Althouse: "In a remarkable post yesterday, Moulitsas, founder and publisher of the progressive community site DailyKos, celebrates the departure from the Senate..."

March 20, 2014

"In a remarkable post yesterday, Moulitsas, founder and publisher of the progressive community site DailyKos, celebrates the departure from the Senate..."

"... of 10 moderate Democrats over the last decade, and makes clear his hope that Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) lose their tough reelection battles this year. He doesn’t name some other moderates in tight races, like Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), but his logic suggests that he’d be only too happy to say goodbye to them as well."

42 comments:

MayBee said...: The focus should remain on how Republicans are extremists and don't want to compromise; 3/20/14, 6:28 PM
RecChief said...: hey all you progressives, go ahead and take Markos' advice and move even more to the left.; 3/20/14, 6:34 PM
cubanbob said...: He figures the Democrats are going to lose anyway so better to have them replaced by Republicans so the hard left can complain to their hearts content without actually having to compromise with the Republicans. That will give them two years to run against the evil Rethuglicans and gives Obama more cover for his failures by blaming the evil ones. Then the presumed hope is out of the ashes they will elect virtuous progressives back in to congress with a majority and an even more virtuous progressive in the White House. Or he just could smoking some really good shit.; 3/20/14, 6:34 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Every time I hear about the "Civil War in the Republican Party" I think back on those years reading The New Republic: moderate & left wing Democrats loath each other with a loathing that makes the intra-party squabbles on the Right look like a kindergarten playground dust-up.

It makes sense, too. Republicans are mostly white, religious or at least not actively hostile to religion, and come at politics from a much more defined set of ideological roots (e.g. Austrian school economics).

The Democrats have multiple racial groups who despise each other, the very religious & the militantly atheist, and an economic program that goes from Keynes to Marx.; 3/20/14, 6:42 PM
jr565 said...: Any democrat from a red state is only in office because they pretend to be republicans. Liberals are not going to win those seats.; 3/20/14, 6:48 PM
Mark said...: Well, maybe Markos has a point when you consider these talking points in the Politico article:

The majorities those moderates helped create made possible the progress of Barack Obama’s first term. Without them, the president would have been unable to reverse our slide toward depression with the stimulus, extend stable and secure health care coverage to all with the ACA, reform the worst abuses of the financial services sector with Dodd-Frank, remove the scourge of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell from the military or pass a sensible immigration reform bill through the Senate.

Might as well have included Unicorns flying out of Obama's butt in the list too.; 3/20/14, 6:51 PM
PB said...: So much for Dem's big tent of intellectual diversity. Sinners must be punished!; 3/20/14, 7:05 PM
PB said...: Those "moderate" Dems were merely useful fools in the great lib/prog/Dem/socialist movement.; 3/20/14, 7:07 PM
damikesc said...: Remember, conservatives are the ones with "purity tests" who demand total fealty to the party line...; 3/20/14, 7:33 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: What MayBee said.; 3/20/14, 7:46 PM
Titus said...: There will be no democratic senator from any southern state after this election.

The republican party will be a party of exclusively of the south...congrats.; 3/20/14, 8:10 PM
kcom said...: And wasn't it just a few years ago they proudly announced their 50 state strategy where they decided they would recruit a bunch of moderates to make things competitive instead of just conceding a bunch of races before they started? Guess it was all for show (but we knew that).; 3/20/14, 8:11 PM
Donna B. said...: Landrieu a moderate? If so, it's more a matter of her intellectual capabilities than an actual political belief.

Years ago, when I was personally not politically inclined, but engaged in what I thought was doing good for the severely mentally ill, I had to deal with Mary Landrieu and her staff both locally and in Washington.

I'm a believer in the idea that attitude flows downhill and if that's correct, Landrieu is stupidly rigid, unimaginative, and her first instincts are to say "no, I won't help you" and "no, that can't be done".

If it's not correct, then she's incapable of hiring competent people to carry out her wishes.

My impression of Landrieu is that if it doesn't benefit her, it's out of the question. In either case, she's extremist. Not a moderate bone in her body.

So it's no surprise that she comes across on the national scene as a political moderate -- that's where her bread is buttered.

