I am a proud liberal Democrat, but I realize that not every Democrat is going to be on the same page as me. It seems that some people in the left-wing blogosphere want the Democratic party to be a 30% minority party consisting of just the core "true" Democrats. We're supposed to be the big tent party, aren't we?

Bravo!!

If the Democrats want to become a national force again, they better start supporting the nascent groups who support them.

Republicans are adept at picking off Democratic supporters with organized smear campaigns and every time they successfully tar a Move On type organization, we lose more potentially powerful advocates.  Even worse, we allow Republicans to  scare away others who may be considering organizing support.  

Republicans know this. . .Why don't Democrats?

Harry Reid's Saturday response to Bush was about the filibuster and it was described in the media as a defense.  I didn't hear what he said, but noted that he made it sound like a defense, according to reports.  That's bad, and he needs to get with the program.  If the media are wholly responsible for misrepresentation, then we need to get after them, en masse.  But I believe we are thinking defensively:  our language and posture and timing have become habitually reactive rather than active.  Need to change that.

I was listening to Ward Churchill last night talking about the distinction between pissing, moaning, writing letters to the editor -- and real activism.  He was urging genuine, organized, personal and group activism on the part of the left.  What he said is worth listening to.  He was on CSpan BookTV. I heard him late at night on satellite radio.  

A potential split in their party is bugging the Republicans.  The old-fashioned moderate conservatives are finding it very hard to go along with the radical Right, but just as hard to split away from them because they know what it would do to the party cohesiveness which brought them to power in beginning in the mid-'90's.  

My instinct is that the energy -- the power -- of the Dems may now lie with the progressives, not the centrists, and that it might not be a bad thing for the progressives to split off and take the power with them. I suspect we'd be followed...

What I will not tolerate is the suggestion that we should be seen and not heard while the DLC adults take care of the pragmatic business of developing policy. I object to DLC positions on principle and I am admittedly very frustrated that a very large segment of the party is being marginalized and ignored. It looks like the DLC has a firmer grip on the party than they did before Dean was selected as DNC Chair.

As far as the accusation that corporate elites very strongly influence the DLC, I believe they are accurate. The Democratic party may not be as firmly in the grip of corporate America as the Republican party, but it is a simple statement of fact that they are a close second. The Democratic party is not immune to the wiles of highly skilled corporate lobbyists or the lure of large campaign contributions. The military industrial complex has deep roots in the Democratic party as well as the Republican party.

How do we ignore that? How can we criticize Republicans for being under the influence of corporate masters, if we ignore the mote in our own eye? Flanigan has a brutal column in the L.A. Times today, Bankruptcy Bill Needs Reform. Is there any defense for voting for this bill? I haven't seen one. I don't think this bill is in the interests of the voters or constituents of either party. Corrupt corporate influlence is the only explanation I am aware of that bears examination.

In fact, Flanagan's article suggests this bill may be worse than the Medicare Prescription Drug bill from last year. It is "hostile to entrepreneurs" and will overturn state laws, including in Texas, that protect homeowners. The $125,000 cap will force many people to lose their homes, the bill will add $400 million to the federal deficit to hire more bankruptcy judges and:

I think this bill was slammed through the Senate so fast that even Republicans and the WH didn't know how bad it was. I really don't see a principled justification for voting for this abomination. Not one. The only explanation is massive and corrupt corporate influence on the DLC. If somebody has an argument to the contrary, I am all ears.

Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford):

[The Democratic National Convention Delegates are]
Completely out of step with the voters we need in the fall.  Four years ago, two thirds of the
delegates wanted to cut defense spending.  Even
Democratic votes don't want us to touch it.

The delegates were split on the death penalty;
Democrats favor it two to one.

Brooks is celebrating robust ideological debate in the Republican party in one, and in the other Sager is criticizing the "God and government faction's grip on the party." No decent conservative would criticize Republicans without also taking a shot at Democrats:

Isn't Howard Dean the one trying to encourage Democrats to start discussing our issues in terms of values?

Is it me, or does this criticism apply to both parties?

Eventually, it seems inevitable that expanding the Republican Party's power at the expense of its principles will cause it to hollow out its core and collapse. But such a day could be far away.

Have any liberal Democrats actually criticized the DLC publically? I do it here at MyDD, but is some Republican politician or spokesman going to say, "It's like JollyBuddah says over at MyDD ..." ???

I  am not aware of a single liberal critic of the DLC saying anything that the Republican party can use against the Democratic party. What am I missing? Maybe because it suits my bias, I just overlooked it. Help me out. When was the last time a liberal Democrat criticized the DLC period?

One of my criticisms of the DLC is that they don't criticize Republicans enough. Anybody here knows I am highly critical of Republicans. I wish liberals and the DLC could get on the same page criticizing Republicans. I don't think I'm the problem. I don't think liberals are the problem.

When was the last time Joe Lieberman criticized Republicans? I still haven't heard Al From criticize Ann Coulter or any other Republican. It should be a dog bites man story, so I could have missed it. The last diary I recall about Al From, he was spinning the DLC and taking a sideways shot at liberals.

Am I being unrealistic expecting Democrats to criticize Republicans? Republicans are harsher critics of Republicans than Democrats as far as I can tell.

I really do not understand what is going on with the Democratic party. I am totally and completely baffled. I would be sincerely grateful for an explanation that makes sense.