Democrats Move to the Right...Again.

There has been some small rukus regarding these two statements, quoted below. released by well placed Democrats.

We've got to repudiate, you know, the most strident and insulting anti-American voices out there sometimes on our party's left... We can't have our party identified by Michael Moore and Hollywood as our cultural values.

—Al From,CEO, Democratic Leadership Council

You know, let's let Hollywood and the Cannes Film Festival fawn all over Michael Moore. We ought to make it pretty clear that he sure doesn't speak for us when it comes to standing up for our country.

—Will Marshall, President of the Progressive Policy Institute, the think-tank of the DLC

From an article by Matt Taibbi at New York Press



As I've said elsewhere, this continuing push to the right, by the Democratic national leadership, is disturbing but not surprising. It is the continuation of a long set trend in the leadership of the Party. Pushing ever further to the right.

The leadership seems to believe they will retain the democratic core, no matter what. So, they think the solution is to win a chunk of the conservative vote. They could be making a large mistake and pulling away from their core at the perfectly wrong time.

The next four years of Republican rule could well push the county to the left just as the Dems make their shift to the right. Left and Right just don't have the same meanings that they once had. The political middle appears to have shifted far to the right. Everybody to the left of Fearless Leader is now a Liberal, whether you think you are, or not.

The Democrats do not need to go any further to the right, to pick up the many disaffected old style conservatives, who I believe will fall away from the Republican umbrella over the next four years. Pulling further from its already hurting and demoralized base, will pave the way for a serious third party appearance. Especially as there will be so little difference between the Ds and Rs.

Maybe the DLC is marching right...into oblivion.


The DLC is so far removed from its political base it no longer knows where or what that base is. The Democratic Party leadership is trying to dance with the opposition and in doing so, is allowing the opposition to lead, to set the cadence.

Any decent boxing coach will tell you that when you control the cadence and the rhythm of the fight, you control the fight. You control the offensive action when your opponent only reacts to your pace.

Again, I believe the leadership of the Democratic Party rather thoughtlessly assumes their mass base will follow them, for lack of a real choice. I think they are dead wrong this time. If they are wrong, the price could be monumental as it may be remembered as the end of the Democrats.

I can perceive a possible future in which the Democrats are viewed as a third party vote spoiler, by all involved.

That may be far a fetched scenario but the next four to eight years are going to be very interesting times for the Democrats and their party.

Personally, I have no allegiance to the Democrats. They do not represent a real alternative to the corporate, anti-democratic forces that shape the Republican party. They are trying to make a hit on the same corporate casting couch.

One thing the Dem heads seem to lose sight of: For every 'swing voter' Moore lost them, he gained several new, first time voters for the Democrats. Moore does not need the Democrats.

I am hoping to see a real political alternative, born out of those who will spill from the Democratic Party. If those disaffected liberal democrats can link with people from outside the old party framework, new ideas will be born.

If something like a voting coalition could be formed or a unifying third party comes into existence, we still have the problem of a seriously dysfunctional electoral/voting system. The present system can not be trusted. It is corrupted, open to wide spread abuse, and does not inspire trust and respect on the part of the masses.

Frankly, it looks rigged.