Mercury Rising

Kos links to David Sirota's excellent American Prospect piece on how to build a Democratic majority. He also links to blogger Ed Kilgore's attack on the piece, an attack which of course is highly touted by Josh Marshall. Marshall claims that Kilgore's bogosity-filled attack is justified because that icky Sirota's trying to drum the DLC out of the party -- yet somehow, the DLC's constant fifteen-year efforts to control Democratic party philosophy and destroy all liberals is not justification, in Marshall's mind, for any efforts by liberals to defend themselves. I'd also like to point out to Marshall that regardless of whether From himself has any power, that isn't the issue. The ideas that From espouses have been embedded into the ganglia of the Democratic party. The DLC philosophy, to a large extent, is the party leadership's philosophy. And as such, it has cost the Democrats both Houses of Congress, not to mention the White House twice in a row. (And the big irony is that the corporate titans that the DLC claims great prowess in wooing have, over the fifteen-odd years of the DLC's reign, moved from backing both parties equally to a ten-to-one bias in favor of the Republicans.) Anyhow, Sirota responds thusly:

In response to my new American Prospect cover story, the corporate-backed Democratic Leadership Council has responded with a pathetic and laughable attack on me that is so defensive/dishonest/factually inaccurate it reeks of desperation. For those who are interested, here is a quick "Claim vs. Fact" on the DLC's attacks on me:

DLC CLAIM: "I hate to sound like a pointy-head here, but the argument Sirota's making--that economic 'populism' of the most atavistic sort trumps cultural conservatism--has been around for a long time, dating back at least to the early '70s."

FACT: The implication here, in classic-DLC denial, is that economic populism was tried and it failed. Yet, what goes unmentioned is that when the Democratic Party did fracture and factions did embrace the DLC's corporate model, Democrats lost the congressional majority for the first time in 40 years, and are now, unnecessarily, on the verge of permanent-minority status.

DLC CLAIM: "Schweitzer blasted Montana Republicans for corporate subsidies, government inefficiency, etc....[this is a] strateg[y] the DLC has strongly and repeatedly endorsed."

​ ​​​​FACT: As just one example of how false this statement is, according to the New Democrat Coalition (the DLC's congressional arm) "New Democrats have long been supporters of the Export-Import Bank, and it has been a key part of our pro-trade agenda. This year, 96 percent of NDC Members supported the conference report on Ex-Im reauthorization." As you may recall, 80 percent of Ex-Im money goes to Fortune 500 companies including Boeing, General Electric, Catepillar Inc., Mobil Oil, Westinghouse, AT&T, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, Enron, IBM , FedEx, General Motors, Halliburton, Siemans, Raytheon, and United Technologies (many who bankroll the DLC). These companies are some of the biggest job cutters in the country, yet when progressives tried to prevent Ex-Im subisidies from going to companies that are sending jobs overseas, they were voted down with the help of DLC leaders in Congress. Even the Cato Institute notes that "the Export-Import Bank is corporate welfare - it benefits a small number of private businesses at the expense of other businesses and taxpaying citizens."br>

I'd also like to add that Montana's Schweitzer -- who Sirota has worked for, but whom the DLC tries to claim as their new poster boy -- got arrested for leading buses of seniors into Canada to get prescription drugs they couldn't afford in the States. That's not a DLC-approved action. Go read the whole link. It should tell you something about just how dishonest the DLC and their Vichy Democrat fellow travelers are.