Quite a few bloggers, myself included, have piled on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for siding with Evan Bayh's "moderate working group" at the expense of the progressive wing of the party. However, he actually made a far more damaging statement about Democrats in general last Friday. It is a perfect example of why the Democratic Party is often perceived as a bunch of valueless, finger in the wind, pushovers (emphasis mine):
Reid has no qualms about the group, and said that "any public statements" Senate moderates have made have been helpful as the chamber takes up a budget next week that would cost more than $3 trillion. And he added: "Some people of course go to those meetings so they can issue a press release back home that'll make them appear more moderate."
This is just about the worst thing a Democrat can say. Hell, it is one of the worst things a politician can say. Here is a different way of phrasing that sentence: of course I don't actually believe in the values of this group to which I belong-I just joined the group to trick the rubes back home into thinking that I believe in those values.
It is absolutely, utterly soulless and elitist. It is, also, the fundamental problem with DLC, moderate Democrat speak. Instead of actually just taking a stand for center and center-right beliefs, moderate Democrats are constantly couching their policy positions in terms of electability. It is the fundamental reason whyy so many people don't think Democrats believe what they say. Democrats keep saying, in public, that the only reason they support certain positions is to trick people into thinking that they are moderate. It is just bizarre, and it happens all the time.
The regularity of statements like these from Democrats as prominent as Bill Clinton, Harry Reid, Steny Hoyer and many, many others make it virtually impossible to tell if the behavior of the Democratic leadership is determined by beliefs or by a desire to get elected. Seriously--when the Democratic Senate leader says something like this, is it even still possible to make that distinction?
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