Well the good people of Memphis, both black and white, said NO to race-baiting and anti-semitism politics and gave Steve Cohen a HUGE victory over Nikki Tinker.

Cohen won the Democratic primary by 79% to 19%.

Wow!

http://www.politico.com/...

I've had a wierd convergence over the last couple of days.

First, I've had a lot of my Progressive friends asking me WTF with regard to my intense dislike of Barack.  

Second, I've seen and listened to some of the recent resurgence of DLC tripe on both TV and at NN.

And I had a realiziation (not quite an epiphany): we thought we were nomintating Bobby Kennedy, and we really nominated Harold Ford.

This will be a quick diary.

Harold Fox News Ford once again exposed himself as a right wing republican lite, non centrist, wingnut who claims his respect and admiration for Fox News.  Harold has taken his Fox News punditry on the road to MSNBC and NBC.

When Harold Ford praised Fox News, he did so by his own choosing.  My question (I apologize for the long windedness) was simply about how Ford thinks he is helping Democrats by going on TV and bashing Democrats and regurgitating Republican talking points. (A question he did not answer.)  Prior to that I had made a statement about how Fox News was a 10% fringe and we at Netroots were the mainstream.

The first two days of Netroots Nation have already produced a bumper crop of highlights and sound bite moments.  As was widely reported, the DLC's Harold Ford was showered with cries of "Why?" and "Who?" when he told the lunchtime audience, "I have great, great respect and admiration for my former colleagues" at Fox News.  And former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman challenged John McCain to "call on Rove to go and obey the law and to show up before the Judiciary Committee."

But away from the glare of the keynotes, the Netroots Nation break-out sessions and panels produced their own fair share of memorable moments and quotable quips.

Im sure you've all heard by now but Harold Ford received some very harsh criticism from the the crowd at netroots nation.  Article from Huffpost below:

I just had the fortune of attending the lunch discussion between Congressman Harold Ford of the DLC and our own Markos Moulitsas.

While it was generally a good discussion with several common points of interest between the two, I was absolutely floored by what I heard from Ford at the end of the discussion.

As the last question (and apologies to those who were in line after me), I asked Congressman Ford about how he felt about the current political timidity to engage in any accountability measures for the current administration--such as inherent contempt of Congress for Karl Rove--and why our Congress isn't doing anything to let the country know that, simply put, this just isn't how it's supposed to be.

His answer:

Simply astounding.  More below the fold.

After Harold Ford praised Fox News, tried to attribute views of mine under some false mindset of what "New Yorkers" belief, and challenged me to come down to Memphis and run my views against his, I decided to go out in the lobby and talk to Harold.

Harold was playing to the cameras inside with those comments but I did something Harold wasn't expecting.  I accepted his offer. (with one modification)

Click below for live streaming video of the Markos luncheon with Harold Ford, Jr.

http://www.ustream.tv/...

A short diary for people to comment on this keynote discussion between Markos and Ford on Democratic Party infrastructure. Right now they have MeetTheBloggers on.

You can also watch live on the Netroots Nation website, here.

Recommend this if you like. The stream is also frontpaged by Scout Finch.

[vote this post up on Digg ]

Does my title seem provocative ?

Well, it should. It's been a little late in coming but I've had some homework to do, researching linkages of the Democratic Leadership Council in terms of its origin, founding membership, and ideology to the shadowy, antidemocratic, elitist and right wing Washington fundamentalist cult, "The Family" which is, as the title of Jeff Sharlet's new book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at The Heart Of American Power (excerpt from book and a review) suggest, "at the heart of American power."

From its inception the DLC and The Family were intertwined, both in terms of membership and also ideologically. I'm not going to bother proving that here on this post because that's the gist of my entire upcoming series...

Here's my first installment:

87.5% of "Family"/DLC Affiliated Senate Democrats Voted For FISA

There isn't much left to announce for our agenda in Austin, but we've at last been able to finalize this, and it's big.  Because when you think about Netroots victories, and "more and better Democrats," they get no better than this:

An integral part of the our movement's growth and sustainability is encouraging activists to take the next step and run for office. We at Netroots Nation aim to recognize Netroots candidates at all levels and shine a spotlight on those who organize and mobilize progressives locally.

So we welcome one of the Netroots' very own success stories, Congresswoman Donna Edwards, who will join us in Austin for a Saturday evening keynote.

With strong Netroots support, the lawyer and longtime community activist defeated 15-year incumbent Albert Wynn in the 2008 Democratic primary, and, following his resignation, won a special election to fill the remainder of his term.

As the first African-American woman to represent Maryland in Congress, she's led the way in pushing progressive values on key issues like net neutrality and the Iraq war, condemning it before it even started. So we're especially proud to recognize her tenacity and leadership during the past year.

