"Heavily financed by the most powerful corporations in the world" they sat 54 floors above...

[madfloridian]

23. This part about how Clinton tried to avoid DLC rhetoric, but their NAFTA plan got done.

Even back when Clinton was president they knew these were not views supported by the people. Interesting paragraphs from the Nichols article:

Clinton learned early on the dangers of following the DLC line too closely. After the 1992 election, giddy New Democrats inside and outside the Administration did much to define the first two years of the Clinton Presidency. The result was the worst Democratic electoral setback of the century--a sweeping rejection of the party caused, in no small measure, by the failure of millions of working class voters to go to the polls. They were angered by Clinton's over-the-top backing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a DLC signature issue.

After the 1994 election, DLC cadres set about shaping political structures that would give it greater influence within the Congressional Democratic caucus. They formed the New Democrat Network, a well-funded group dedicated to electing and reelecting corporation-friendly Democrats. It expanded the House membership after both the 1996 and 1998 elections.

....The DLC got so excited about putting expansion of NAFTA on fast track in 1997 that it hired lobbyists and aired its first-ever television ad campaign, a $200,000 initiative that urged viewers to tell Congress to hand over trade negotiating authority to the President. Congress said "no" then, but the position resurfaces as a plank in this year's platform.

.....Now, the DLC and its allied groups, particularly the New Democrat Network, have stepped up efforts to assure that future trade votes will favor Wall Street over Main Street.