Thanks for posting on the big news of the night.

Psst, Donna.  ¡Sí, Se Puede!

White working class ARE the old coalition, but not Hispanics.

Shut her up. She's the one who pushed for complete stripping of MI and FL too.

Amazing how you misconstrued that whole statement.  I saw it on TV... You are misunderstanding what she said.

Latinos and Hispanics already outnumber African Americans in the U.S. population.  

we don't have to just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics. We need to look at the Democratic Party, expand the party, expand the base

Note the presence of the word "just". You can drop the dudgeon now.

African-Americans either Paul.

Hey did you post her response to Begala?

Oh no. You didn't. Convenient

Cuz if you had you'd see howshe pretty much salvaed that lowest common demonitar of a conversation.

I am so Sad and Angry for my party this cycle.

It goes beyond the Clintons who I love dearly.

I believe that Candidates like the Clintons who win elections are no longer welcome in our party.

I am not blind to the flaws of the Clintons.

But they fight the platform that pragmatically can win.

Obama and friends is off in la la land and I can't take time off work to go holiday with them.

uh, what's the point of this post?  donna brazile just said something silly, and she's not particularly interesting these days.

is this a proxy attack on obama?

WTF is going on here? Where did she say that working class whites are no longer part of the Democratic coalition? I think it's pretty obvious she was saying that there are new parts of the coalition, and that we have a chance to expand it.

I have an inkling of a suspicion that someone here on MyDD is on a political payroll.  

I demand an apology!   Look, Begala opened his mouth and started talking about how he doesn't need the two other bedrock parts of the party.   I'm insulted by all the stupid flying around.

I don't blame Jerome for dragging his view across the front page, AMERICAblog did the same for on behalf of my fave.

souds like Rumsfeld's "old Europe" comment. In case she or Rummy didn't know, Old Europe WORKED.

This is what you call, losing poorly.

Someone was right above me.  This is the news of the night.

What will this site become once Obama is the nominee?

Begala and Brazile got the unity memo later in the hour.

The loser tonight is the GOP . . . stop trying to divide us Jerome.

If what she said is as you portrayed it, that is very dumb.

We need to fight for the votes of all demographics.  It is the natural extension of the 50-state strategy, and the path to remaining a national party.

and it was clear what she meant.  I commented on it right after she said it, at another site:

CNN - Brazille throws half the party under the bus (5.00 / 3)
by joanneleon on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:09:46 PM EST

while discussing the results, Donna Brazille just said that the party has changed, is younger and more urban, and she basically said that the white working class voter is not that important anymore.

Brilliant.  Just brilliant.

That sure does make me hopeful about jobs in this country, outsourcing, etc.

I thought it was interesting how Brazile threw her little "grouchy" temper tantrum and talked over Begala, rather than admit what she said and perhaps rephrased her statement.  No, instead she denied it and tried to steamroll him.  To his discredit, he backed down.  I suppose he didn't have much of a choice, since he was more focused on not fracturing the party any more than it is already fractured.

Just in case we forget, Jerome yesterday:

According to Poblano, Obama will defeat Clinton by a 18% margin, 59-41 in NC; and PsiFighter37 that Obama will defeat Clinton by a a 16% margin of victory, 58-42 in NC. How can these, admittedly, Obama supporters come out with such trumped up hope in the face of the credible polls like SUSA showing only a 5% lead by Obama in NC?

Who's credible now?

I don't like Donna Brazile at all and I have no problem with Brazile-bashing. But this post makes no sense whatsoever. Jerome's interpretation of Brazile's unobjectionable remarks are extremely forced at best.

Brazile was wrong, but I resent what Begala said. Having met Begala once, I know he's a smart guy, but sometimes his "folksy" phrases border on Republican talking points.

BEGALA:  We cannot win with egg heads. Let me finish my point. We cannot win with egg heads and African-Americans.  OK, that is the Dukakis Coalition, which carried ten states and gave us four years of the first George Bush.

Democrats have been hearing this "egghead" bullshit from Republicans since Adlai Stevenson (a great man) ran in 1952, and it pisses me off. Some of us want the smartest kid in class to be in charge. The smart ones are, you know, smart. That means something.

So, Paul, don't talk about "eggheads" being bad. Talk up the fact that the academic community, the intellectual leaders of the country who know lots of things support Democrats.

Ignorant, bull-headed, corrupt....

What more an you want. As a progressive I'm getting excited about The Hill. Never thought I would but she's starting to remind me of Truman. No quit in her.

Barry?

Barry is ignorant and so are his backers. The had this 'high concept' campaign all figured out on their Macs and damn....

