Why the hell is the progressive community so bloody paranoid about the Democratic Leadership Council? As far as I can tell, that group (presently chaired by Harold Ford) does not possess overwhelming power. They have much less influence now than in the past. The DLC does not have the keys to the cashbox and does not hold a gun to anyone's head.

Yet the folks here routinely act as though the DLC were Mordor and Ford were Sauron.

In an interview, DLC founder Al From referred to the Democratic race as a two-person affair, as though Edwards did not exist. Sure, From pissed me off; I don't like the guy at all. But I was equally pissed off by these reactions:

The Progressive base will defect from the Democratic base in droves (and likely vote for McCain or Huckabee) if Hillary is nominated.

DLC will pick for you whether you want them to or not

If anyone was still having doubts about Edwards being the progressive, this should do it.

I'm having doubts. Newsflash: Hillary has, by any sane standard, the most left-leaning voting record of anyone in the race. (I've documented this fact in earlier posts.) One of the reasons I support Edwards is that his more conservative voting record will play better in the general election.

If we can't nominate a real Democrat like Edwards who stands for traditional Democratic values, the Democratic party deserves to lose.

Would Edwards endorse that attitude? Hell, no! Some advice to my fellow Edwards supporters: If your words reflect badly on the candidate, think before bleating.