Democrats' Common Ground

post from TPMCafe - The Coffee House feed on 03 April 2007 11:45:20 PM. © TPMCafe - The Coffee House feed

I have great respect for Harold Ford, and no doubt that the U.S. Senate would be better were he in it presently. I also have a lot of respect for many of those whom he mentions in his DLC speech, like Governor O'Malley in Maryland, for instance, who has, without doubt, brought new ideas not only to state government but to rethinking --and recommiting to a safer and more equitable and opportunity-filled urban life for all when he was Mayor of Baltimore.

As someone who doesn't count herself as one of the DLC supporters (to say the least), I have respect for much of their leadership and for the fact that they have tried to imbue the Democratic Party with new ideas to make the Party competitive and majoritarian again. I also do think that there is more agreement than not between the DLCers and those of us who hail from the more progressive, pro-labor (rather than pro-business) side of the Party. I think that there's more consensus on trade today than there was previously, and the DLC has now gone on record in support of union organizing and workers' rights as in the Employee Free Choice Act, a shift for the DLC away from avoiding or even dissing unions, and an important shift in my mind toward figuring out how to marry policy with people.

But, here's where I begin to have trouble. It's in some words in Ford's speech where he calls for a party that is "pro-family, pro-business, pro-America, pro-defense, pro not only trade but smart trade..."

It's not that I'm even against any of these things, though I would frame them differently--and in framing them differently, it's not just the nuance that changes, it's the entire song itself. When you listen to Barack Obama or John Edwards, they are saying some similar things--they are talking about personal responsibility and being able to raise yourself out of poverty, about religious commitment and affirmation, about national security and about values. But their language is more inclusive; it is more populist--and it's more visionary. The problem with the DLC is not simply that they swerve too much toward pro-business and not enough toward pro-worker, it's also that policy wonks don't get themselves elected president. The Democrats need to inspire, not simply teach. No one is going to get elected by saying he or she is more pro-business than the other candidates--at least not in this upcoming election where so much is about trust, about Iraq, and about how too much in the Bush era leaned in the direction of corporate power. No one, at least, who calls themselves a Democrat. So, if we are in common ground mode, let's figure out a way to say it in a way that inspires folks, and brings along those who want to feel that the Democratic Party is speaking on their behalf.

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Messages Fall On Deaf White House Ears

post from NewsHog on 03 April 2007 11:35:00 PM. © NewsHog

When Bush and his sycophantic followers criticize others for even thinking about talking to "the bad guys", let's be clear on what they are giving up.

From Israeli daily Haaretz (via The Belgravia Dispatch):

According to information Israel received, the Syrians are concerned that the United States will carry out an attack against Iran's nuclear installations in the summer, and in parallel Israel would strike Syria and Lebanon.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who visited IDF forces in the North last week, heard an intelligence assessment and was informed of the dangers of a Syrian "miscalculation."

Following his visit to the forces in the field, a decision was made to publicly address the concerns of a possible deterioration with the Syrians, and to send a message that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria, nor is there any coordinated plan with the U.S. for a joint attack against Iran.

The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is scheduled to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus today, and will deliver a message of calm from Israel.

"We hope the message will be understood," political sources in Israel said yesterday. "The question is whether Assad is looking for an excuse ... so that he can carry out an attack against Israel in the summer, or whether this is a mistaken assessment."

And then again today from The Belfast Telegraph:

The Syrian Government has revealed that it is mediating between Britain and Iran over the 15 military personnel arrested in the Persian Gulf almost two weeks ago.
The mediation has been disclosed by the country's Foreign Minister during an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper.

As Dubya said yesterday "It's one thing to send a message. It's another thing to have the person receiving the message actually do something." I think Bush and the US right are the ones who need to get the message here. Greg writes "How many more months left of this bungling amateurism and fake machismo do we have left? 22, is it? Sigh."

