David Thomas: “I wondered when this moment would come, and apparently it comes tonight. For more than 40 years the Democratic Party was…”

“I wondered when this moment would come, and apparently it comes tonight. For more than 40 years the Democratic Party was a very forward- looking, progressive party. It led us into many new and important endeavors in helping people around the world. It was FDR that coined the phrase ``good neighbor policy.'' I want to explain what this is all about. This is a letter from 20 labor leaders, and it is addressed to the minority leader. It says, The American labor movement has been one of the Democratic Party's most consistent and stalwart supporters. Every election cycle labor delivers. We expect that House Democratic leadership will convey very strongly to all wavering Democrats that voting for CAFTA against our strong, clear, and loud objections, would signal to the labor movement that those candidates do not want our support. Our work to help elect at-risk Members at your urging will not extend to those who vote against us on this issue. Tonight I will tell my party, they moved from the majority to the minority. We moved from the minority to the majority. And tonight we have an opportunity to move to the progressive, aggressive and good neighbor policy party. They have urged all-night protectionism. They have urged fear. They have urged that we do not do what is right. All I ask of Members is tonight we have been a majority for a decade. It is time that we mature into a permanent majority. We will lead, we will be progressive, we will help our neighbors.…”