December 15, 2004
A WHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE LOONY LEFT (via Bryan Francoeur):
MoveOn to Democratic Party: 'We bought it, we own it' (AP, 12/09/04)
Liberal powerhouse MoveOn has a message for the "professional election losers" who run the Democratic Party: "We bought it, we own it, we're going to take it back."A scathing e-mail from the head of MoveOn's political action committee to the group's supporters on Thursday targets outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe as a tool of corporate donors who alienated both traditional and progressive Democrats.
"For years, the party has been led by elite Washington insiders who are closer to corporate lobbyists than they are to the Democratic base," said the e-mail from MoveOn PAC's Eli Pariser. "But we can't afford four more years of leadership by a consulting class of professional election losers."
Under McAuliffe's leadership, the message said, the party coddled the same corporate donors that fund Republicans to bring in money at the expense of vision and integrity.
"In the last year, grass-roots contributors like us gave more than $300 million to the Kerry campaign and the DNC, and proved that the party doesn't need corporate cash to be competitive," the message continued. "Now it's our party: we bought it, we own it, and we're going to take it back."
Some party or another is going to represent the hard-core statist Left--if not the Democrats then a third party (the Greens seem ready made for takeover) and no opposition will exist capable of winning 40% against the GOP. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 15, 2004 3:33 PM
Big deal. Let the former-SDS "Democrats" leave. There was a very strong Socialist party for many years, and the Wallacites defected in 1948. The Democratic Party was still able to win elections.
After a few election cycles of being rendered politically impotent, the Far Left will realize they are a minority faction and will go back to supporting Centrist and Center-left Democrats as part of a coalition that can win. Properly chastised by their own electoral failures, they will be happy to see parts of their more reasonable proposals be implemented as part of a greater middle-class agenda.
It will probably take them 20 years of that to become arrogant again and try to take over the power - but such are the cycles of American politics. I predict the far left will swallow their pride and return to the Democrats shortly before the next big Republican screw up happens when the conservatives overreach themselves. That too is part of the cycle of American politics.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at December 15, 2004 3:55 PMThey broke it, they bought it...
Posted by: M. Murcek at December 15, 2004 8:38 PMI wonder how many former Kerry staffers who had migrated to the 527s (Jim Jordan, etc.) endorsed this message?
Posted by: jim hamlen at December 15, 2004 8:59 PM"After a few election cycles of being rendered politically impotent, the Far Left will realize they are a minority faction ..."
A few election cycles? MoveOn will lose its steam as the latest crop of college kids gets out into the real world.
Posted by: Semolina Pilchard at December 15, 2004 9:05 PMA party that appeals to gays, Hollywood weirdos and the hate America crowd will never get more than about 10% of the vote. The Democrats would do well to move to big-tent positions on social issues, patriotism in the WOT, and demurring on the harsher aspects of globalization. This would fracture the GOP hold on religious voters, especially those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.
Posted by: Bart at December 15, 2004 9:38 PM"MoveOn will lose its steam as the latest crop of college kids gets out into the real world."
MoveOn is the Political arm of George Soros and a few of his billionaire friends. He doesn't need any stinkin college kids.
"A party that appeals to gays, Hollywood weirdos and the hate America crowd will never get more than about 10% of the vote."
Ten? Five tops.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at December 15, 2004 10:34 PM"But we can't afford four more years of leadership by a consulting class of professional election losers."
McAullife, Shrum, Lehane, Lockhart . . . don't know about his prognosis, but his diagnosis seems corrrect.
"We bought it, we own it, we're going to take it back."
Now there's a great message for appealing to the average voter!
Posted by: Robert Duquette at December 16, 2004 4:26 AM