Feingold takes on the DLC

Russ Feingold spent some time yesterday to to accuse the DLC of weakening the Democratic party as a whole by squelching dissent, particularly on the Iraq war. I have to agree. Lieberman has long been the DLC's poster boy, and played right into the hands of the GOP by taking routine potshots at fellow Dems who didn't agree with his increasingly untenable stay-the-course stance on Iraq. DLC boosters like The New Republic's Marty Peretz have been going bonkers in the wake of the primary doing the same. As noted in my previous post, so are Dick Cheney and Tony Snow. It's been frustrating listening to this bunch claim that a single senate race amounts to a party-wide "ideological purge" in light of their insistence that other Democrats toe the line or face their wrath, and it's nice to hear Feingold call them on it.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold knocked the centrist Democratic Leadership Council today, saying its strategy of hoping to win by being “a little different than Republicans” hasn’t worked. He also accused the group's adherents of instilling fear in Democrats who oppose the war.

“They are the ones that coalesced with the big corporations to pass unfair trade agreements that hurt America,” Feingold said. “It was the DLC that came up with the health care plan with the Clintons that was so complicated nobody could understand it. It’s the DLC that has cut off our ability to say things like, ‘Let’s get out of Iraq because it’s a bad idea.’”

Feingold said DLC consultants “instill fear in Democrats” by saying opposition to the war would be taken as not supporting the troops. “What I want is us to get the right answer whether it’s liberal, conservative or middle of the road,” Feingold said.

Democrats should not try to be just “a little different than the Republicans and hope that we win," Feingold said. "I think that’s what (the DLC) brought us and it hasn’t worked.”

You can even listen to the audio of the entire event at the link.