Mary Landrieu wants to blame the current political environment on liberals:
"The loss in Massachusetts should serve as a wake-up call to the wing of the Democratic Party that wants the federal government to overreach and overspend," said Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana. "We need to get back to the basics."
As Matthew Yglesias says, talk about never taking responsibility for anything.
Name one single thing that the Senate has passed into law over the past year that a majority of Evan Bayh's "moderate working group" voted against. One thing.
I'll help you try and find examples. Here is a list of the Senate Dems moderate working group caucus:
"Leading the new group are Democratic Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Carper of Delaware and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas... [O]thers joining the group are Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mark Udall of Colorado, and Mark Warner of Virginia."
Arlen Specter has since joined the group.
Also, here is a complete list of Senate votes in 2009.
So go ahead--find examples of legislation that was passed into law without a majority of the so-called "moderate" wing of the Democratic Party approving. Hell, find anything that passed the Senate in 2009 without majority approval.
Can't do it? Of course you can't. Because it doesn't exist.
Not a single public law was passed in 2009 without the majority approval of Evan Bayh's "moderate working group." Hell, nothing was passed without a two-thirds supermajority of Evan Bayh's working group.
Given that everything that passed the Senate passed with the approval of the majority of the so called "moderate" wing, it is difficult to fathom exactly how Mary Landrieu thinks that her wing of the party is free of blame for the current political environment for Democrats. Her wing of the party approved of everything that passed the Senate, and what didn't pass the Senate. More Yglesias:
But in the world that exists, the only "wing" that matters is the Mary Landrieu wing. They decide how much stimulus we get. They decide their can't be a public option. They decide their needs to be a months-long quest to get Chuck Grassley to offer "Republican cover" for a health care vote. Either the strategy is working better than the alternatives, or else it's the Landrieu wing that needs to change things up. But defeats can't be the fault of the people who haven't been in the driver's seat since the seventies.
Your wing of the party controlled legislation in 2009, Landrieu. If you think that voters are rejecting what legislation was passed, then the only conclusion is that they are rejecting you. But of course, you will never draw that conclusion, because you are always right, no matter what, even when you lie.
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