be cut to get the deficit under control. But Social Security must be considered, just like everything else in the budget.
And a post by Markos at Daily Kos in 2013 really hits the pertinent points.
Third Way fantasizes that Democrats want a more conservative Obama
With the demise of the corporatist right-wing Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), Third Way has filled the void. Unlike the then-flashy and public DLC, Third Way operates mostly in the shadows, presenting as small a target as possible while insidiously worming its way into the D.C. party establishment.
....All of this is par for the course for an organization that offered up this terrible pre-election advice:
"By siding with public anger against big banks and pushing for higher taxes on millionaires, Obama may make Americans more unhappy about wide income inequality, which could hurt his re-election bid.
"Populism is predicated on people feeling that they are getting the short stick," said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a nonpartisan think-tank in Washington.
"In tough economic times, optimists win presidential races and pessimists lose. It is very hard to be both a populist and have a sunny view of America's future," Kessler said."
Markos quotes a Pew study:
So what about the New Dems/Third Way/DLC types? Pew calls them "post-moderns":
Post-Moderns are largely white, well-educated and affluent. They also share a relatively secular outlook on some social issues, including homosexuality and abortion (...)
Post-Moderns are less supportive of increased aid for the needy and are far less likely to view racial discrimination as the main obstacle to African American progress."
And his own words:
These are Wall Street asshole corporatist Democrats (which literally dominate Third Way). They are correct on social issues, very very wrong on economic ones.
And I would expect Simon Rosenberg regrets ever saying these words about changing the party so as not to need its traditional constituents.
"Simon Rosenberg, the former field director for the DLC who directs the New Democrat Network, a spin-off political action committee, says, "We're trying to raise money to help them lessen their reliance on traditional interest groups in the Democratic Party. In that way," he adds, "they are ideologically freed, frankly, from taking positions that make it difficult for Democrats to win."
Yes, I quoted that before and will quote it again. The groups changed in name only.
The corporations are still our bosses.
marym625
(17,997 posts)Great post!
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)They took over the party from "regular" people.
FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)Move the Democratic party to the right and the Republican party into the clown car.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)They're not going to be able to hide from the drastic effects their actions will have on the world, I think. Climate change will be arriving in force, and we've barely begun.
They can only insulate themselves so much. Eventually the people will have their say.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Interesting, first time I've seen them. Some get fooled again and again.
waddirum
(979 posts)The closed with "Wont Get Fooled Again".
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)"We are not ungrateful. We respect and value the sacrifices you've made for our country and have no desire to take money away from those in need. But our generation is in trouble. We were educated in a collapsing school system. Our incomes and skill levels are lower than any previous generation-by the year 2000 over one-third of younger Americans will be living in poverty. And we will be the first Americans to inherit a lower standard of living than our parents."
So hurry up and die, and we will assist your early demise.
3rdWay is to D as TeaParty is to R
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Thanks. Exactly.
BeanMusical
(4,389 posts)Absolutely!
fredamae
(4,458 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)"Populism is predicated on people feeling that they are getting the short stick," said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a nonpartisan think-tank in Washington.
"In tough economic times, optimists win presidential races and pessimists lose. It is very hard to be both a populist and have a sunny view of America's future," Kessler said."
In other words he wants the Democratic Party to embrace trickle down/supply side.
I think they only pretend to want Democrats to win. Their true objective is for Democrats to lose.
DJ13
(23,671 posts)They seem to be agnostic about party affiliation, its the economic class (and increasing the incomes of the 1%) that really matters to them.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)IMO the word "bipartisan" could be their main goal.
DJ13
(23,671 posts)I really have begun to hate that word!
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)But that didn't go over too well.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Progressive Policy Institute and New Democrat Network were both begun by DLCers; New Policy Institute, which is an affiliate of the New Democrat Network, Center for American Progress, founded by Podesta, who worked for President Clinton and is now working for Hillary's campaign.
I am sure there are more.
These were listed in a 2005 DU thread as being "progressive," sometimes code for "New Democrat," sometimes not, but I have not checked them out.
www.newamerica.net
www.tcf.org
www.americanprogress.org
www.urban.org
www.epinet.org .
The thread came up when I googled "liberal think tanks" but, as you might gather, "liberal" is being used loosely. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1603546
BeanMusical
(4,389 posts)liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)could all get rich and have some trickle down to the rest of us. Well, they got rich alright, but there is no trickle down to the rest of us. We must begin voting in politicians who are willing to divorce themselves from Trickle Down Economics.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)It has caused us to lose elections which I believe we could have won if we had acted like the opposition party we should be.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Considering he advocated pushing all the progressives off the Berkeley city council and advocated for the measure that let Big Development run rampant, exacerbating property speculation and the current housing crisis. He was also for the law to prevent homeless people from being able to sit on sidewalks and (falsely) made claims he feared for the safety of his wife.
Kos is very much Third Way Local, but Progressive on TV.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Great post madfloridian. The sooner we all acknowledge this, the sooner we can get back to being an actual Democracy again.
For the people, not for Moneyed Interests that buy our representatives.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)That we have to acknowledge it.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Hence, we more denial, blather and mind-fucking attempts than we get acknowledgement of the plain and obvious reality.
