I have to admit that I haven't closely followed the recent dust-up in the lefty blogosphere regarding the DLC. The DLC lost me on the bankruptcy bill, not that I had much time for them before that. By hawking their D.C.-centric 1990's approach to politics they will become more and more irrelevant.
Which is all a way of introducing this Digby post which I really think gets to the heart of the DLC vs. grassroots conflict.
The DLC thinks it is all about ideology, that they are trying to prevent the Democrats from killing themselves by being dragged to the left by those crazy liberals.
They are wrong. (more below)
Digby puts it better than I ever could:
The grassroots are united in our belief that the Republicans are dangerous radicals who are driving this country off of a cliff. And we've concluded that accomodationist rhetoric at a time of total GOP political dominance is suicidal, particularly when the Republicans are losing the support of the American people on virtually every issue. We think that it's time for a confrontational strategy that shines a light on the Republicans' radicalism. We believe that the country is yearning for some authentic straight talk about real issues and real problems and real solutions --- including national security --- instead of half baked esoteric reworkings of Republican talking points disguised as Democratic moderation.
I think were the DLC to realize this they could save themselves and become a real force for change and reform instead of simply preaching appeasement and promoting Republican-lite policies.