A battle rages on ...for the heart and soul of the DNC

An interesting article in today's Washington Times outlines a battle developing between the far-left wing leadership of the democrat party and the more centrist-leaning Democrat Leadership Council. The Democrat Leadership Council, the likes of whom endorsed Joe Lieberman for president, and the ones mainly behind the successes experienced in 1992 and 1996, said:

"To win back the White House in 2008, our party must change. We must be willing to discard political strategies that may make us feel good but that keep falling short. We must finally reject the false choice between exciting our base and expanding our appeal, because unless we both motivate and persuade, we'll lose every time," said DLC founder Al From and President Bruce Reed in a new manifesto for their party.

Considering that the democrats won handily in both 1992 and in 1996 by campaigning toward the center, this could be considered sage advice. But it would appear that the Daily Kos and other Move-on.orgres (pun intended) have taken Bill Clinton's definition of insanity to heart and will do the same thing over and over again until they get it right. From Democrat blog Swarm:

Steve Gilliard on the DLC (Democratic Leadership Council):

Al From: shut the f*ck up (edit mine)
Since everyone is going on about the DLC, I think I have the shortest essay possible on the subject.

They are losers. Al From is the political descendent of Pierre Laval.

Their 2002 was a disaster, and they backed the always pathetic Joe Lieberman for President, like he would have won one state.

So exactly why should we listen to them?

It's no longer 1992 and that's a long-ass losing record. They've been losing since 1994, so why the fuck do they think they have anything to bring to the table now?

[...]

I'll say this; there are no good folks at the DLC. Any more than there were kind people working for Petain. Unless they want to upend the organization, why are they still there?

F*ck these people. They're losers, big time losers and they act like they're the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1979. Al From is all too willing to betray the core principles of the Democratic Party because it doesn't make him a kingmaker anymore. If From wasn't an asshole, and his presence on the Journal's pages, or did he forget how Bob Bartley lied about Vince Foster, only proves it.

Look, the fact is that the Democratic Party is changing and the days of kingmakers like From is coming to an end. Howard Dean's candidacy for DNC chair should be like a slap in the face. Dean is hardly popular with the insiders, but the fact is Dean comes into the game with the most cards, including popular support. Al From couldn't get arrested in a Meetup. The fact that people care who the DNC chair is should matter. Vichyites like From represent no one but themselves. The fact that they think people still care about their opinions is amazing.

And it all boils down to this: they're losers.

Well, one could say that Gore and Kerry weren't exactly winners. On this last election, the DNC moved further left than they have in years, with all their attack poodles at the fore, and, even though they won't admit it they lost big. Their solution? Go even MORE to the left:

As for the DLC, it's time to euthanize the organization (ed note: with events as of late, somehow that statement doesn't surprise me). Whatever role it may have played is spent. As of now, it's the single most divisive Dem-affiliated organization, refusing to play nice with others even in these desperate ABB times. As such, it deserves nothing but exclusion and ridicule.

There are relative voices of reason in the DNC. Said Leon Panetta,

"I think the party of Roosevelt became the party of Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11," said Panetta, the former chief of staff to President Clinton and head of the Panetta Institute. "There will be a real push to move the party more to the left and that would be a serious mistake because that's not where the country is.

At least 62,000,000 Americans agree with Panetta. Regardless, that particular fact continues to be lost on the moveon.ogres. Judging by William Jefferson Clinton's definition of insanity, the only thing left to do is order a heck of a lot of these and reserve the losers corner of the political ring for another 20 years. The upshot of it is, should this status quo continue, at the very least this party will have an easier go of it, and the entertainment value of it all will be inestimable. Go KOS!!!