The 'New Democrats' show their colors

The link above is to an excellent post on Atrios' blog. I've been doing my share of complaining about the 'New Democrats' and the DLC, mainly because of The New Republic's complicity in their incompetence and New Dem poster boy Joe Lieberman's seeming determination to undermine the Democratic party at every turn. A must-read, especially for those who wonder why I keep going on about this. It shows that the conservative Dems are just as intellectually dishonest as their Republican counterparts.

Quoting 'New Dem' Representative Ellen Tauscher: "Let me also make very clear that most of the legislation passed by this majority Republican House really needs our help. It is not the best legislation nor is it I think legislation that will serve the test of time. But, having said that[,] we would like a [bankruptcy] bill that did more to protect people by the way who have medical liabilities. . ."

Quoting an NDC memo from Tauscher and two others: "Tomorrow, the House will consider S. 256, The Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act. We write to let you know that final passage of the Bill will be a key vote for the NDC and to encourage you to support this common-sense, bipartisan legislation."

Seems pretty clear to me. As with many Republicans (e.g., Senator Martinez and his office's Schiavo memo), the obvious question is this: incompetence or lying? The Dems don't have control of a single branch of government right now. So why does a small group of Dems insist on giving the media reasons to report that we don't deserve any control? I don't want to pick on fellow Democrats, but this is disgraceful behavior that suggests an interest in nothing as much as power and re-electability on the part of these so-called iconoclasts. Here's a hint-- being an iconoclast mean bucking the establishment, not kow-towing to it.