DLC Working With Big Business on Bush Agenda?

At a time when Democrats must be united in fighting against Social Security privatization, "tort reform" that restricts workers rights, and regulatory rollbacks, there are some new troubling signs that some factions claiming to represent the Democratic Party might be helping push a right-wing agenda.

In its cover story today about how the "Chamber of Commerce Helps the Bush Agenda," the Washington Post noted:

"The chamber has hired the Swiss Guard of paid consultants from both political parties. Several showed up at a recent dinner hosted by Donohue at the chamber, including Al From, chief executive of the Democratic Leadership Council [and] Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, who was White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration."

Edwards' Opportunity

Here is an op-ed I had published in today's Charlotte Observer on John Edwards. He is scheduled to give a speech in New Hampshire this weekend, and I thought it would be timely. He has a real opportunity to define and differentiate himself. The question is, will seize that opportunity or not?

Will the "Moral Values" GOP Refund the Money?

The Republican Party likes to call itself the party of "moral values." So the question is, will it return the tens of thousands of dollars it has pocketed from companies that air pornography?

As reported by the LA Times today, "Adelphia Communications Corp. has quietly become the nation's only leading cable operator to offer the most explicit category of hard-core porn."

According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Adelphia gives the overwhelming amount of its financial support to Republicans, the party of "moral values." The company has given more than $100,000 to the GOP in soft money contributions, and thousands more in PAC contributions, and contributions from the company's executives. This money has gone to people like President Bush and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), one of the most outspoken moralizers in the Senate.

For more on this issue, see this recent Washington Post article entitled "GOP Corporate Donors Cash In on Smut." The question is, will the GOP return the contributions?

The GOP's Revisionist History on Civil Rights

Earlier this week, the LA Times described Republican efforts to recast themselves as the "party of civil rights" in a cynical attempt to court minority voters. Today, on the first day of Black History Month, we have a good example of how futile that effort really is.

Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) is introducing a bill essentially condemning the Senate for filibustering anti-lynching laws earlier in the 20th century. It's a laudable bill – but its author has anything but a laudable record on civil rights and racial issues. According to the Associated Press in 2000, Allen was discovered to have been displaying a hangman's noose and the confederate flag in his law office. As governor, Allen "signed a Confederate Heritage Month proclamation without denouncing slavery." Allen also "opposed a state holiday honoring Martin Luther King" and referred to the NAACP as an "extremist group."

According to reporters, Allen did not apologize, but instead "defended the flag and noose as mere decorations." What sensitivity.