The media is destroying Hillary and the Democratic Party acts like nothing is wrong.

[JCanete]

98. I actually don't remember shit about the greens in 2010, so I doubt they had much of an impact,

compared to the typical forces at work pushing our nation right.

Actually I think you bringing up Lieberman is a perfect example of democrats talking a good game until they are finally in a position to do something, when its suddenly time for them to earn their paycheck. I don't suggest that that's all of them, and I hope its a relative few. We did still get health-care reform, just not the kind we would have liked, but we did it without republican support, so why didn't we get something that wasn't such an appeasement to insurance companies? Lieberman is to me, a pretty obvious example of a trojan horse, and sometimes I wonder who else's turn it will be to land on the next grenade.

As to how to get that majority in the house and senate, we are doing it wrong if that's what we want.(trump may do us a great favor in this regard this election though). I do actually agree with the school of thought that you can't get into Washington unless you court the money, and I'm sure many establishment politicians have simply calculated that you can't do shit from the side-lines, so you have to play the game.

But looking at the last thirty-five years, playing this game may have kept democrats in seats, but at the cost of taking whole areas of discourse off the table, and a general regression on labor rights, welfare programs, etc. You can't effectively go after big money in politics if you are taking it, and frankly, if its what got you to the ball, you don't want to. You have an edge in that regard, so why squander it. So you can't talk populism, you can't talk class war, which is the one way we could actually galvanize the middle class and the poor together on one side, and you don't ever win a solid majority when you refuse to distinguish yourself from your opposition on grounds that every person struggling can relate to. Sure, that comes with the unfortunate consequence of putting yourself squarely in the cross-hairs of big money, and having your own funds dry up, and maybe getting crushed by concentrated opposition.

But if democrats did that, I'd have little reason to question whether or not there were those within our party who refused to bite the hand that feeds them, even if they have occasionally barked and bared their teeth. As it is, they may be playing it right. They may be doing it for the right reasons. Since I can't know for sure, I'm going to continue to hold a measure of healthy skepticism.