Some little broad in yellow dress starts talkin' populist bullshit, and...yeah...it is bullshit which really torks Barry's nuts, and continues to punish his bloodless campaign exposing his Mac waving cultists as a bunch of wackjobs who actually think SecondLive is important to America!

And I though Bush and his Fundies were nuts!
.

The age part of what she said is what really bothers me.

Wow.  Just wow.  

By the way, I am referring to the fact that Jerome put this on the front page, not Donna's out-of-context quote.

You can do better than this Jerome. This is a great night for DEMS.

I look forward to Alegre's post about Hillary's unification speech.

I am not a Donna Brazile fan at all, but you're totally twisting her comments here Jerome.  And given all that's happening tonight, this is a really, really strange thing to try and twist into a frong page post.  

Her point was that we need to expand upon the existing coalition, not abandon it.  Hence the use of the word "just" that you chose to ignore in your characterization.  

old, non-college educated? You're part of the old Dems. It's a new party now.

Yikes!  I can understand your unease with Brazile's dismissiveness about working-class and Latino Democratic voters, but you don't think Begala's egg head comment is equally offensive -- buying into the anti-intellectual, anti-college, Republican bullshit that stupid is good and smart is bad?

Hasn't eight years of Mr.Dumbass everything-I-touch-turns-to-shit taught us anything?

Begala's an idiot. You can't with without "eggheads" and the black community either, and Brazile is pretty clearly talking about broadening the Democratic base, not tossing out some demographics in favor of others. And Obama clearly has won overwhelmingly white states - Begala's obsessing about the voters that will vote Republican regardless. Weep for the disenfranchised white male.

She said the new coalition does not just include blue-collar voters and Hispanics. As in not only those people. She wasn't saying it doesn't include those people. Sheesh. It's not even ambiguous. "I don't just like pizza, I like sanwiches, and falafel" is not equal to "I don't like pizza. I like sandwiches and falafel instead."

Big tent, people. Let's think big tent.

...diary to try and divide our party???  I mean I know people are upset, but to try, by proxy, using Brazile's words against Obama is pretty low and does nothing but hurt our party.

Expanding the coalition is good for all Democrats.  I for one am really tired of the party catering to identity politics.

I bet she would consider African Americans part of the old coalition too.

Why didn't you post the entire discourse between Begala and Brazille?  Begala came back shortly after the comments you DID excerpt and wondered aloud at them.  Brazille clarified, forcefully and at length, that she was sick and tired of having people tell her that it's THEIR party when it's really OUR party.  She went on to explain that she's had it with the divisions that say "if you're black, you're the new party" or "if you're white and over 45, you're a part of the old party".

I find this selective quoting disingenuous at best.

Heh, I'm reminded of the late and unlamented commentor hwc, who used to argue that it was great that black voters were rejecting Hillary since it meant we have an opportunity to forge a new coalition that doesn't include those pesky African-Americans.  You know, always wanting their entitlements and such.

Needless to say, I found the argument offensive, but at least he wasn't an official representative of the DNC speaking on national TV!  (In fact, I don't think he was even a Democrat.)

Reality is, a lot of statements from the Obama campaign of late have been very dismissive towards the white working class, simply because Obama isn't winning it.  Now, I'm not going to play the victim card on behalf of white folks, but I'm simply going to note that there are a lot of those voters in this country and we need to win a whole lot of them to get elected.  No, we probably won't win a majority no matter what we do; but we probably won't win a majority of male voters, and yet you don't hear a lot of hating on the males.

Brazile went too far with this argument and, to his credit, Begala did the right thing by cautioning that this is not a place we want to go and then, significantly, declaring that Barack Obama himself is better than that.  I know Begala is just one of those scummy Clintonistas but in reality, he's a far better spokesman for the party's interests than most.

I'm not surprised to see so many comments which miss the point because, frankly, if there's one thing the blogosphere hasn't the faintest clue about, it's coalition politics.  It is always about us, our needs, and banishing as many groups as possible from the coalition so that our needs can be addressed more often.

I figured you'd miss her point and try to pounce on it.  You're so predictable Jerome.

The point she was making was that the Democrats shouldn't settle for just one coalition in their advance towards the White House.  We need NEW coalitions to go along with the OLD coalitions.

That's the point.  

By the way, you don't actually believe this is front-page worthy do you?

