This morning I watched Markos face off against Harold Ford Jr. on Meet the Press with Tim Russert David Gregory. I firmly believe that Maroks won the debate, but more then that the Democratic Party won the debate.
This was not a discussion on hierarchy or who was more important to the Democratic Party. This was not a pissing contest as to who has gotten more people elected into office. This was a discussion on the future of the Democratic Party, which is just another example as to why our party is better then the Republicans.
If you get past the lousy comment Harold Ford Jr. made about the netroots being anti-Jewish. I thought the entire debate was very positive and constructive.
Markos gets major points for actively going after the right wing talking points and frame work that the media has been pushing. He got Gregory to call him the publisher of dailykos and talked about how this is an open forum where anyone can express an opinion. I think that point almost surprised Gregory. Markos was really respectful to Ford Jr. commenting several times about how he wished we could be referring to him as Senator Harold Ford Jr.
Markos was excellent in talking about how the media is framing the Iraq debate as if Democrats can’t agree on it, when really there is a consensus. We all want the troops out. (I would have liked to see Markos call the Republicans out on their idea of endless war, but you can’t get everything.)
I would have thought that Ford Jr. would be antagonistic or even hateful, but he was far from it. His message was that of unity and togetherness. He talked about the real important thing is getting Democrats elected. He could have been better.(He loses points for trying to take credit of our victorys in Montana, Virginia and Missouri.) Most importantly, he said that he would be at the next Yearly Kos Netroots Nation convention! Now that is a huge step forward for us.
Getting the DLC to join us in the discussion will only work to increase our influence in the Democratic Party. The diversity of viewpoints dialogue improves the quality of discussion. Both the Netroots and the DLC want a Democrat majority in the country. We have disagreements on some things but our overall goals match.