Third Way, Wall St-Backed, Think Tank's Battle for Soul of Dem Party Pits Them Against Eliz. Warren

[sabrina 1]

Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2015, 11:31 AM - Edit history (1)

The more exposure the Third Way gets, the less they like it it appears. So long as they were behind the scenes Democrats, while often troubled by their Party's swing to the right, however reluctantly, generally just held their noses and voted for candidates whose Dem credentials, voting records especially, were dubious.

Puzzled by anti-Left rhetoric coming from within their own party, it was inevitable that sooner or later they would find the source.

Desperate to totally discredit the 'Left' its leaders published an article last December declaring war on Elizabeth Warren AND Bill de Blasio in Murdoch owned, The Wall Street Journal. That turned out to be a major mistake, as it turned out.

Third Way Struggles For Soul of Democratic Party Pits Wall Street Backed Think Tank Against Elizabeth Warren



Protesters gathered outside Third Way’s offices in Washington, D.C., in December 2013, asking the group to reveal its funding sources.

Third Way, backed by Wall Street titans, corporate money, and congressional allies, is publicly warning against divisive “soak-the-rich” politics voiced by populist Democrats. Its target: Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator whose rise to power two years ago helped galvanize Democratic grass roots against Wall Street and pushed the issue of income inequality to the forefront.

........

Third Way ignited a clash in December when its leaders essentially declared war on Warren in a guest column in the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal, warning Democrats not to follow Warren and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio “over the populist cliff.”

Many on the left were shocked, and angered. Warren’s allies saw Third Way as a proxy — being used by her enemies on Wall Street to scare off the rest of the party.

If ANYONE is still wondering about the anti-Left rhetoric from within the Democratic Party, look no further than this Think Tank. All those talking points aimed at the Left, eg, 'purists', 'concern trolls' etc, come directly from this anti-Left group.

The entire article is worth reading as I can only excerpt a few pertinent paragraphs so that people can understand where the Anti-Elizabeth Warren Rhetoric is coming from.

Though Third Way’s salvo against Warren in The Wall Street Journal became a seminal moment in its fight against Democratic populism, the group is now very sensitive about the topic and will not even discuss why they chose to wage it.

Cowan and Bennett took pains not to utter Warren’s name in several interviews.

Not as easy as it used to be to smear Populists, Liberals, Progressives. They got a huge serving of reality after dominating the discourse mostly AGAINST good Democrats, over the past decade or so.

Their policies are being rejected and a new wave of populism in reaction to those policies, is sweeping the country.

However, I wouldn't count on them not finding ways to undermine people like de Blasio and Warren when it comes to protecting the interests of their group.

And for those who believe the Third Way is a far left 'CT' here are three of the co-founders of the group.



Matt Bennett, Jonathan Cowan, and Jim Kessler, three of the five co-founders of Third Way.



Meantime I hope more elected Dems join Elizabeth Warren in her fight to reign in Wall St before it is too late.

And watch for the talking points, 'she was a Republican etc etc intended to arouse anger in 'populists'.

NOW is what matters. So imo, they can keep their talking points and try for once to directly address what she is saying.

Is she RIGHT about Wall St, or is she WRONG?

That is all that should matter.

List of Third Way Board Members, thanks to Scuba in the comment section:

[Cosmic Kitten]

1. Third Way (3rd-Way) is a think tank, right?

It's not just a political philosophy?

As to funding the "think tank":

Third Way raises just over a third of its $9.3 million annual budget from undisclosed corporations. The remainder, the bulk of its funding, is donated by individuals, almost all of whom are members of Third Way’s board of trustees.

Two-thirds of its 31 trustees have held senior leadership positions in investment funds or big banks or served in some other capacity on Wall Street.

Board members include its chairman, John Vogelstein, who once led the private equity firm Warburg Pincus; vice chairman David Heller, the former global head of equity trading for Goldman Sachs; and Derek Kirkland, a managing director at Morgan Stanley

Looks like a Wall St "think tank"?

