Go, man! GO!

Sirota ripping on the DLC:

Less than two weeks ago, the Democratic Leadership Council said that people like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Vietnam War Hero Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) were "offering surrender" by supporting an exit strategy from Iraq. This followed on the DLC's long record of slamming anyone who it disagrees with (for more, just see the DLC's treatment of Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential primary). Now, the DLC is desperately attacking those like Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) who have been critical of Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D-CT) support for the Iraq War, and in the process, actually claiming the DLC has always been for "inclusion" in the Democratic Party and against "polarized politics."

This is how pathetic and corrupt it has gotten in Washington. The nation's capital has become a place where corporate-funded institutions like the DLC can one day viciously stab courageous progressives, and then the next day turn around and claim they are actually for "inclusion" - all without batting an eye, or thinking twice about how dishonest and hypocritical such behavior really is. What an insult to the public's intelligence.

Apparently to the DLC, "inclusion" is defined as being in lockstep with their far-out-of-the-mainstream views, and the only thing important to them is preserving their status on the D.C. cocktail party circuit by issuing press releases touting their "friendship" with those who undermine the Democratic Party.

The bolded bit is, as always, the key to this. It's groupthink--hardly a new thing--and the groupthink is clearly being exploited to ensure that the right thoughts are held by the right people. It's also, however, the loose party structure in the United States; when the connection between partisans is so weak, and the "bipartisan" ties of power and circumstance are so strong, is it any wonder that people choose the latter over the former?

All the DLC does, in the end, is reverse Milton. Better to serve in "heaven", than to rule in "hell". That these things are defined by their supposed opponents is immaterial.