"This is all about Iowa and Howard Dean and how Joe Lieberman really, relentlessly went after Dean and the bloggers have never forgotten it," Schultz said last July, later adding, "He was aggressive. He went after Dean on every position. And the blogosphere obviously mounted the attack and the support of Howard Dean, obviously because he's a grassroots guy and he represents what he claims to be the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. ... But I think there's a little angst in all of those on the far left in dealing with the blogs and I believe it has morphed into something even bigger than that, to the point where 'It's all about Lieberman and we're going to prove it and we're going to do a get-back.' This seems to me to be a 100 percent get-back."
I asked then how you could be so misguided on the issue. "How could someone like Schultz," I wrote, "who clearly has his finger on the pulse of many Americans, show such a tin ear for why many - including the blogosphere - oppose Lieberman." It had nothing to do with 2004, Ed. It had everything to do with sending an actual Democrat to the Senate, not a Bush-supporting, dishonest sham of an elected official. Even before the broadcast in question, you had questioned the netroots' motives. All the while, with regard to the Lamont/Lieberman race, you chose to cozy up to a phony centrism that could more accurately be described as "being a closet Republican".
But now you're fed up with Clinton, another centrist? Though nowhere near Lieberman in terms of her rhetoric, Clinton is by no means cut from the same cloth as a John Edwards or, to be sure, Dennis Kucinich. Problem is, Ed, you can't claim to speak for progressive America and be this upset that Clinton isn't yet keen on speaking to your listeners. Just like you can't claim to speak for progressive America and so blatantly support a hack like Lieberman. Make no mistake, I think it would be sound advice to counsel Clinton to appear on your show. But don't feign outrage when your pandering to centrism comes back to bite you.
In a related twist, it should anger you even more, Ed, to know that while she's not appearing on your show, Clinton is planning on speaking directly to the people this week (starting tonight) in a series of live Webcasts. Imagine that, a presidential candidate making a point to speak to we extremists before she appears where America comes to talk. Welcome to people-powered Democracy, Ed.
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