Corporate Centrism Mars Dems

The Nation | 12/21/04 | David Sirota

[shubi]

Yeah, attack the corporations that keep our economy going, thats the ticket! </sarcasm off>

[ClearCase_guy]

the progressive populists who most often have the backing of the American people

Preach it, Brother! Let's all read up on Das Kapital, re-energizing the Democrats with the spirit of class warfare will definitely help this country move in the Right direction!

[KeyWest]

Keep it up! Keep moving left. It will split the party into fragments, not into two pieces but many, since the left is really many fragments, not one.

[sinanju]

Up is down, left is right, night is day. I have neither the time nor inclination to find how this guy fellated his numbers, or how the pollster he quotes massaged their questions.

[tom paine 2]

They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they go left they lose the money, if they go right they lose the votes. I'm betting they stick nwith the money while attempting to lie about the positions they hold.

[Rudder]

But really, who is pushing a rigid dogma: these bankrolled politicians who have hijacked "centrism" to sell out America's middle class, or the progressive populists who most often have the backing of the American people?

Another wacky liberal who tries to hide behind 'progressive.' He's right, though. Dems should move left, the lefter the better because that's what (he says) the people want...both of them.

[Hardastarboard]

I guess if you go far enough left, everything is right, huh?

[eno_]

I'm betting they stick nwith the money while attempting to lie about the positions they hold.

That has been the plan so far.

The left are not "liberals." There is nothing liberating about their positions. They are statists and leftists. And when you combine statism, cynical nationalism, and corporatism, you get fascism.

[rdb3]

...while allowing the DLC to parrot GOP criticism of populist Democrats as far-left extremists.

Well, economically speaking, populism is indeed "far-left." Even social conservatives swing hard to the left in their populist verbal sewage.

[Jeff F]

But if you believe the Washington Post...

LOL!

[sinanju]

They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they go left they lose the money, if they go right they lose the votes. I'm betting they stick nwith the money while attempting to lie about the positions they hold.

Well, we just saw the results of that strategy two months ago. The leftoid special interests, the trial lawyers, the academics, the teachers unions, hollywood, and the eccentric billionaires showered them with manna and formed "527's" for their greater glory. They tried making a few conservative-lite noises and posing for a few macho-man photo ops. They failed to fool conservatives; their base of liberal fanatics shrank and hardened, driving away moderate voters with their antics (gay marriage, war on christianity, violence against republicans), and all the damn money in the world cannot of itself buy a presidency. Though it CAN on occasion, and under the right circumstances (lack of decent opponent, principally) buy a senate seat (John Corzine) or a mayoralty (Mike Bloomberg).

[Jabba the Nutt]

If you are a political party official or an politician concerned about actually winning elections, these polls are worthless. First, you need to look at only likely voters. If you don't vote you don't win (or lose) elections.

My favorite was the line that almost 2/3's of Americans support a single payer plan "thats run by government and financed by taxpayers".

HillaryCare really helped the Democrats in '93 and '94, the first time the Democrats lost the majority in Congress for forty years.

Another reason these polls are worthless, is that up until the last couple months of an election campaign, all most people hear is the leftwing tripe of the MSM. Then people hear the free market message and that moves votes. After the election, its then back to the usual socialist nonsense.

[oldbrowser]

The newspaper's 2003 national poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans say they prefer a universal healthcare system "that's run by the government and financed by taxpayers"

Yes, socialized medicine, that's what two-thirds of Americans want. Maybe we could get experts from Europe to set it up for us.

[oldbrowser]

Despite this overwhelming evidence, Washington, DC, Democrats apparently have not gotten the message that their current definition of "centrism" is actually pulling the party further and further out of the mainstream.


I thought this was scrapleface.
Are these loons serious?

[tahiti]

"Worse, the mainstream media follow suit, characterizing progressive positions on everything from trade to healthcare to taxes as ultra-liberal."

Interesting how the author characterizes the MSM above, but in the rest of his article, he authors the following quotes in support of his thesis:

---In March 2004, for example, a Washington Post poll found

---A 2002 Washington Post poll

---Yet a September 2004 CBS News poll found

---A March 2004 AP poll,

Make up your mind. Is the MSM with ya' or agin ya'.

[Semper Paratus]

There are more forces pushing the 'rats left than right.

[alienken]

I think they will either hold or go left.They see the last election as value oriented so instead of changing their views they will twist values to fit their purpose. Can you believe with their near monopoly on mainstream media they still claim they couldn't get their message out!