Let me take credit

But I was saving France


William Buetler, who works for Hotline, claims the blogs are not supporting the "moderates" who could win. Matt Stoller discusses this.

However, I am the person who came up with the phrase and it obviously has some resonance with fellow liberals. But read his words and I will comment

See how easy it is to create Beltway wisdom?

Beutler continues: A few weeks after the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the unsuccessful filibuster attempt led by John Kerry is already ancient history in Washington. But for the left-wing bloggers who had strongly urged Democrats to support the filibuster, it remains a singular moment. Many of these Internet grassroots activists -- the "netroots," as they call themselves -- had already supported primary challenges to the Democratic establishment's favored candidates. But in the wake of that loss, there is a renewed determination to oust party moderates, known to many of these bloggers as "Vichy Democrats.

.....................................

Unsurprisingly, this anti-establishment project is one no national Democratic group has endorsed. Even for a governing party, trying to pick off your own members is a risky strategy. Republicans have seats to lose, albeit fewer than in the past -- and the Club just might help liberal Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., lose his. But if Democrats want to regain control of Congress, there is little margin for error. And if it's the Republicans who pick up seats in November, the Internet battle against the "Vichy Democrats" will share some of the blame.

It's nice to see someone who has no access to history.

Well, let's start with a short history lesson:

Vichy France, or the Vichy regime was the de facto French government of 1940-1944 during the Nazi Germany occupation of World War II. Now known in French as the Régime de Vichy or Vichy, during its existence it referred to itself as L'État Français (The French State).

Vichy France was established after France surrendered to Germany in 1940, and took its name from the government's capital in Vichy, southeast of Paris near Clermont-Ferrand. While officially neutral in the war, it was essentially a Nazi puppet state that collaborated with the Nazis, including on the Nazis' racial policies. Initially it ruled an unoccupied zone in Southern France and some French colonies, but Nazi Germany invaded the zone under its control on November 11, 1942, in operation Case Anton.

The Vichy government's claim to be the de jure French government was challenged by the Free French Forces of Charles de Gaulle, based first in London and later in Algiers, and French governments ever since have held that the Vichy regime was an illegal government run by traitors. At the time, the Vichy regime was acknowledged as the official government of France by the United States, though other nations often varied in their choice.

The authoritarian Vichy France regime was headed by France's World War I hero Marshal Philippe Pétain; after the end of World War II, Pétain was convicted and sentenced to death for treason, which was commuted to life imprisonment by Charles de Gaulle.

To some extent, for France, the Second World War and the Vichy Regime were, in addition to a foreign war, also an internal civil war, which opposed on the one hand the Communist and Republican elements of society, and on the other hand, the reactionary elements supporting a fascist or similar regime in the mould of that of Francisco Franco's. This civil war can be seen as the continuation of a fracture that divided French society since the 19th century or even the French Revolution, illustrated by events such as the Dreyfus Affair and the riots in the 1930s (see Action Française).

Now that we have that out of the way

The reason I chose that term was simple: to describe Democrats who routinely embraced GOP ideas and positions to attack other Democrats. Remember, Vichy not only rounded up the Jews, they hunted down resistants and sent troops to fight for Hitler.

Oh, and I've used the term for over a year, in fact I didn't use it at all concerning Alito.

My point in using the term was to highlight how these Dems pledged fidelity to the party, but by their actions, provide support to the GOP. People like the DLC, who not a day, a day after the election, went after the Dems and listed their flaws. Or Democrats who kept pushing "
values" as code for abandoning abortion rights and gays.

These people, by their actions, weakened the party and people's support for it. Exactly how Vichy operated, trying to curry favor with their new rulers, even at the cost of their own country.

But of course, this article is nonsense. The so-called "moderates" often stand with Bush against the party, they badmouth other Dems, even attack the party chairman, unaware of how weak it makes them look, providing near constant fodder for Jon Stewart's jokes.

So that's where the term came from.

Of course, if he was actually interested in the facts, he might have interviewed some people first.

posted by Steve @ 5:29:00 PM