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Bogus Think Tank "Third Way" Pops Up to Thwart Health Care Reform

By Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet. Posted June 30, 2009.


Third Way is drenched in corporate money, tangled in ties to big business and bent on Clintonian triangulation. How dare it call itself progressive?

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A couple of weeks ago, the slippery think tank Third Way came under fire from progressives when a memo surfaced under the group's letterhead arguing against the creation of a public health care plan. In place of a public plan, Third Way proposed a "hybrid" model attached to a ludicrous sunset provision of four years.

Not for the first time, the question was asked aloud: Who are these Third Way people, and why are they calling themselves "progressives"? Why does their goal appear to be to complicate the drive for public health insurance?

Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee captured the feelings of many when he organized a call campaign to urge Third Way to cease its attempts to retard momentum toward a public plan. Green also floated the idea of a campaign to de-fund and blacklist the organization.

But maybe that's going too far. Looked at another way, Third Way deserves more pity than anger. It seems the nebulous policy shop is constantly being misunderstood.

Last year, Chris Bowers of MyDD expressed confusion over why an organization billing itself as progressive would take as its name a term widely associated with the solidly centrist and market-oriented "New" politics of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. A Third Way staffer soon responded to clear the air. The name, he explained, refers not to the group's place on any left-right spectrum, or its desire to systematically steer Democrats toward a Clintonite center. Rather, the name refers to the group's chronological position in the history of progressive movements, which is best seen as a series of waves. See, the founders really meant to call themselves Third Wave, but somehow ended up with the loaded term Third Way, instead. A strange mistake for a group that touts its messaging expertise, but there it was.

Then there is the Third Way memo on health care. When progressive blogs and health care reform groups condemned the group for wading into the debate on the side of insurers, Third Way once again claimed a big misunderstanding.

A Third Way spokesperson told HuffPo's Ryan Grim that the memo was just a "draft," an early discharge of Third Way's evolving position on health care. No one should get the impression that the crisply argued memo, which was authored by three senior Third Way staffers, somehow represented the organization's fixed position. No, that would be silly.

How many drafts will Third Way go through before finalizing its position on a public plan? Whatever the number, the pro-business thrust of the group's thinking is unlikely to change. This thrust has been present and distinct since the group's creation. It is the reason no movement progressives take the outfit seriously. It is the reason the Democracy Alliance (a group of around 100 high-roller progressive donors who meet a couple of times a year and fund in concert to theoretically build progressive infrastructure) originally rejected the group's funding requests. As Matt Bai reported in his 2007 book, The Argument, "[Alliance partners] didn't have room for self-described centrists whose main goal was to appease Republicans." (The Democracy Alliance would later make Third Way one of its "chosen" organizations for funding on the subject of international security.)

Four years later, Third Way is still trying to appease Republicans and outflank the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. But this impulse makes less sense today than ever. With Barack Obama in the White House and solid congressional majorities, the Democrats have a duty to be bold. Any "third way" is by definition an attempt to undermine the president. When it comes to throwing cold water on the public plan, it also means undermining a majority of the American people, not just those who lack health insurance.


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See more stories tagged with: health, clinton, progressive, third way, public option

Alexander Zaitchik is a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist and AlterNet contributing writer.

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View:
Unpleasant screed
Posted by: Perry Logan on Jun 30, 2009 3:40 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This unpleasant screed is a perfect example of what's wrong with progressivism today.

Third Way has obviously committed the thought crime of being more moderate than the author.

I'm a Kucinich Democrat, but I don't share the author's intemperate attitude toward those who disagree. The Third Way can damn well promote its policies if they want. The article's ad hominem tone only made me more sympathetic to them.

I note with sorrow that today's progressives hate Democrats more than anyone. You can verify this by a quick visit to Democratic Underground or the comments section of Huffington Post, where nary a kind word is said about Democrats.

A political movement that actively hates members of its own party is inherently pathological. It has led us directly to the disaster known as Barack Obama, who is more corporate than all the Clintons and the Third Way and the DLC put together.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Unpleasant screed Posted by: richholland
» RE: Unpleasant screed Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson
» Your own disconnect Posted by: sliver
» Astroturf organization Posted by: orda
» RE: Unpleasant screed Posted by: Xynyx
Third Way and DLC have nearly identical agendas
Posted by: leafsong1 on Jun 30, 2009 7:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And both are indistinguishable in any meaningful way from the GOP on the important points. How could such an organization undermine a thoroughly DLC president? Bipartisanship for these pigs is getting the Democrats to legitimize the most heinous treacheries of the extreme right. Where is there a conflict between them and Obama?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The REAL third way
Posted by: willymack on Jun 30, 2009 9:36 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Is Socialism. I think this frightens our corporate owners more than anything else.
Hell, if we tried it, and preserved our democracy as several other nations have, we may even come to LIKE it, and the golden goose would fly the coop. This would NEVER do, and would be resisted with the savegery and underhandedness so typical of corporate crooks.
Let's face it; the predatory capitalism practiced here has served NO ONE but those on top, and it's time for a clean sweep.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Tony Blair and the Third Way.
Posted by: Ghoulman on Jun 30, 2009 9:53 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I recall this 'third way' talk was the same sort of branding Phony Tony (ex-PM of the UK) used to win his election. He promised all sorts of 'free market' freedoms and a bright new future. Which today we can see is complete bullplop as the UK nose dives into economic chaos.