Her brand of politics is one reason Edwin Edward's brand is palatable to Louisianans. He's a nicer person and will help you if it doesn't hurt him to do so. Landrieu will never help you unless it also helps her.; 3/20/14, 8:12 PM
Titus said...: There was a time when republicans could win large states like New York and California-those days are gone.

And democrats could win smaller states like South Dakota and even in the south. Those days are gone now.

There are like 5 states to fight for for president and that is where elections are won.; 3/20/14, 8:24 PM
Oso Negro said...: Titus - nope. The Democrats will be exclusively a Party of the East and West Coast and Northern Liberal States. Republicans will be elected from all over the place. Not that they deserve it.; 3/20/14, 8:35 PM
Oso Negro said...: Titus - nope. The Democrats will be exclusively a Party of the East and West Coast and Northern Liberal States. Republicans will be elected from all over the place. Not that they deserve it.; 3/20/14, 8:35 PM
chickelit said...: Are the liberal Dems engaging in a "loyalty purge"?

Look back to 1938 for uncanny parallels: link; 3/20/14, 8:51 PM
jr565 said...: The dems are doing the anti southern strategy.; 3/20/14, 8:56 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I agree with him on getting rid of Pryor. Kumbaya.; 3/20/14, 9:35 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I think you get elected here by seeming like a nice man.; 3/20/14, 9:35 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Don't seem weird. Don't seem girly. Don't seem hickish. Seem humble. Seem calm. Seem reasonable. Seem nice. Be pro gun. Be a little populist. Have an accent. I think that covers everything.; 3/20/14, 9:43 PM
mccullough said...: Sounds like Jim DeMint, who left the Senate for a DC think tank sinecure.

The Dems have moved much farther left in the years since Bill Clinton left office. They used to hold a lot of governorships and state legislatures but they are becoming a regional party of New Englanders and West Coasters. I remember when moderates like Sam Nunn and George Mitchell were the voice of reason in the Senate. Now it's wing-nuts like Boxer and Schumer.; 3/20/14, 9:55 PM
Scott said...: The linked article was written by two guys from a leftist think tank, but it's not labeled as a guest opinion and the authors' affiliation is buried at the end of the piece.

What the hell has happened to Politico? Didn't they at one time feign being politically nonpartisan?; 3/20/14, 9:59 PM
kcom said...: feign or fake?; 3/20/14, 10:05 PM
Scott said...: Touché.; 3/20/14, 10:08 PM
Gahrie said...: I remember when moderates like Sam Nunn and George Mitchell were the voice of reason in the Senate.

I'm so old I remember when Al Gore used to be a Democratic moderate and voice of reason......; 3/20/14, 10:11 PM
Levi Starks said...: I suppose he's decided that if he's going to lose, he might as well lose big. His team will get a #1 draft pick.; 3/20/14, 11:15 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I'm so old I remember when Al Gore used to be a Democratic moderate and voice of reason...

You mean, the Al Gore who was founding members of the Democratic Leadership Council, AKA the "White Male Caucus" to its detractors.; 3/20/14, 11:20 PM
jr565 said...: Young Hegelian wrote:
I'm so old I remember when Al Gore used to be a Democratic moderate and voice of reason...

and I'm so old I remember that he used to grow tobacco. And was pro life. Jesse Jackson also was pro life. Actually, I'm not THAT old, but you can read up on those times on the Internet.; 3/20/14, 11:45 PM
Gahrie said...: You mean, the Al Gore who was founding members of the Democratic Leadership Council, AKA the "White Male Caucus" to its detractors.

No..I mean the one jr 565 is talking about. There was a time i actually respected Gore as a voice of reason. He went bad when he decided he had a chance to be president, and went from being fairly conservative to flaming progressive. It almost worked for him too, except the people who knew him best in Tennessee couln't stomach it and screwed him in the end.; 3/20/14, 11:57 PM
jr565 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/21/14, 12:04 AM
jr565 said...: Al Gore pivoted when he was running for president to be pro choice. But he the argued as if he was always pro choice.

"We have always been at war with eastasia."

