Hillary, the DLC and the Democratic Party

Marshall Wittmann gives us one more example of why the Democratic Party must rid itself of the DLC influence if it is to be relevant. In Damn That Success he attacks the critics of Hillary Clinton and praises the "successful" administration that left the Democratic Party in shambles and sold out the progressive ideals of the party.

What is it about peace and prosperity and a two term Democratic Presidency that the donkey doesn't like? According to the leader left wing blogosphere, it is nothing that terribly significant. The head of the netroots high command suggests,

"Despite all his successes -- and eight years of peace and prosperity is nothing to sneeze at -- he never broke the 50-percent mark in his two elections. Regardless of the president's personal popularity, Democrats held fewer congressional seats at the end of his presidency than before it. The Democratic Party atrophied during his two terms, partly because of his fealty to his "third way" of politics, which neglected key parts of the progressive movement and reserved its outreach efforts for corporate and moneyed interests."

There is not one thing that Marcos said that is not true. The Hawkish DLC spokesman than attacks the reality based antiwar majority of the Democratic Party.

Now, Kos is kvetching about Hillary's centrism and that she isn't leading with big ideas. Well, here's a big idea that Hillary is taking the lead on that deeply rankles Kos and his buddies - she's tough on national security. It is the same reason that they are trying to run Joe Lieberman out of the party. Hillary has demonstrated courage in the face of the left wing fever swamp by refusing to reverse her position on Iraq and standing firm against Iran obtaining nukes.

He concludes with this attack:

These netroots types think they are something cutting edge when they are merely McGovernites with modems.

As I recall George McGovern was right about Vietnam. If the DLC and their Queen Bee are going to continue their neocon light ideology they are going to have to start their own party or do without the majority of the party's base. It's the DLC that offers no knew ideas not that horrible majority of Democrats that think the United States belongs to the people not the corporations and that war truly is a last resort and is rarely justified.

And as for Hillary, I second what Jill over at Brilliant at Breakfast has to say.

Hillary Clinton will never get my vote in 2008 -- not unless she publicly renounces her vote for this war, and possibly not even then. I will no longer reward Democrats who have made it very clear that they have no need for progressives; Democrats who think they can ignore their base -- or worse -- and still receive our votes. Progressives have bought the "Any Democrat is better than any Republican" mantra for far too long, and it is no longer true -- not when the Democrats are STILL too frightened to fight a president with a 30% approval rating.

Sorry Mr Wittmann, if you want to turn the Democratic Party into the Republican party you wish you had it will be necessary to do it without most the base.

Update
Well this says it all:
Murdoch to host fundraiser for Hillary Clinton campaign