Whether you consider Sunday the beginning of the week, or the end of the week, we can all agree this was an "eventful" week. I want to take this opportunity to roundup and recap two of the most important issues discussed here at LiA, healthcare reform and the arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates.
I Tried to Tell You.
Remember when I said the so called Blue DogsDEMOCRATS were really repubicans? Remember how I was accused of wanting a "perfect party" and told any DEMOCRAT is better than a republican, and that DEMOCRATS are the "big tent" party and I wanted to kick people out of the tent who didn't agree with me on the "social issues" blah, blah, blah?
Remember how I was blasted for saying the Blue DogsDEMOCRATS had infiltrated our party so they could pi$$ in the pool? Remember how I was accused of "scapegoating" the DNC, the DLC and the DCCC for funding the Blue Dog DEMOCRATS at the expense of progressive DEMOCRATS?
Assume a 50-50 split among the parties, something akin to 2004. That year, George W. Bush won 255 congressional districts to Kerry's 180. Why the disparity? The Republican vote was distributed more evenly, while the Democratic vote was concentrated in urban and minority-majority districts. This is a distinct advantage that Republicans enjoy. To win the House, Democrats have had to win districts that Republican presidential candidates carry in 50-50 years. This is not inconsequential for public policy.
If President Obama's healthcare reform iniative fails it will be because of the Blue Dog DEMOCRATS, the DEMOCRATIC National Committee, The DEMOCRATIC Leadership Council, and the DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL Campaign Committee. If these DEMOCRATIC organizations had taken our contributions and used them to fund Josh Segall, Cheryl Sabel and Vivian Figures instead of Bobby "not so" Bright and Wayne Parker Griffith, we might be getting the public option instead of the shaft. As my Daddy says, this is like getting shot with your own gun.
The intraparty dispute had racial overtones. One African-American Democrat, Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia, pointed out that the seven Blue Dog Democrats holding up the health care bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee were “a nondiverse group” of white men.
Did you catch the DLC vs. Netroots debate on Meet the Press today? BarbinMD has a partial transcript and commentary at DailyKos. Here's the full Meet the Press transcript. You can supposedly see the entire video here (doesn't work for me, but I'm a Mac person) and I found a couple of video excerpts to embed below. It's worth noting that both sides had op-eds in the Washington Post this week, to kind of pave the way for this conversation. Martin O'Malley and Harold Ford, Jr. had an op-ed in the Tuesday WaPo. Susan Gardner and Markos Moulitsas had an op-ed in Saturday's WaPo. Presumably the principals are able to express their positions a little more completely in print than on live TV.
Here is what Markos said about the party's nominee:
Well, you know, you're starting talking about issues. What I want that candidate to do is to not be afraid to talk about who they are, to be authentic and to tell us who they are so that we can actually make a decision. And not me. I'm not going to make this decision. It's not my job to decide who the nominee's going to be. I want these candidates to speak to regular Americans. And for too long they've been speaking to the pundits, they've been speaking to shows like this one. They haven't been really communicating to the base because they had to go through this media filter and this political filter, and now we're destroying those filters. We're saying go straight to the people, talk to them, make your case.
I watched the whole thing live this morning and my take away is that the netroots are the new kid on the block, challenging some conventional wisdom, and that the DLC is pretty reluctant to admit that a different strategy might work better. It feels to me like there is a sea change trying to happen in this country. Conservative vs. liberal is a struggle that the media and beltway insiders understand, love to talk about and want to keep the focus on, but the real battle is between the people and the powerful. Media conglomerates and insiders like the DLC don't want to talk about that battle because they belong on the side of the powerful. Will regular people -- a million or so of them read and converse at DailyKos -- succeed in reshaping American politics? The next year and a half may tell the tale.
Note: Crossposted Frontpaged at DailyKos. I only posted it at Kos because Julie thought it was good. Thanks, Julie!
There will be an interesting debate this Sunday on Meet the Press (8 am on NBC and 9 pm on MSNBC.) Harold Ford, Jr. Chairman of the DLC will debate Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos. Sort of the old Democratic philosophy vs. the new Democratic philosophy, with Tim Russert moderating.
The strategy of the Democratic Leadership Council, or DLC, has been to win by appealing to conservative and moderate voters, accepting assuming that we are a conservative nation (and state) and there will never be enough progressive and liberal voters to win elections. Essentially, candidates who espouse the DLC method don't make much effort to appeal to the Democratic base and instead work hard to reach moderate and conservative voters. Their website says " we believe in a Third Way that rejects the old left-right debate and affirms America's basic bargain: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, and community of all."
The netroots philosophy may not be laid out quite so clearly anywhere, but based on what I read, it boils down to "Be true to your beliefs and be a Democrat." That's not very fancy, but it sounds like a comfortable way to campaign. No need to remember to say different things to different groups -- just be yourself.
Click "There's more" for more information, discussion and facts.
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