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Yves here. Its good to see Gaius Publius, a regular fixture at AmericaBlog, now writing at Down with Tyranny, Howie Kleins blog. Among other things, Howie helped raise funds for a 2010 MMT conference. As Lambert says, Hes one of the good guys.

Theres one small sour note in this otherwise fine piece, that of calling Elizabeth Warren a progressive. The fact that Gaius feels compelled to include her speaks to the dearth of individuals who can be accurately described as progressive in roles of any prominence in the Democratic party.

By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and contributing editor at AmericaBlog. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius and Facebook. Cross posted from AmericaBlog

As documented frequently by Howie Klein and others, Steve Israel, the DCCC, and to a lesser extent the DSCC, have been disasters for the Democratic Party, if success means taking or keeping control of Congress and disaster means failing to try to do that. These Democratic train wrecks have been well document on these pages for example, here and here. But click any link tagged Steve Israel or DSCC to get the gist.

You also know that corporate-aligned Democrats, including most party leaders and many who work with them, are more than eager to excoriate any progressives who dare to consider forcing neoliberal Dems out of office, especially if hurting neoliberals also hurts party chances in elections. Attacking the party from the left and attacking neoliberal rule of the party are cardinal sins, almost hanging offenses. The venom goes very deep.

The magic phrase, the one you hear the most, is Ralph Nadar! but excoriation comes in other flavors. Like: Do you really want Romney to be president?! Or: The one thing that would make me vote for Hillary Clinton Jeb Bush! Or these days: OMG, it will be your fault if we lose the Senate! Always with the exclamation point. Always with the scorn, the flecks of virtual spittle, the virtual hair on fire.

The main idea if theres one bridge too far, its risking the party to gain an intra-party advantage. Its intolerable, according to party leaders, to use Tea Party tactics against corporate Democrats. Which leads to the question in the title: Are Democratic Party leaders already Tea Partying progressives?

An Exercise In Taxonomy

Consider this an exercise in taxonomy, in naming and classifying things. In other words, is one thing like another? Not: Is this thing good or bad? Just: Are these two things alike?

1. We know what it means to Tea Party Republicans, what the term means. It means that one party faction, in this case Koch-funded Tea Party candidates, mounts a campaign to remove its party rivals from power even at the cost of party success as measured by winning elections and controlling institutions like Congress.

Read more from the original source:
Gaius Publius: Are Democratic Leaders Already Tea Partying The Progressives?