I've checked, and I can't find an update from the original "purpose statement" (my words) way back in 2004. So, unless there's some update or amendment hidden somewhere around here, this is still in force:
What is the purpose of this site?
This is a Democratic blog, a partisan blog. One that recognizes that Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together. We happily embrace centrists like NDN's Simon Rosenberg and Howard Dean, conservatives like Martin Frost and Brad Carson, and liberals like John Kerry and Barack Obama. Liberal? Yeah, we're around here and we're proud. But it's not a liberal blog. It's a Democratic blog with one goal in mind: electoral victory. And since we haven't gotten any of that from the current crew, we're one more thing: a reform blog. The battle for the party is not an ideological battle. It's one between establishment and anti-establishment factions. And as I've said a million times, the status quo is untenable.
Those were Markos' words back in 2004. If he (or anyone else who speaks for this site) have since made changes to that, I'd appreciate if someone could point it out to me. But if not, if that's still "the purpose of this site", then there's a serious problem!
"Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together."
No, we are NOT all in this fight together!!!!
If the lack of action on the crimes of George W. Bush and his buddies wasn't evidence enough, how 'bout the current mess with health care reform? Who is causing the problems right now? Huh? Sure it's partly the Repugs... no surprise there. But the REAL roadblock -- and the ones who are gonna be mainly responsible for turning any bill coming out of Congress into a JOKE -- are the the "conservative", the "Blue Dog" Democrats!
"We happily embrace... conservatives"
Yeah. Let's keep up THAT attitude, and they'll embrace us harder and harder, until they squeeze the life out of us!
This site can continue to be a "Democratic blog" with the main goal of "electoral victory" if it wants, but in the end we're gonna pay for it. In the end, as we're beginning to learn, a conservative Democrat is FAR more dangerous than your typical Republican.
EDIT: It was pointed out that that last sentence was a little extreme. I agree... so here's a comment I posted which might make my point better:
What I mean is that if it's a Republican, we KNOW they're gonna fight against anything decent. But if it's a Democrat, we kinda assume the opposite. So when a Dem comes along and spouts similar garbage as a Rep, most of us (not necessarily those on this site, but Democratic citizens in general) tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. I've heard MANY people say stuff like, "Well, I see that some Democrats in Congress are against the public option too, so there MUST be something wrong with it."
And here's a great comment from Deben, who made the point much more succinctly than I could:
It's clear to me which is more dangerous, the enemy in your own trench, next to you, is more dangerous than the one in the trench facing you.