Most Valuable Progressives of 2008 (The Nation)

[dcsmart]

Progressives had more to celebrate in 2008 than in any year since the Supreme Court got into the business of stealing elections. The jubilant mood is dampened, of course, by the fact of a country is stuck in two military quagmires, ravaged by the most fearsome economic downturn in at least a half century and suffering from a serious case of Constitutional degeneration. Perhaps we have not yet reached an ideal champagne moment. But there is still good reason to toast the year's MVPs – Most Valuable Progressives.

Here they are:

SEE ARTICLE:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/392577/print

[FLAprogressive]

1. MOST VALUABLE HOUSE MEMBER: Marcy Kaptur

AGREED!

Go Marcy!

[navarth]

2. I'm sorry not to see Thom Hartmann, Keith Olbermann and Bill Moyers mentioned.

Thom Hartmann's show has been a clarion call for progressives for years. With all due respect to Rachel and Ron, Thom's show is the Rolls-Royce of progressive radio shows IMO.

And Keith Olbermann pretty much introduced Rachel to television. And he call down the Bu$h crime family when it was still dangerous to do so. He wears the Mantle Of Murrow. So why doesn't he get a mention?

And I don't even have to tell anyone why Bill Moyers should be included.

And leave us not forget Phil Donahue.

[Doctor_J]

3. Olbermann was the Most Valuable Media Dem by a mile

I guess he's too much of an "Obama Cheerleader" for The Nation.

[navarth]

5. yeah that is curious

Well, The Nation will surprise you every once in a while...

[cynthia]

4. proud to be from Minnesota

MOST VALUABLE STATE OFFICIAL: Mark Ritchie

Minnesota's Secretary of State ran for his position in 2006 on a promise to assure that his state would have free and fair elections. Ritchie has been a great advocate for voter registration, verifiable voting and needed election reforms. But he has made headlines as the overseer of the recount fight between Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken. In the face of attacks on his politics and character by partisans who seek to game the system, Ritchie has remained steadfast and good-humored, emphasizing transparency, fairness and the principle that democracy is only made real when election officials assure that the intentions of voters are respected and recorded. Ritchie's approach to the Minnesota recount provides an example of how to do elections right, in stark contrast to the abusive approaches of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to the 2000 presidential recount in her state and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to the 2004 presidential vote in the Buckeye state.

MOST VALUABLE POLITICAL GROUP: Progressive Democrats of America

Paul Wellstone's "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" finally has a functional voice, in the form of PDA, a national group that has over the past several years struggled mightily – and often effectively – to pull the party to the left on issues of war and peace, health-care reform, economic justice and presidential accountability. While Democratic "leaders" in Washington compromised on matters of principle, PDA pushed for a fixed timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, questioned Barack Obama's talk of surging more U.S. troops into Afghanistan, worked with Michigan Congressman John Conyers to promote a single-payer response to the health-care crisis and argued that, yes, George Bush and Dick Cheney should be impeached. When Obama secured the Democratic presidential nod, PDA forged an essential bridge to independent lefties, mounting a Progressives for Obama campaign, successfully pressuring party platform writers to improve language on health care and trade issues and organizing (with support from The Nation) a busy program of policy events on the fringe of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In a measure of the PDA's expanding role within the party, those convention sessions attracted a dozen key members of Congress including Conyers and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Sean Penn and dozens of delegates. As 2008 ended, PDA was still taking on the most daunting issues – urging Obama and other Democrats to do more to promote a ceasefire in Gaza – and proving that this group understands the importance of keeping the pressure on party leaders in Washington to serve not just as Democrats but as progressives.