According to the Times, the Democratic Leadership Council is warning Democrats not to present themselves “as an angry ‘far left’ party fighting tax cuts and opposing the war in Iraq.”
The warning seems to be primarily aimed at a certain centrist, moderate former governor of Vermont.
“It is our belief that the Democratic Party has an important choice to make: Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?” said Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, chairman of the organization. “The administration is being run by the far right. The Democratic Party is in danger of being taken over by the far left.”
Yes, if by “far left” you mean “centrists with some hint of a backbone.” If by “far left” you mean “Democrats who occasionally behave as if they actually are members of an opposition party.”
The perception, he said, is that Democrats “stand for big government, want to raise taxes too high, are too liberal and are beholden to special interest groups.”
Most important, Mr. Penn said, the party has to prove itself credible on the issue of national security — something that many Democrats attending the conference here said would be impossible to do if the party were perceived as opposed to the war on Iraq.
You see, the only way for Democrats to win is to embrace fiscal irresponsibility and wars based on lies. In other words, to behave like watered-down Republicans. As far as the DLC is concerned, the debate isn’t really over liberal or conservative ideas anymore. It’s about how many conservative ideas to adopt, and how forcefully.
The story’s here. Read it and weep.