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http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/2007/04/messages-fall-on-deaf-white-house-ears
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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 03 April 2007 11:31:53 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Cheney lurks behind the shrub, both actually and metaphorically.

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/03/open-thread-438/

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FDA wants to loosen regulations with irradiated
food

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 03 April 2007 11:27:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Forget about addressing core problems in the food industry, just zap it with some radiation and hope it all works out. Just ignore the issues about irradiating food such as the unknown long-term health effects on humans since testing is incomplete and don't think about the taste issues, because what does taste have to do with food? Another brilliant idea by the GOP run FDA who cares more about the Big Food industry and less about human consumers. Who wants to eat radiated food?

The FDA also proposed letting companies use the term ?pasteurized? to describe irradiated foods. To do so, they would have to show the FDA that the radiation kills germs as well as the pasteurization process does. Pasteurization typically involves heating a product to a high temperature and then cooling it rapidly.

In addition, the proposal would let companies petition the agency to use additional alternate terms other than ?irradiated,? something already allowed by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 but that no firms have pursued, according to the FDA.

Yes, note the year 2002. These were high times for the GOP who delivered everything industry lobbyists wanted while ignoring concerns from consumers. Pick your issue and it's clear who the GOP sided with. Looking at the actions of the FDA during the Bush years and you could easily forget that they are there to protect consumers.

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ations-with.html

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Punditry

post from Eschaton on 03 April 2007 11:12:00 PM. © Eschaton

Amanda discusses us assholes with opinions. There's a lot which could be written about this subject, and not just from a blogger perspective, but a big part of it is about those who think political power and discourse should be in the hands of elites, and those who think otherwise. There's a large amount of paternalistic elitism which runs through many, the belief that governance is too important for the orthodontists and the rest of the rabble to have much to do with it and that essentially Democracy is a nice fantasy we should maintain without embracing the reality.

It's an argument which would have more merit if the elites in our discourse hadn't gotten basically everything wrong over the past decade.

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#19

post from Eschaton on 03 April 2007 11:08:00 PM. © Eschaton

I had no idea John was so powerful.

I'd better be nicer to him.

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C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Nelly Furtado

post from Crooks and Liars on 03 April 2007 11:04:27 PM. © Crooks and Liars

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)When I retired from Warner Bros I remember thinking how I'd never have to go to another boring Grammy Awards, People's Choice Awards, MTV Awards or any of that painful hideousness where you are supposed to feel privileged to be a prop in someone's crappy TV show.The one award ceremony I [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/03/cls-late-nite-music-club-with-nelly-furt
ado/

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More on WH ‘cooperation’ with GOP
Syria trip.

Greg Sargent notes, “It’s unclear what this GOP chief of staff’s description of ‘cooperation‘ between these members of Congress and the administration means in practice. It could end up amounting to nothing at all.” Reporter Christopher Allbritton offers one possibility:I spoke with a source at a Western embassy in Beirut about this, and the source [...]

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http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/03/more-on-wh-cooperation-with-gop-syria-trip/

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Edwards at Prairie

This is Nate Willems. I was a regional director for Howard Dean's Iowa campaign and am finishing law school at the University of Iowa. This felt more like a caucus event. John and Elizabeth Edwards spoke to about 900 people in the old gym at[...]

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Bush on Failure

George W. Bush, VFW Speech - August 21, 2000:

"The facts are stark and the facts are real. . . Our men and women in uniform love their country more than their comfort. They have never failed us, and we must not fail them. But the best intentions and the highest morale are undermined by back-to-back deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment, and rapidly declining readiness."

". . .these are signs of a military in decline and we must do something about it. The reasons are clear. Lack of equipment and material. Undermaning of units. Overdeployment. Not enough time for family. Soldiers who are on food stamps, and soldiers who are poorly housed. Dick Cheney and I have a simple message today for our men and women in uniform, their parents, their loved ones, their supporters: Help is on the way!"

That was before he restored honor and dignity to the White House, remember?