Posted on 04/04/2005 10:04:43 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The Democrats' postelection war about what they should stand for is heating up again, with centrists challenging liberals to "real fights" within the party about staking out a tougher position against terrorism.
In an attack on the party's dominant left wing, anti-war base, and a warning for new Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean "to do no harm," the centrist-leaning Democratic Leadership Council said it is "a delusion to think that if we just turned out our voters, we could win national elections."
Instead, the DLC called on the party to dramatically change its message to "recapture the muscular progressive internationalism of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy and convince voters that national security is our first priority."
"To win back the White House in 2008, our party must change. We must be willing to discard political strategies that may make us feel good but that keep falling short. We must finally reject the false choice between exciting our base and expanding our appeal, because unless we both motivate and persuade, we'll lose every time," said DLC founder Al From and President Bruce Reed in a new manifesto for their party.
Their criticism has been heard many times during the past two decades in their continuing battle against the party's liberal establishment. But this time, they say, it will take a divisive, all-out political civil war to scrub the anti-war orthodoxy out of the party's agenda.
"Shoring up our weakness will not come without real debate -- even real fights -- over national security and domestic priorities," they said in the DLC's Blueprint magazine.
The sooner these fights take place, the better, they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
They can start by calling for a stiffer penalty for Sandy Berger.
Centrist democrats?
Somewhere between Lenin and Marx?
[Instead, the DLC called on the party to dramatically change its message to "recapture the muscular progressive internationalism of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy and convince voters that national security is our first priority."]
The Democrats will probably have to get spanked in a couple more elections before this message starts to sink in. The last couple of presidential candidates they put up were molded after Jimmy Carter.
If the smarter element of the Dim party is successful, the Republicans will have a real tough time at the ballot box in 06 and 08.
Somehow I doubt they will be succesful.
There is no such thing as a centrist democrat.
By virtue of support for socialist programs and anti-life positions, every democrat is a liberal.
We are asking only if they are: liberal left, lunatic left, or leninist left.
it is tempting to donate to move-on .org to "help out" the marxi-crats
The "muscular progressive internationalism of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy" = UN.
Where does the DLC stand on:
-Democracy in the Middle East?
-Iranian nukes?
-Israel?
-the Patriot Act?
The article says, "it will take a divisive, all-out political civil war to scrub the anti-war orthodoxy out of the party's agenda." Strong language. Hope it's true.
After watching the Democrats do everything in their power to destroy this Republic over my entire lifetime (about fifty years), one fiasco and crisis after another, unabated, with each successive outrage and insanity worse than the last, it puzzles me why they still get 48% of the "good people" of this country to vote for them at all, at any level of government.
Voting Republican.
Nah why don't you wait until 90 days before the next presidential election to have it out. Way more fun.
Last time I looked the DLC was rather much out of power.
Is Dean DLC? Is Pelosi DLC? Reid?
In other words, "Unless we lie about what we think and stand for, we're doomed."
I agree. I am also firmly of the opinion that any fights within the Democratic Party should be held with automatic weapons, preferably belt-fed, so they don't have to reload so often.
To all liberals with a brain: Come over from the dark side. Step into the light. Put down the abusive protest sign and step away from the gin-soaked rasins. Nobody on the right will harm you.
There are only two sides here, Socialist or Capitalist..
anything in between is a mask.. or a delusion or BOTH..
The DLC is utterly powerless. George Soros, Triangulating Hillary and their winged monkeys run the evil democrat party.
Hillary will soon start wearing six guns and army boots.
dino
All they have succeeded in doing is dividing the party - and Hillary cannot win with a divided party .. but more republicans can .. LOL!!
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