4 thoughts on “‘Bold leadership’”

  1. Ruth Marcus is a Corporatist Wing Democrat — if the Repubs weren’t so bat shit crazy and just a tad more socially liberal, she would be that dying breed, a Moderate Republican. She is also the substitute Dem on NewsHours’ Friday evening Brooks/Shields discussion of accepted legacy party lines. In the sub role, I thought at first she was a Republican!

    She was probably never in the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.

    I appreciate your bringing to our attention that Robert Cruickshank post last week — helps me make sense of the current Dems. We have a rather dramatically bifuracted paryt, as Cruickshank wrote:

    Michael Gerson has identified something I have been arguing for some time – that the Democratic Party is actually two parties artificially melded together. I wrote about this in the California context last fall – today’s Democratic Party has two wings to it. One wing is progressive, anti-corporate, and distrusts the free market. The other wing is neoliberal, pro-corporate, and trusts the free market.

    These two wings have antithetical views on many, many things. Neoliberals believe that privatization of public schools is a good idea. Progressives vow to fight that with every bone in their body. Neoliberals believe that less regulation means a healthier economy. Progressives believe that we are in a severe recession right now precisely because of less regulation. Neoliberals believe that corporate power is just fine, progressives see it as a threat to democracy.

    The only reason these two antithetical groups share a political party is because the Republicans won’t have either one. The neoliberals tend to be socially liberal – they support civil unions or outright marriage equality, don’t hate immigrants, and know that we share a common ancestor with the chimps. 35 years ago they might have still had a place in the Republican Party, but in the post-Reagan era, they don’t. So they came over to the Democrats, who after 1980 were happy to have as many votes as possible – and whose leaders were uneasy at the growing ranks of dirty hippies among the party base.

    As to those progressives, destroying their values and institutions is the reason today’s GOP exists, so they clearly can’t go to that party. They don’t have the money to completely dominate the Democratic Party. Neither do they have the money to start their own political party, and right now they don’t want to, given the widespread belief that Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the 2000 election and led to the Bush disaster. [Links are in the original]

    I think the author believes that somewho we can build a stronger coalition, if only those in the Democratic Wing of the party weren’t being kicked under the bus by the neolib Corporatists.

    I’d put your link in, Susie, but I have to run….

  2. Great Satan walking in heaven in the book of Job, do you mean this ironically or has this become the progressive metaphor for wishing Mr. Obama could wave his wand and make Sen Ben Nelson a Democrat, even of the “neo-lib” variety posited above rather than bat shit Zell Miller crazy?

    Great Mencken’s ghost, Ms. Madrak, did the Giffords shooting teach violent metaphors, no matter how ironically meant, can cause unhinged to come unglued?

    Remain your blog Robespierre’s rant if you will. How’d revolution thing work out for him?

  4. Obama came in with such promise, what price the second term now. Why are Americans so hung up on guns?
    That NRA guy training his kids to shoot?

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