I don't remember that (4.00 / 1)

But those first two quotes are devastating when juxtaposed. My first reaction is is a bit radical: how do we develop a list of Democratic decision makers who feel that way, and get rid of / isolate them?

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by: Chris Bowers @ Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 20:02:04 PM UTC

yeah (0.00 / 0)

That's a good project.

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by: Matt Stoller @ Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 20:45:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The epitome of the revolving door consultant class (0.00 / 0)

I remember when he was pulling the strings at the DCCC in the late 1990's. 

There was nothing the guy wouldn't force the D-trip staff to do or keep progressive House Dems from doing to please the large corporate donors he knew would hire him after he left the House. 

I wish I had an easy answer as to how we can keep senior staff in the House and Senate from forcing our party to pull their punches so as not to offend their future employers. 

Even now, it seems like at least once a month I can read National Journal and see the name of someone I worked on legislation with on the Hill, or played in the Congressional softball league with, moving over to some trade association or lobbying firm.

It's a conveyer belt of influence peddling that I know a lot of staff, who may be able to even triple their pay after leaving the hill, find very hard to resist in an expensive city like D.C.  Sad.

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by: Leechlake @ Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 20:26:14 PM UTC

It would seem that 'we' progressives need to... (4.00 / 1)

build our own $$$ infrastructure. Blogpac is a start. But I wonder if there are not lots of folks out there in America, folks with money, who'd be willing to support progressive infrastructure.

Example:

As Sirota has written, and I know from personal experience, there are large industries who rely on existing natural resources in the Rocky Mountain West. They mostly revolve around recreation. Flyfishing, hiking, skiing require that methane and coal extraction be subject to draconian controls so that the local operators can survive. This might appear small potatoes until you factor in the equipment manufacturers.

Not everyone in America works for Big Oil, Gas, Corn etc. and those who do not are, it's my assertion, vastly underrepresented.

Peace, Health and Prosperity for Everyone.

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by: ACitizen @ Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 20:51:12 PM UTC

The last part of your statement .. (0.00 / 0)

was exactly JE's point ... when Hillary made her lobbyist comments that got loudly booed

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by: Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle @ Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 20:54:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes, it's about the infrastucture (0.00 / 0)

Not just $$$, because we can only partially compete with the lobbyist firehose. We have to be strategic with our money.

Our bigger opportunity is continuing to build channels of communication, something to rival the right-wing noise machine, and the ability to change the conventional narratives. We are still going through the early phases.

The netroots is still small, but growing fast, and traditional media is losing readership. Elmendorff thought he could write us off in 2004, thinks he could still write us off in 2008, let's see what happens in 2010.

Maybe some of our friends have forgotten the hand we gave them to climb up, but that just means we haven't reached the tipping point.

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by: MetaData @ Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 21:23:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And we are part of a new... (0.00 / 0)

Physical and Social Technology as per Eric Beinhocker's definition in The Origin of Wealth.

Further, as members of a boolean network we've got the processing power far in excess of any other group on the planet.

If we figure out how to make it work; and the best thing?

Should not cost all that much more than 'we' are already spending.

Peace, Health and Prosperity for Everyone.

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by: ACitizen @ Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 21:48:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Pretty much sums it up....Use us (0.00 / 0)

as an ATM and a ground operation, then ignore what we want them to do. Do they really think people want to elect a bunch of wimps?

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by: IndySteve @ Wed Oct 24, 2007 at 15:05:05 PM UTC