Calling something 'the third way' smells like rehashed branding.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Never be afraid...
Posted by: jareilly on Jun 30, 2009 4:12 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
to call a sleazeball, a sleazeball, Perry. These "Third Way" people and the political trend they represent exist for three reasons only:

1. Build careers for themselves as professional knob-polishers and excuse-makers for the ruling elites.
2. Provide middle-brow, specious rationales for rapacious and exploitative elite policy initiatives.
3. Destroy debate by rendering language meaningless.

These people are apparatchiks. Progressives do not have "honest political disagreements" with these people because the Third Way doesn't have any honest political positions. It's all triangulation, posing and preening. It's all about the vacuous and ultimately false notion that the appearance of success (the Clinton years) is better than the substance (the Johnson or FDR years). These people deserve contempt and ridicule, not honest debate.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Healthcare for profit is immoral
Posted by: maxsmart on Jun 30, 2009 4:14 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
That is the appropriate response. Profit before healthcare means it is a plan to evade care in favor of profit.

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What a piss-poorly organized story!
Posted by: hagwind on Jun 30, 2009 6:53 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I clicked on it because I wanted to learn more about this organization opposed to a public option. The nuts-and-bolts info didn't start to appear till page 2 (of 3), and the background till page 3, and when I finished my grasp of who was behind this "Third Way" and why was still pretty sketchy.

AlterNet, I appreciate that your staff is overworked and underpaid. So am I, and so have been most of the worthwhile organizations I've worked for over the years. I wish you guys would publish fewer articles, and devote more time to making them clear, informative, and useful.

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Even with Franken, 60 votes not a sure thing.
Posted by: weslen1 on Jun 30, 2009 7:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So goes tonight's headlines. So here we go again. Another CYA moment for the Democrats who REALLY don't want to do anything for the PEOPLE if it loses them their biggest DONORS. 72 PERCENT of the American people WANT REAL health CARE, not some new version of the old health INSURANCE obscene profiteering. If Democrats want to continue to be elected they have got to stop using obstructionist GOP cover to continue business as usual, and do this right by steam rolling right OVER the GOP if they have to. Are their memories so horrifically BAD they can't REMEMBER that's how the GOP passed all but ONE of the extreme parts of the "Contract ON America" of the Gingrich bunch and led by the extremely corrupt Tom Delay, CLOSED DOWN THE GOVERNMENT in order to GET THEIR WAY?
If the Dinos refuse to get aboard, wait ONE MORE YEAR and let the voters get RID of them and try again. Better to wait ONE MORE YEAR, in spite of the cost in health and lives LOST than to pass a SAME OLD THING bill and lose 10 times as many for another 12 years.
This is the same thing Democrats did in 1992, obstructing their OWN president and GIVING THE OBSTRUCTIONIST GOP the opening they needed to convince too many gullible people to put THEM in charge. They GAVE US 12 YEARS of HELL. WRITE A BILL FOR THE PEOPLE and NOT for the millionaires who get richer by killing the people to continue killing millions to enrich themselves some more. DO THE RIGHT THING.
You tell me which is more important? A million dollar check and ONE VOTE from some INSURANCE EXECUTIVE, or a MILLION ONE DOLLAR CHECKS AND ONE MILLION VOTES from people who need the access to doctors and hospitals they now don't HAVE? YOU DECIDE and if you care more for the ONE, I hope every ONE OF YOU are voted OUT and a NEW congress voted IN who will FIX the LAWS YOU WROTE to benefit YOURSELVES with YOUR government run health insurance and pay raises and expense accounts and aides that do YOUR WORK and several vacations every year on OUR dime, not to mention embezzling trillions of dollars from "we the tax payers" to THROW DOWN THE RAT HOLES OF YOUR FRIENDS BANK ACCOUNTS AND PHONY FINANCIAL PONZI SCHEMES.
The United States Government IS NOT a BUSINESS and SHOULD NOT BE RUN LIKE A BUSINESS. Businesses are intended to MAKE MONEY. Government is meant to collect TAXES to benefit ALL THE PEOPLE, not just the CHOSEN GOLDEN CHILDREN OF THE WEALTHY. If you are not smart enough to figure that OUT then GET OUT OF GOVERNMENT and let people have a CHANCE WHO DO KNOW THAT, and who WANT to make government WORK THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO.
If you want to live in a hierarchy, under the RULE of a KING OR QUEEN, move to ENGLAND, or some dictatorship or communist country like CUBA or CHINA. I prefer a DEMOCRACY. And that is NOT the way you are running THIS country.

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