[sabrina 1]

7. That's exactly what it appears to be. Bill Black eg, calls it a 'Creature of Wall St.'

Wall St Uses The Third Way to Lead its Assault on Social Security

Here he refers to how they smear actual populists eg:

I showed that Third Way makes itself useful by providing a faux “liberal” or “moderate” “Democratic” quote machine that can be used to discredit Democrats and Democratic policies such as the safety net. I gave examples of how Third Way gave aid and comfort to the effort to defeat Elizabeth Warren and the effort to unravel the safety net. Third Way continues to prove that you can fool some of the people all of the time.

And here he empasizes that it is not a 'Liberal Think Tank' as they try to convey:

Let me attempt again to make the basic facts clear. Third Way is not a “liberal think tank.” It does not take “a centrist approach.” It is not run by “fellow progressives.” It is not concerned with “protecting entitlements.” It is not even a “think tank.” Third Way is a creature of Wall Street. It’s version of “protecting” the safety net was made infamous during the Tet offensive in Viet Nam when the American officer explained that “it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.” Third Way is the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party, which seeks to defeat Democratic candidates like Elizabeth Warren running against Wall Street sycophants like Senator Scott Brown and seeks to unravel the safety net programs that are the crown jewels of the Democratic Party. Wall Street’s “natural” party is certainly the Republican Party, but Wall Street has no permanent party or ideology, only permanent interests. Third Way serves its financial interests and the personal interests of its senior executives. Wall Street has always been the enemy of Social Security and its greatest dream is to privatize Social Security. Wall Street’s senior executives live in terror of being held accountable under the criminal laws for their crimes. They became wealthy by leading the “control frauds” that drove the financial crisis and the Great Recession. This is why Wall Street made defeating Warren a top priority.

Their main goal, or one of them, is to Privatize Social Security. That is no 'Liberal' group!

Their Board of Directors is almost entirely made up of Wall St Investment Bankers and other top 1% representatives.

[rhett o rick]

29. Isn't a "Think Tank" really a "Conspiracy Tank". Just sayin'.

[Cosmic Kitten]

31. Hmmmm? Good point!

Perhaps that need to be injected into more
conversations about those *Cabal Tanks*

[tularetom]

2. I always suspected who was behind Turd Way, I never realized they were so blatant about it

They've never had a problem finding potential candidates with more ambition than principle, and they have a shitload of Wall Street money to throw at those sellouts.

Exposure is the best antidote to these POS's.

[sabrina 1]

14. I am embarrassed to say I knew nothing about them until a couple of years ago. I knew something

was wrong with our Party from the time of the vote for Bush's war but couldn't understand what.

They do get the candidates they want, partly because so many of us were ignorant of what was really happening to this party.

So yes, it really does help to know who they are and what needs to be done to BEAT their candidates.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. What we have or have not learned.

What we have is a total disconnect between the Democratic Party and the Country as a whole. A friend from the a Senators staff said this to me years ago. There are people who run this country from the shadows and they don't give a rats ass about the general population. They are to be used and controlled as needed in order to justify election outcomes. Remember this,politics is the art of persuading ten percent on either side of a issue,to come to either side of the issue. Propaganda is the coin of the realm,and the Pravada's of our Country is working overtime with their bullcrap.

[sabrina 1]

15. It becomes more and more obvious how disconnected they are from the people. They were feeling

a bit omnipotent after the 2008 election I think and let their guard down when they started blatantly attacking the very people who elected them.

THAT'S when many of us began to wonder 'who ARE these people' with a 'D' after their names.

Now they are rattled. OWS was a shock to them I imagine when it spread so rapidly across the country. People KNEW what was wrong, and then the warnings from the Unions before the 2012 election, and what seems like the sudden rise of populism and the refusal of voters to go along with the 'team' player routine anymore.

[L0oniX]

4. Why is it just her and Bernie speaking up about this shit? Where's our Dems? Hiding?

Are they too busy with K Street dinners to give a fuck?

[Phlem]

6. They are the "Installed".

They must be replaced by leftist populists, that's only way we can refocus as the Democratic Party once again for the people, and by the people.

[L0oniX]

8. I'd settle for them being replaced with real Dems.

[Phlem]

9. Same here

but I think we're at a point where we're fighting extremes. Centrists in the Dem party still pushed the party to the right. When you say "real Dems", I agree, real Dem's used to be in the left party called the Democratic Party, the opposition to the right party, the Republicans.