Dems seem to have a talent for throwing policy positions down the memory. Many don't even pretend that they transitioned to a newer position. They just pretend like what they said yesterday never even happened.
Look to the history of Iraq prior to Bush taking office and after Bush taking office for a perfect example of this.
The same people saying Iraq never posed a threat were the same ones saying Iraq posed the BIGGEST threat. Al Gore is definitely included.; 3/21/14, 12:06 AM
jr565 said...: Al Gore pivoted when he was running for president to be pro choice. But he the argued as if he was always pro choice.

"We have always been at war with eastasia."

Dems seem to have a talent for throwing policy positions down the memory. Many don't even pretend that they transitioned to a newer position. They just pretend like what they said yesterday never even happened.
Look to the history of Iraq prior to Bush taking office and after Bush taking office for a perfect example of this.
The same people saying Iraq never posed a threat were the same ones saying Iraq posed the BIGGEST threat. Al Gore is definitely included.; 3/21/14, 12:07 AM
jr565 said...: Here's al gore in 1988 talking to tobacco farmers:''Throughout most of my life, I raised tobacco. I want you to know that with my own hands, all of my life, I put it in the plant beds and transferred it. I've hoed it. I've dug in it. I've sprayed it, I've chopped it, I've shredded it, spiked it, put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it.''

This was 4 years after his sister had died of lung cancer and decades after the surgeon general said it was a carcinogen. My guess is, his push for carbon credits is simply his attempt to earn some profits that he no longer makes from tobacco.; 3/21/14, 12:17 AM
Alex said...: Remember, conservatives are the ones with "purity tests" who demand total fealty to the party line...

yeah they do:

* abortion
* gays
* religion

toe the line or find yourself on the blunt end of the Pat Robertson types.; 3/21/14, 1:34 AM
damikesc said...: yeah they do:

* abortion
* gays
* religion

toe the line or find yourself on the blunt end of the Pat Robertson types.

Yet conservatives don't demand Republicans leave office over being pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, or anything involving religion.

Immigration is a biggie as is not being fiscally conservative. But the ones you listed...not so much.; 3/21/14, 6:12 AM
tim maguire said...: I haven't heard about Markos in years. Haven't missed him either. He was once important, but he was never healthy.; 3/21/14, 6:21 AM
richlb said...: Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.”; 3/21/14, 7:12 AM
grackle said...: Here's my speculation:

He has come to realize that something real bad for progressive politics is going to happen in November. Some progressives who passed themselves off as populist and/or conservative to the voters in order to get elected in conservation regions got outed by their votes for the Obamacare fiasco.

He cannot attack Obama or Obamacare because that would be apostatical in the extreme. And he knows well what happens to apostates in the secular religion of progressivism, having dealt out such punishment himself.

So, thinking that blue state progressive incumbents are totally safe, he must pretend to be pleased at what is almost certain to happen to red state Democrat incumbents. He is struggling to look cool and relevant again after he and his ilk foisted an Obamacare disaster upon a very reluctant populace.; 3/21/14, 7:49 AM
Henry said...: Key quote from the article:

The majorities those moderates helped create made possible the progress of Barack Obama’s first term. Without them, the president would have been unable to reverse our slide toward depression with the stimulus, extend stable and secure health care coverage to all with the ACA, reform the worst abuses of the financial services sector with Dodd-Frank, remove the scourge of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell from the military or pass a sensible immigration reform bill through the Senate.

When any old political shit is redefined as progress* who needs actual progressives?

Moulitsas isn't interested in gilding the turd. Good for him.

* I do think getting rid of DADT is progress. The rest of that list is unicorn marketing.; 3/21/14, 8:21 AM
Sigivald said...: Double down on immoderation!

I thoroughly approve of this plan, because I want the current Democratic Party out of power entirely.

The only downside is that the Republicans aren't much better with a solid majority.

Better, yes, in that at least their negatives have a hostile press to oppose them.; 3/21/14, 12:42 PM
Anonymous said...: It's always fun when Kos and I are on the same side. I hope every single "moderate" Democrat Senator loses in 2014, too. And in 2016, and in 2018.; 3/22/14, 11:53 AM