Upton Sinclair.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Someone needs to educate the general public, many of whom are still blissfully unaware of a fundamental division within the Party. For now, I'm counting on Bernie's run for the Presidency to move that boulder forward a lot.
As for the rest, "let it go."
Octafish
(55,745 posts)They play the left on Rupert Murdochs TV
By Steve Rendall
FAIR, March 1, 2012
Fox News co-host and contributor Bob Beckel has called for the assassination of WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange (A dead man cant leak stuffFollow the Money, 12/6/10), for furnishing guns to school children (If you give your kid a gun, no bullyingFive, 1/5/12) and for militant opposition to the War on Christmas, which is completely out of hand (Five, 12/9/11).
These views are anything but out of place on Fox News, where hosts and commentators are known for fantasizing about murdering progressives (FAIR Blog, 11/10/10), deifying gun ownership (Beck, 6/29/11) and courageously confronting those who would wish them happy holidays (OReilly Factor, 11/17/11).
But Beckel is presented as a left-leaning voice on Fox, a counterweight to the networks army of right-leaning talkers. And hes far from an atypical specimen there.
As one of five co-hosts on Foxs new program the Five, Beckel is supposed to serve as foil to four conservative co-hosts. Thats the theory. In reality, Beckel more than occasionally joins his conservative counterparts. (Typically, Five panelists include former George W. Bush aide Dana Perino, Fox News Red Eye anchor Greg Gutfield, Fox legal commentator Kimberly Guilfoyle and Fox Business Network host Eric Bolling.)
For instance, when Beckels colleague Bolling (Five, 12/14/11) recounted how hed kicked a representative from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) off his Fox Business show (Follow the Money,12/12/11) for opposing the display of a nativity scene at a Texas courthouse, Beckel bluntly approved: Good. When Five co-host Greg Gutfield (12/9/11) compared FFRF to a woman whod once demanded that he put out his cigarette, Beckels only response was, Did you deck her?
Discussing charges that GOP Rep. Mark Foley (Fla.) had exchanged inappropriate messages with male congressional pages (Hannity & Colmes, 10/2/06), Beckel suggested that Foley, because hes gay, should have been kept away from pages to begin with, likening him to a notorious bank robber: If Willie Sutton is around some place where a bank is robbed, then youre probably going to say, Willie, stay away from the robbery.
CONTINUED...
http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/with-fox-news-liberals-who-needs-conservatives/
Wouldn't want the masses to get any ideas, madfloridian.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)I am willing to bet that many here at DU now are not familiar with these Fox Democrats...
Of course, Beckel isnt the one and only, but just one of the latest representatives of the species of pundit known as the Fox News liberal. Hannity & Colmes co-host Alan Colmes was famous for conceding points to conservatives and Republicans unsurprisingly, as he was hand-picked for the spot by Hannity, the real star of the show (Extra!, 11-12/03). Colmes never seemed to tire of assuring right-leaning guests that he voted for New York Citys Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
....For years, Susan Estrich, former campaign manager for 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, was one of Foxs leading tepid liberals. (Sean HannityHannity & Colmes, 5/23/04has called her my favorite liberal.) Her politics were epitomized by a 1995 USA Today column (6/22/95) headlined Let Clinton Be the Centrist Clinton. During the 2003 California gubernatorial campaign, Estrich defended candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger against charges he had physically assaulted numerous women (Extra!, 1-2/04); after he won, Estrich accepted a job working on his transition team (AP, 10/10/03).
Former United States Sen. Zell Miller (D.-Ga.) had been a regular guest on Fox when he delivered a keynote address endorsing George W. Bush at the 2004 GOP convention. The speech was so bitterly disparaging to Bush opponent John Kerry and other Democrats that the Bush White House attempted to distance itself from it (MSNBC.com, 9/3/04). When questioned by NBCs Chris Matthews about his misrepresentations of Kerrys record, Miller angrily responded, I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel (FAIR Media Advisory, 9/3/04).
A Fox News natural, Miller was hired as a contributor even before his 2005 retirement from the U.S. Senate, the same year the Washington Post (8/15/05) quoted him at a religious conference co-sponsored by the far-right Family Research Council, saying the Supreme Court had removed prayer from our public schools legalized the barbaric killing of unborn babies, and is ready to discard like an outdated hula hoop the universal institution of marriage between a man and a woman.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)is Kos's 'evolution' from avid supporter of the DLC/Third Way, to now seemingly opposed to them.
I was on his site when he sounded like more like Rosenberg in that quote:
Kos's position was exactly that, telling members, women especially, and minorities, that 'we are not going to lose elections because of YOUR 'pet issues'. Slamming liberals who expressed concerns over the party's swing to the right.
That battle on that site was epic, with hundreds of women leaving and setting up other blogs where they were free from the constant attacks of those who sided with Markos.
If he has had a genuine change of heart, that's a good thing. But I recall when those whose issues he called 'pet issues' and 'ponies' reminded him they were contributing members of his site and had a right to say what they thought, he posted an OP telling them 'I don't need or want your money' and cancelled his fund raisers there for a while.
Now it appears he is again asking for members to contribute.
Just wondering about his change of heart re the DLC/Third Way.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Very unpleasant. I guess only time will tell what his positions turn out to be.