[Phlem]

5. The Thirdway must die.

There's no place for it in a left leaning Democratic Party. If it wants to live it should move over to the party where it belongs. The Rightwing Republican party. Period end of story.

[Scuba]

10. The Third Way warns leftists are trying to take the Party over the populist cliff ....

... while representing the exact interests that ARE THE FUCKING CLIFF!

[Phlem]

11. Expect us to get hammered my friend.

The populist movement is a cancer to all the plans layed out over the years by the rich and greedy and could prove to be a point of issue in trying to get the TPP passed.

They are going to throw everything at us, lies, money, misconceptions, everything at their disposal. And I'm going to give them the finger every time and move on.

[Scuba]

13. Yes, they've been expecting us and are ready ....

... with everything from trolls on liberal blogs to cops with armored vehicles.

[sabrina 1]

17. Do you mind if I add that list to the OP, Scuba? I meant to look for it, but was rushing

and then forgot.

How can anyone look at that list and believe them when they try to convince us they are not working for Wall St?

I wonder if that Coulter is related to the other Coulter?

[Scuba]

20. Please do sabrina.

[swilton]

12. Al From

essentially the architect of Third Way Democrats - is there a linkage between him and this group?

http://www.thenation.com/article/178337/friends?page=0,0

[sabrina 1]

18. I don't know the answer to that, but he was Chairman of the DLC which morphed into the

The Third Way. I don't see his name listed among the board of Directors, or in any formal list.

[RiverLover]

16. Post of the year!! Excellent, thank you Sabrina.

That article is just unbelievable! Not that you can't believe what it says is true, its very easy, but its hard to believe it was published! Mainstream!

Third Way leaders are extremely sensitive to questions and criticism about their sources of funding. The real issue, Third Way says, is that harsh populist positions and rhetoric are damaging the Democratic Party.

“It goes back to what Bill Clinton said, which is ‘You can’t love the job and hate the job creators,’ ” said Matt Bennett, Third Way’s vice president for public affairs and one of its cofounders. “Vilification of industry isn’t helping Democrats.”

...“We are centrist Democrats, not centrists,” Cowan said.

...Third Way’s insistence on linking tax hikes to a grand bargain — which has been impossible to obtain in the Obama era — has a direct bearing on the wallets of the group’s wealthy funders.

Third Way denies that its wealthy donors give money only because the organization is against stand-alone tax hikes on the rich. Rather, its leaders say it is a political blunder for Democrats to wage class warfare on the 1 percent. It publicly issued a memo in July that said the group’s polling suggested a better message to appeal to America’s middle class: “economic growth and opportunity.”

...The group also had some suggestions about the bank bailout that has fueled so much of the anger at Wall Street for the past six years: Don’t call it a bailout.

“This is an emergency line of credit,’’ Third Way executives wrote in September 2008, as anger was reaching a ferocious pitch. “Banks need this loan so they can loan to you — the American consumer.’’

To some of Wall Street’s harshest critics, such talking points — which could have easily come from a public relations shop in Lower Manhattan — undercut the group’s entire mission....

Wow, wow, Wow!! Thanks again!!

[sabrina 1]

19. I love learning how they rely on 'talking points' and that we can now identify them. IF their

ideas were worthy of respect they would not have to try to couch them in deceptive language.

I'm referring to this:

...The group also had some suggestions about the bank bailout that has fueled so much of the anger at Wall Street for the past six years: Don’t call it a bailout.

“This is an emergency line of credit,’’ Third Way executives wrote in September 2008, as anger was reaching a ferocious pitch. “Banks need this loan so they can loan to you — the American consumer.’’

They really do believe that voters are stupid. 'Putting lipstick on a pig' comes to mind. As if using different language changes anything.

I wonder, and would like to ask them, if Main St could get their hands on one of those 'emergency lines of credit' since bailouts were not available to THEM?

Trying to change the perception. That is only done when people are trying to hide something.

I agree it is a great article and you do have to read the whole thing to fully get the essence of the article.

Don't you love that right within our own party we have this anti-Left Think Tank which apparently now has a whole lot of power over WHO gets to run as a Dem?

