Jeff Cohen: Don't support the DLC in 2008 like I did in 2004

Jeff Cohen has written an article criticizing the "netroots" for their failure to recognize the dangers of the Democratic Leadership Council and to slow the candidacy of the major DLC candidate of 2008, Hillary Clinton.  I can barely control my gag reflex long enough to craft a comparison, but this would be approximately analogous to the New York Times publishing an editorial chiding its readers for not sufficiently questioning the Bush administration's claims about WMDs in Iraq.  My response (in comments) to this astounding example of hypocrisy is below.

For more about the anti-democratic and unprincipled behavior of Cohen and other prominent progressives and progressive organizations back in 2004, you can read this.

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The irony in having Jeff Cohen write this article is simply unbelievable.  Cohen was in the vanguard of those who did everything they could to smear Ralph Nader in 2004 and convince progressives to vote for Kerry, who was one of the worst DLC-type Democrats to come along in years. To hear Cohen now saying things like “there is insufficient grasp of how the Clintons’ rise to power was intertwined with the corporate-sponsored Democratic Leadership Council - set up 22 years ago to weaken the power of the grassroots (labor, feminist, civil rights) inside the party” and “they ‘misunderestimate’ the potential hazards of another Clinton White House,” with no mea culpa whatsoever for his own shameful and destructive performance in 2004, simply boggles the mind.

Jeff: You and MoveOn are personally responsible for the ascendancy of conservative Democrats (and for the 2004 victory of George Bush, who won largely because he faced a Democrat who was no more than a faux Republican).  If Hillary Clinton is a frontrunner now, it’s in no small measure because of millions of progressives like you who sold out your principles and let the Democratic Party know that your vote was theirs no matter how bad a candidate they might field.  Until you’re able to see that, admit it, and vow never to repeat it, your main achievement will continue to be undercutting the causes that you say matter the most to you.

Comments

[StO]

I like FAIR 'cause it criticizes the media good though?

[gfod]

Ok, I admit, I did not read Cohen's article so maybe the answer's there...what did it take for him to open his eyes a little? Is it that he just doesn't like Hillary?

[John Caruso]

StO: Yep, FAIR's a terrific resource, and Cohen deserves credit for having founded it. He's no longer associated with FAIR, though. I'd like to say I still respect him based on what he's done in the past, but his Nader-bashing in 2004 pretty much scotched that for me.

And FAIR was one of many progressive organizations that had a pro-Kerry bias in 2004, which I found very disappointing as well. They're back to form now, but we'll see what happens when election 2008 rolls around.

gfod: Good question. From what I can tell, he doesn't even see that there's any inconsistency between his current position and what he was doing in 2004. That would explain why he says extraordinary things like "I'm a proud MoveOn member, even though I disagree sometimes with its leaders (mostly over too-cozy relations with top Democrats)."