Political strategy until 2008
Few things will be as important between now and the election primaries of 2008 as making sure the public knows about the Democratic Leadership Council. Teaching the public about the role and methods of this powerful clique of Democratic Party operatives could easily be the difference between a Democratic Party that calls for an end to the war in Iraq and one that doesn't.
A strategic imperative for the antiwar movement must be to push for the defeat of any and all DLC supported candidates, and to expose and eviscerate the power of this ruling class committee. This is possible using the communications media available to popular forces through the internet, and combining this networking capacity with aggressive grassroots education efforts.
Black Commentator editor Bruce Dixon:
The DLC is the corporate-funded right wing of the Democratic Party. It was founded in the mid 1980s by a small group of mostly white, male, largely southern Democratic politicians, corporate lobbyists and fundraisers. The original clique included Tennessee Congressman Al Gore, Senators Chuck Robb of Virginia and Sam Nunn of Georgia, and Al From, a former political operative from the Jimmy Carter Administration. To them, the Democratic Party had become too open to the political voices of African Americans and Latinos, too respectful of the rights of working Americans and the labor movement, too responsive to the justice, peace and environmental movements.
Joseph Kay writes:
The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) held its annual convention in Columbus, Ohio, last weekend, outlining its program for the upcoming 2006 mid-term elections and the presidential election in 2008. Speeches at the meeting and documents published in advance indicate that the Democratic Party plans to run an extremely right-wing campaign, particularly on the issues of "national security" and the war in Iraq.
Sean Donahue wrote in 2004:
Most of the major contributors to John Kerry's presidential campaign are corporations or employees of corporations that have ties to a network of organizations dedicated to moving the Democratic Party to the right. These organizations, which include the Democratic Leadership Council, the New Democrat Network, and the Progressive Policy Institute, are dedicated to pursuing a policy agenda that includes support for high levels of military spending and an aggressive role for the U.S. military around the world. Kerry has a history of political links to these organizations as well, and though he has been using progressive rhetoric during his campaign, the details and nuances of his positions indicate that Kerry is still dedicated to pursuing their conservative agenda.
Still wonder why Kerry refused to oppose the war?
In 2003, Ralph Nader wrote:
To the DLC mind, Democrats are catering to "special interests" when they stand up for trade unions, regulatory consumer-investor protections, a pre-emptive peace policy overseas, pruning the bloated military budget now devouring fully half of the federal government's entire discretionary expenditures, defending Social Security from Wall Street schemes, and pressing for universal health care coverage.
So right-wing is the DLC, mounted imperiously on their sagging Party, that even opposing Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, that cause huge federal deficits and program cuts in necessities such as health, education, environmental protection and children well-being, is considered ultra-liberal and contrary to winning campaigns.
"Special interests" to the DLC means defending the rights of African-Americans, Hispanics, blue-collar workers, and securing the full day in court for wrongfully injured Americans. Being serious about consumer justice and environmental protection also raises DLC's eyebrows.
These pieces of corporate shit boast 40 members in the US House of Representatives and 20 members of the Senate; and a bunch slid in during the 2006 anti-Republican vote against the US aggression in Iraq. Now that one message has been sent in 2006, another has to be prepared for 2008. If you're in the DLC, you won't get a vote from me.
It will be hard, because the DLC - with its head firmly up Wall Street's ass - can raise enormous sums of money for political campaigns. That's why the control all but 6 members of the US Senate's Democratic "majority."
Right Web has an excellent profile of the DLC and its Vichy-"progressive" think-tank, the Progressive Policy Institute.
The DLC sees its main task in the coming period as marginalizing other Democrats who are not DLC-obedience-trained.
For many of us, telling the public about this front for the transnational corporations is our task for the coming period.
NNDB has a list of these turds for those who need to check out their own "representation."
STOP THE DLC!