OK,
before everyone goes off on me as some sort of DLC apologist , let me just say front and center that I'm not a member of the DLC, never have been, never will be. I'm a full-fledged progressive. (Feel free to check my diary history if you are unsure...I'll wait.)
But that's kind of the point of this diary. I'm getting a little tired of those who see Democrats they disagree with on issues, etc., who immediately get labelled a member of the DLC.
The DLC has become our boogeyman, it seems, and we use that label as derisively as the GOP calls us "liberals".
All I'm asking for is to get our facts straight. Follow me below to see why...
In the past 24 hours, I've seen in different diaries Reps. Hoyer, Murtha, Dingell, and Rangel (Rangel?!?) be accused of being members of the DLC.
For the record, you can click here to get the list of Members that ARE actually part of the DLC from the outgoing Congress.
Rahm Emanuel, who has been praised widely for steering the D-Trip through this election, is on the list. Steny Hoyer is not.
Harold Ford, who lost a Senate campaign that many of us supported, is on that list. John Dingell is not.
I suppose the point is that I'm tired of the whole "he/she is DLC" stuff for two reasons:
1. 95% of the time, it's inaccurate.
2. I really don't care, because the DLC is irrelevant.
For twelve years we'd been told to do it the DLC's way...and we lost every election cycle. Until this year.
Now the DLC wants to claim the credit. But we all know that's a joke...Ford lost. So did Ed Case. Any DLC successes out there?
So this obsession with the DLC, and the broad brush we starting painting anyone and everyone with just because they don't fit our personal definition of "Democrat" is tiresome.
The DLC is a small, very small, subset of the party. It doesn't speak for the party as a whole, nor should it. And while we disagree strongly with the DLC, I just feel it's unnecessary to tar and feather anyone with the DLC label just 'cause they look like they are members of the DLC.
Let's get over the labelling, shall we? DLC or no, our obsession with that organization is over the top sometimes. We don't need to prove anything to the DLC anymore. They need to prove stuff to us.
And unless you are 100% sure that someone is a member of the DLC, don't label good Democrats as such just 'cause you assume they are.