I've never been sure…

…exactly what "progressive" means, but if it means this...

Progressives believe in openness, equal opportunity, and tolerance. Progressives assume we’re all in it together — we all benefit from public investments in schools and health care and infrastructure; and we all do better with strong safety nets, reasonable constraints on Wall Street and big business, and a truly progressive tax system. And progressives worry when the rich and privileged become so powerful they undermine democracy.

…then I suppose I am one, though "liberal," a tag some "progressives" eschew, seems to cover the same ground just fine.

Blame?

The Republican's can't.

The public doesn't.

So what will the "progressives" do? Matt Osborne frames the choices...

There are two ways progressives can react: (A) use the next three months as an opportunity to drive teabaggery to the margins by agitating for change with Congress as their focus, or (B) bitch about Obama some more to make their irrelevance complete.

I vote (A).

From the "On the other hand…" file.

Richard Wolffe in the L.A. Times...

For someone who is supposedly cool and detached, President Obama has triggered outraged and outsized reactions on both sides of the political spectrum in the last year. Conservatives loathe his health-care reforms; progressives hate his tax compromises.

On the other hand, progressives loathe his health-care compromises and conservatives loathe his tax reforms.

From the "Sad but true" file.

Will Durst...

Conservatives know the importance of banding together to do whatever it takes: lie, cheat, steal, obstruct. Progressives, on the other hand, need to be goosed to get off the couch when it’s on fire.

I'm afraid so.

Hat tip to Gordon, who has an extended excerpt of the rant. I might not say it the same way myself, but...

Good question…

…from Scott Nance.

If, through intentional inaction on the Left, Democrats across the board go down to defeat, just who really would be punished?

Me. Probably you. Certainly not the banksters and bigots.

Chart of the day.

Via Nate Silver...



Whatever hits the President's desk after conference will almost certainly be better than the Senate Bill, and the Senate Bill will save millions of Americans thousands of dollars on health insurance costs, along with an array of other protections and benefits.

It's hard come up with a response to those who would deny any progress at all on the health care front because it's insufficient progress and keep the family friendly tone I try, for the most part, to maintain here. Calling them "progressive," though, seems to be the very essence of Orwellian doublespeak.

From the "Me too" file.

John Cole...

I’ve been as disgusted and let down as many people by some decisions, but I look at where we were and where we are now, and there is no chance in hell I am going to be demoralized come November 2010. I’ve been watching the wingnuts - we need to keep them as far away from power as is legally possible. They are dangerous, and this Obama fellow, despite some letdowns, ain’t half bad.

I'm about up to there with the gaggle of self-styled "progressives" who revel in detailing every Democratic polling downturn, denounce every legislative compromise as a cowardly betrayal of some imagined "netroots" that stands poised for revolution, constantly refer to my political party with dismissive third person terminology and openly advocate the defeat of my Party and it's leaders in the name of their "progress." <

Here's a scoop from the clue bin - progress is hard, change is incremental and for a starving man, half a loaf can save a life. My personal politics are probably considerably to the left of most of the gang I'm talking about. Very little is being done in accord with my personal specifications. Mine, though, is a minority view in America. I'd love to see a Congressional majority that could win on a platform of single payer health care, confiscatory taxation of high incomes and immediate withdrawal from every combat arena we're presently deploying troops to.

I'd love to hit the mega-millions lottery, too. The odds are much better - or would be if I bought a lottery ticket.

This isn't a call for blind acquiescence to Democratic shortcomings. There's a continuing need for critique and correction within the broad folds of the Democratic Party. I've done my part on that score for decades, at Party meetings, in platform battles and primary contests, and I've seen some actual progress over time as a result of those fights. Open racial bigotry, for instance, has largely been driven from our ranks, and great - if still insufficient - strides have been made on behalf of equal treatment for women and the LGBT community within our ranks. You don't have to have all that much historical perspective to remember a time when those challenges seemed insurmountable. We're about to see health care legislation that, while not enough, will save thousands of lives every year. People are getting fed who would be hungry, housed who woudl be homeless and protected who would be neglected without the efforts of Democrats at every level of government.

The Democratic Party is not a perfect institution made up of perfect individuals. It is, however, in every instance better than the party that would elevate John Boehner to Speaker of the House or Mitch McConnell to Senate Majority leader.

Many, if not most, of the leading voices in that "progressive" cabal won't even claim the title "Democrat," and at least one has openly admitted that not only is she not a member of the Party, she's not even on the side of the Democratic Party. In a country that has evolved a two-party system, if you're not on our side, well, which side are you on?