Ford is also scheduled as the featured guest of the 3rd annual Gore Family Dinner the night before, on the 27th (tonight) being held at Lowe’s Vanderbilt Plaza. This event is the big annual fund raiser for the Davidson County Democratic Party that normally has Al Gore in attendance. Unfortunately Al and Tipper Gore are not going to be there this year. This may come as a surprise to those attending. The organizers failed to point this out when promoting this event. I suspect it may have affected ticket sales – do you think?
Speaking of Harold Ford Jr., when asked to chair the DLC earlier this year, Harold fawned all over Al From calling the previous DLC work “exemplary”.
Exemplary of what? Twelve years of Democratic Party failure? Twelve years of Republican rule, political corruption, raiding the treasury and corporate excess? Twelve years of seeing our jobs outsourced and immigration laws ignored? Twelve years of rolling over for Republicans? Twelve years of serving corporations rather than the people? Twelve years during which they supported the invasion of another country that didn’t attack us or threaten our safety and then continues to fund this ill-begotten war and all the carnage and damage to our reputation it’s caused? I recently remarked to a prominent national Democrat that Harold could thank the progressives for paving the way for Harold’s almost successful campaign for the open senate seat here in Tennessee even though many progressive Democrats who supported his campaign did not approve of his positions. He didn’t comment but looked sideways at me in a suspicious manner like – you’re not one of us, are you?
They don’t get it. It was Howard Dean and the progressive Democrats who opposed the war long before it began. It was Howard Dean and the progressive Democrats who raised hell, shook the party by the shoulders and said “wake up!” It was Howard Dean and the progressive Democrats who showed the rest of the Democrats how to run a modern campaign utilizing the internet and grassroots activists; that you can raise campaign funds from average Americans rather than rely on corporate bribery.
That’s what gave Harold Ford Jr. a chance to win here in Tennessee. Not the policies of the DLC.
It’s the corporate-funded DLC; the free trading, Clinton fawning, Republican-Lite centrists, who have caused and allowed the Democratic party to decline in power. You know the ones – those who allowed Bush to steal the elections in 2000 and 2004, those who wouldn’t stand up to Bush and the Republicans on the war and all the other issues, those who keep funding the war, those who are against impeaching Bush and Cheney, and those who didn’t want Dean as DNC Chairman and then criticized Dean’s 50 state plan which is now bearing fruit. Without the progressives and Howard Dean battling Bush and laying the groundwork, Harold’s campaign here in Tennessee wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as it turned out. In fact, he probably wouldn’t even have attempted it.
And even more so, the elections in 2006 wouldn’t have returned control of Congress to the Democrats without Howard Dean and the progressives setting the stage.
Harold said before becoming DLC chairman the DLC should put out a booklet similar to a previous DLC publication, “Putting People First”. What a joke! Everyone knows people come last on the DLC’s agenda. DLC members come first, then their friends, and then the corporations, and then the party, and then finally the people – if at all. “Putting People First is a populist slogan and the DLC is anything but populist.
So, I find it not surprising that Harold is now taking shots at any form of populism by saying, “Right-wing populists claim immigrants are stealing Americans' jobs. Left-wing populists say trade is shipping our jobs overseas. Both look backwards toward an allegedly better past and argue that, by sealing our borders and retreating from global markets, government can recover it. Our country's problem isn't immigration or trade, its uneven prosperity.”
That’s like saying the environmental problem isn’t companies and manufacturers, it’s the toxic chemicals and waste entering our food, water and air.
Of course corporations are all for unrestricted immigration and trade, wide-open borders and wide-open trade, which are not the problem according to Harold. Spread your legs wide America and the corporations will implant you with prosperity while having a great time at it. Harold Ford Jr., the Clintons and the rest of the DLCers are corporatists, free traders and globalists, not national populists, so why are they pretending to put people first?
The DLC and the crowd of sycophants who support them are part of the corrupt system of beltway freeloaders who kiss corporate ass as a means to stay in office and feed off the more and more corrupt system that politics in DC and our government has become. The DLC is so accustomed to being in power, controlling the party and picking the candidates, they don’t like it when someone like Howard Dean, who ran outside the system, shakes their tree. It worries me that Barack Obama, who appears to be a populist, will become just another DLC fraternity member if he hasn’t already.
Harold Ford Jr. and the DLC will meet here tomorrow in Nashville to discuss a renewed commitment to fiscal discipline, reforming the federal tax code to reward work, innovators and long-term investing and expanding international trade while vigorously enforcing trade laws to punish rule breakers. Also the need to rectify long-standing social injustices and ensure that no U.S. worker is left behind in today's competition for the world's best jobs. And how to close America's education achievement gap by attracting better teachers and paying them well. And how college must be more accessible and affordable for all Americans. We used to rank first as the nation with the most citizens with post-secondary degrees and now we rank seventh. They’re also going to discuss how we can guarantee all Americans affordable health insurance and reduce the cost of health care to individuals and businesses, and root out inefficiencies and stamp out the greed in our health system. Those and other issues.
Sure! When have we heard all this BS before?
Most of our elected representatives don’t really care how thinly veiled their motives and agendas are. They know most Americans are fools and are easily manipulated.
The average Venezuelan peasant is likely better informed, understands and participates more in the politics of their nation than most Americans do theirs. Those who control our government know how to dangle bright shiny objects in front of us, distract and entertain us, while they pick our pockets and have their way with us.
There will be staging and rehearsal of the newly scripted DLC dog and pony show at Opryland Hotel this weekend. Look for it to open in your neighborhood soon.
Gary