I used to wonder where the garbage about Liberals needing to stop 'trying to soak the rich' being a reason why they would not win elections!!!

Liberals 'soaking the rich'! If only Dems HAD run on taxing the rich, on increasing SS and Medicare, rather than on their 'for the rich' policies, they might have won in the mid terms.

The real issue, Third Way says, is that harsh populist positions and rhetoric are damaging the Democratic Party.

I haven't noticed much 'harsh, populist positions and rhetoric' coming from the Dem Party for a long time.

Thanks for your great comment, Riverlover!

[RiverLover]

21. It'd be great if you wanted to x-post this in the Eliz Warren Group!

Just sayin'

[Enthusiast]

22. Third Way would turn the Democratic Party into the Republican Party.

I don't happen to like that.

[RiverLover]

23. They were DLC first, basically, & so have been around since Bill Clinton

Our "centrist" president(code rethug economically), who signed George Bush Sr's NAFTA trade "deal" for the 1% and deregulated banks.

Thanks for 2008, Bill!!!!

[Enthusiast]

24. It's bad enough that they did this.

It's their posturing and arrogance after the fact that pisses me off. They contributed to this rapid downhill slide for the Democratic Party and the nation as much as anyone. HRC shouldn't even be a viable candidate. They learned nothing from the failure of 2014.

[Fairgo]

25. Thanks for pulling back the veil a little bit

Oddly counterintuitive, the fight before us is within. If we can define ourselves first in contrast to the third way, we put our core values in bold relief. Action becomes much easier if you are fighting for your values...not fighting for empty platitudes. That would instantly cure much of what ails the Democratic party. That's the only way you are going to wrest power from the external opposition. If you engage politics on value driven policy, you force your opponents to agree, or reveal their own values in the clear light of the public forum. Eventual the benumbed public will notice...but it all starts by putting the house in order.

[stillwaiting]

26. The logo for Third Way in the pic with the 3 smiling assholes...

... even shows the color red "infiltrating" the color blue.

Anyone who supports the Third Way's agenda within the Democratic Party is an enemy of the 99%.

[sabrina 1]

28. Good observation regarding their logo ... infiltrating is what they are doing.

It's better to know why we have been seeing attacks on the Left from within the Dem Party imo.

[SamKnause]

27. Thanks for posting.

K&R

[rhett o rick]

30. As always sabrina, great OP. nm

[dflprincess]

32. I was listening to Norman Goldman's show on the way home tonight

I didn't catch a lot of it but he was discussing whether or not the Democratic party is moving back to its New Deal roots; if even Hillary is moving back to them. (He actually sounded like Clinton has made a little noise about enforcing anti-trust laws and that I just can't believe she'd ever follow through on. I can't see her Wall Street friends liking that at all.)

I didn't hear enough of the show to get his or his listeners' opinion but my response would have been that very few of the rank and file ever abandoned the New Deal. As noted in Sabrina 1's OP, we were puzzled but held our noses and went with who the party handed to us - but we have wised up.

The problem with our waking up is that the Third Way is waking up to our awakening. I have no doubt that we'll hear Hillary Clinton doing her best imitation of FDR, JFK and LBJ (Great Society LBJ only) as well any number of Conserva-Dems doing the same.

The question Goldman should have been asking is are all or any of these Third Wayers sincere in their return to the faith? I would doubt it - but we can be sure Clinton and the others will say anything to get elected and return to their Wall Street coddling ways once elected. So, will we be smart enough not to fall for it? And, besides Sanders and Warren, just who can we trust?

[sabrina 1]

33. Good question 'will we be smart enough not to fall for it'? If the mid terms are any

example, people are not falling for candidates who, in the past, they elected while holding their noses.

Willy's post today in this Group, has an excellent analysis of why Populists WON in the mid terms, while the Third Way, Wall St friendly candidates lost.

But you are right, they ARE catching on to our catching on and will no doubt try to convince voters that they 'get it'.

Hopefully the realize by now, that campaign rhetoric isn't working so well anymore.

People will be looking at their RECORDS this time.

So their best bet is not to work so hard to deceive voters during the campaign, rather to provide HONEST candidates who actually believe in what they are saying. THAT is who won in the mid terms.

Is it so hard to just be honest? I know, dumb question!