Why the DLC must go

"We've got to repudiate, you know, the most strident and insulting anti-American voices out there sometimes on our party's left ... We can't have our party identified by Michael Moore and Hollywood as our cultural values." – Al From, CEO, Democratic Leadership Council



"You know, let's let Hollywood and the Cannes Film Festival fawn all over Michael Moore. We ought to make it pretty clear that he sure doesn't speak for us when it comes to standing up for our country." – Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, the think tank of the DLC

Note to the DLC: Michael Moore didn't lose the election for the Democrats. Two things lost it for the Democrats:



1) John Kerry's utter refusal to stand up for anything, least of all himself.



2) The Democratic Party's utter refusal to acknowledge the kind of people they were dealing with. From the Swift Boat Liars to rigged voting machines that recorded Kerry votes as Bush votes to mass disenfranchisement of blacks in Florida and Ohio, those of us with our eyes open knew this stuff would happen for the last four years. Where was the party?



Matt Taibbi of the New York Press, of all places, has more.



We'll know in January whether the true progressives can take this party back, or if it's going to stay in the hands of the hacks who are perfectly happy to lose, as long as a few corporate bucks are thrown their way.



Digby has an analysis.