And she's equally happy to talk with you -- the Netroots community that was so instrumental in helping to spread her message of change.

Oh, can I add telecom immunity to the list of issues on which Donna Edwards is awesome?

Registration will be closing soon.  So if you want to see Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Paul Krugman, Harold Ford, Van Jones, Larry Lessig, Digby, John Dean, Richard Clarke, Darcy Burner, Mark Begich, Rick Noriega, Dahlia Lithwick, Ashwin Madia and Donna Edwards, and so many more ... if you want the opportunity to listen to these leaders and thinkers and have them listen to you, then you need to be in Austin next week.  It will be an unforgettable four days.

Register now, and join us at Netroots Nation 2008.

Meet the Press, August 12, 2007:

MR. MOULITSAS:  ... I do agree with Harold the, that we, we do need to work together, and I hope you’ll be at next year’s YearlyKos conference...

REP. FORD:  I hope you’ll come to ours, too.

MR. MOULITSAS:  ...nicknamed -- it’s going to be called Netroots Nation, but, but what we need...

MR. GREGORY:  Would either of you go...

MR. MOULITSAS:  Yeah.

REP. FORD:  I would go.

MR. GREGORY:  ...to each other’s conventions?

MR. MOULITSAS:  I would, I would go.

REP. FORD:  I—I’d—I’ll make clear that I will be there next year.

Now:

Whose Movement?

Since its inception, one of the primary goals of the Netroots has been to examine the future of our movement.

Who are our leaders? Where should we build infrastructure?

And after last year's YearlyKos Convention, Markos went on Meet The Press to debate that very topic with Rep. Harold Ford Jr. Now, the two are meeting again at Netroots Nation for a lunchtime keynote discussion about party infrastructure.

This won't just be any keynote. This will be a chance for you to hear a casual discussion between the current chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council and a Netroots favorite. Then, you'll have a chance to ask questions of your own.

The noon session will be moderated by Arshad Hasan, Executive Director of Democracy for America.

The session's scheduled for lunch on Friday, July 18.  Will you be there?

I posted a diary a couple of days ago wondering what Markos stance on the Obama FISA position was.  That post is here.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Later, I had heard that Markos was on Countdown and was curious to see what was said.   Being that I am not the Republican nominee running for president and DO know how to operate a personal computer, I decided to head to You-tube and check out the segment.  His five minutes with Keith was interesting to watch but I hope he posts his thoughts here on the dailykos in the near future.

Playing around on You-tube I decided to type in dailykos in the search box.  One of the first things that popped up was an three part segment that Markos shared with Harold Ford, the chairman of the DLC, on meet the press on August 12th, 2007.  So I decided to watch what these two stalwarts of the Democratic movement had to say.  

Meow.  Meow.  Meow.  

Things are heating up in Tennessee after Fred Hobb's stupid comment on whether Fox News gave him incorrect information regarding Obama being a terrorist.  Argghhh. Fred Hobbs sits on the TNDP State Executive Committee; yet, relies on Faux News for his information about the Democratic candidates.  He has since apologized and it is posted below the flip.  

The foray  continues with Vichy Dem Lincoln Davis (TN-04) and DLC Chair Harold Ford, Jr. each adding comments to the media.  Beecher Frasier, Lincoln Davis's chief of staff, weighed in with some ugly statements too.  

This will be a short, to the point diary about Harold Ford. I have to get this off my chest. It isn't very pretty.

If you want to know why Democrats have lost elections in the past 40 years despite the vast majority of Americans agreeing with Democrats on the core substantive issues, it is because of people like the few hundred dead end one percenters who showed up yesterday in Washington, D.C. in faux outrage to declare this situation "worst than slavery" and even had the chutzpah to photograph themselves with Larry Sinclair.  

If you want to know why Democrats have lost elections that should have been slam dunk victories for us, I submit to you the names of Harold Ford Jr., Lanny Davis, Joe Lieberman, Harold Ickes, Jerome Armstrong, Taylor Marsh, Zell Miller, and Alegre.   And no I don't want to hear about Bill Clinton.  Clinton never got 50% of the vote and his brand of politics gave us Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay, and yes George W Bush.

The bottom line is this --- If you want to be a majority party then we must remove these liars and scoundrels from our big tent.  For every dead end one percenter we remove from the Democratic Party, we'll pick up three voters elsewhere merely for showing the public that we are 100% serious that these corrupt, dishonest, and power hungry nutjobs do not speak for us.

I caught about 5 minutes of Meet the Press yesterday. It was only 5 minutes because I got so angry, I had to change the channel. Between Huckabee going on and on about how much of a maverick and non-traditional Republican McCain is with almost no challenge, and the best Democrat they could find being Harold Ford JR, I couldn't take watching it.