Kos vs. DLC [View All]

[Coexist]

What follows is a transcript of part of the 'debate' on MTP this morning.

First a few thoughts of my own:

Ford opened first - and he chose to start out in a strange, half-kiss ass, half-good-buddy mode. To me, this made him look weak and conciliatory; I thought at first it may have been strategic - he wanted Markos to be forced to begin as suck-upingly, and acknowledge the debt the Dems owed the DLC in return. But all it did, really, was bring to mind the entire slate of No-Show Presidential contenders at the recent DLC function. This led me believe, with a little shock, that the DLC is in bad shape, and they were forced to show their desperation on national television. A little pitiful, really. I wondered how Markos would open - how long would the pleasantries be bandied about before the first shot was fired? Oh... about... not at all.

Markos didn't return the 'compliments'. He went right to the issues. His style was all honesty and common sense. He obviously had no pressures to bow to, or handlers to please. Markos represented himself with great skill and intelligence - for whatever reason - Ford brought a knife to this gunfight.

Follow this link to the full diary, which includes links to the video.

MR. MOULITAS: The problem we have, though, is we've, we've had a, a, an organization that, one, has, has been on the wrong side of a lot of ideas. We're talking John Breaux, Senator John Breaux, who's an architect of George Bush's tax cuts, which have led our nation to record deficits, record debt, and a crumbling infrastructure, as we've seen in Katrina and as we've seen in, in Minnesota. I mean, crazy thing, but the American people want their bridges to stay in one piece. So we, we have a situation like that. On Social Security...

REP. FORD: You can't blame the--Markos, I got great respect for you, but I'm not going to let you get away with blaming the Democratic Leadership Council or anything that we support, sir, for, for anything...

MR. MOULITSAS: Senator John Breaux, who was the chairman of the DLC...

REP. FORD: Right.

MR. MOULITSAS: ...was the chief architect. This is something you put...

REP. FORD: But not of crumbling--not of crumbling infrastructure.

MR. MOULITSAS: Well, what do you think, you're going to cut taxes and not pay for the priorities in our nation. I mean, obviously, there has to be a way to pay for these things. And to come out and say, "Well we're going to cut taxes, and we're going to let these deficits run up, and we're going to let our infrastructure crumble," clearly it's the wrong way to go. On health care, on the war in Iraq, which you still refuse to say is a big mistake.

REP. FORD: It's, it's...

MR. MOULITSAS: You, you were on just on Fox News. So, clearly, we have a situation where you have an organization that's been on the wrong side of the issues and has failed to really build a movement, has failed to really draw popular support...At YearlyKos, we had all these organizations at the same table--labor, the issue groups. The one organization that was still missing was the DLC. That's the one organization that refuses to acknowledge...(unintelligible)...with me.

It didn't get any better or worse. Until the very end. Markos and Ford shook hands and smiled. And after a quick second, the 'politician's confidence' left Harold Ford's eyes, and he looked nervous and scared - it showed on his face for a very brief moment before the camera cut away.

That look really said it all.