Per Politico:

Alec MacGillis gets the mayor of Gary on the phone, and he hints at a surprise:

"Let me tell you, when all the votes are counted, when Gary comes in, I think you're looking at something for the [world] to see," [Rudy] Clay, an Obama supporter, said in a telephone interview from Obama's Gary headquarters. "I don't know what the numbers are yet, but Gary has absolutely produced in large numbers for Obama here."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0 508/Gary_Mayors_hint.html

she said EXPAND THE BASE...the new coalition will include the old and the new.

if the Democrats are no longer the party of working people, then I'm no longer a Democrat.  

And I say that as a member of a family that have been proud Democrats for 150 years.

so dismissive of working class whites and people like me. Someone needs to clue her in on the fact that she failed Gore because she didn't have us in her "coalition" in 2000.

But if she thinks she and Barack can win the White House without working class whites and the Hispanic vote then all I got to say is "Via con Dios."

What an ugly, sour grapes diary this is.  That's all you got tonight, another manufactured controversy built around a misquote?  Get over it.

Will someone point out that...

a) Just because the white working class is not supporting Obama in the primaries that they are going to automatically stay away in the general.  Actually, we still win the white working class, even in the South.  We lose the white middle class.  The working class as such will stick with the Democrats - but someone needs to give them a reason to do so.

b) It's not about blacks vs. Hispanics in 2008 in America.  Sure, there are racial/ethnic divides between them.  But it's more white and non-white.  Not that it's whites vs. non-whites.  But non-whites are as much a base of the party as anything, not simply a racially/ethnically separate black, Hispanic, Asian, whatever.  I just completed some research showing that non-whites are among the most likely Democrats, regardless of being black or Hispanic.  

Jerome,

You lost all credibility long ago, but in this case the obvious lie in your post can be exposed using the text of your own post!

BRAZILE:  ... we don't have to just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics.  (emphasis mine)

BEGALA: ... if her point is that there's a new Democratic Party that somehow doesn't need or want white working-class people and Latinos, well count me out.

BRAZILE:  Paul, baby, I did not say that.

JEROME ARMSTRONG:  Donna Brazile did say that.

WTF?!?!?

Did you not read the word 'just'?  It cannot be clearer that Donna Brazile did NOT say that the Democratic Party doesn't "need or want white working-class people and Latinos," as Begala accuses her of saying.  Merely that the Democratic Party can't just rely on these constituencies.  But don't take my word for it -- read what she actually said!

Please show some honesty, Jerome.

Your horse lost. It's time to start bringing the party together. Both of the candidates know that. Come on be a responsible leader here. Let's not antagonize each other, we need to heal the division not aggravate it. Let's not nit-pick what people say to try to further divide us, it's time we start finding common ground.

That Donna is a crazy. Whether she believes it or not she is divisive and hostile all the time. We get it, shes for Barack and she's all about the new generation (yes thats me!) but she was totally being offensive. yes offensive. I kinds get that feeling from her: the thats SOO last season, kind of attitude. Whatev. She needs us Latinos if she wants a win....

She is responding to the over-emphasis by Clinton of the importance of white working class voters and Hispanic voters to the exclusion of other voters in the Democratic electorate. This is clear from the quoted section, where she says that we can't "JUST [emphasis added] rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics. We need to look at the Democratic Party, expand the party, expand the base and not throw out the baby with the bathwater." When Begala implies that she means that she "doesn't need or want white working-class people and Latinos," he is deliberately twisting her words, which clearly indicate that white blue collar voters and Hispanics are part of the Democratic electorate, just not the only part.

Wow, another quote deliberately taken out of context made into a front-page diary.  Is it over yet?  Can we start focusing on McCain?

We saw Donna's strategy of dismissing the latino community in 2000.

Clinton and Gore both received about the same percentage of white voters, but Clinton vote a greater share of latino votes and won the White House.

Perhaps if Donna had focused a little more on latinos, the fastest growing demographic on our country, we'd have a different president today.

An "old" coalition?  Please!  Latinos are the fastest growing demographic in the fastest growing region of the country (the west/southwest).  You cannot get any more "new" than that.  Courting the latino vote now could ensure that Arizona and Texas are solid blue 10-20 years from now.

Sigh.  No wonder Gore lost with a campaign manager like that.

And eggheads is more acceptable? Last I checked, that kinid of attitud4e was one of the reasons why Nader got so many votes in 2000.

well this hispanic is casting his lot w/ Nader if Hillary drops out, I mean, we're not needed anyways, right Ms. Brazile?

Every slightly sloppily worded phrase that could be construed negative towards working class whites is seen as such a big no no, but the liberals and minorities of the party are taken for granted.

COntinue with this attitude and you will get more NAders in the future. self respect is not the exclusive property of the middle america whites.