A small thing, but I am angry. Sayeth the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee:

"He's a cancer on the Democratic Party," Adam Green, the co-founder of the group, said in a statement. "Democrats' current 2010 situation is due to a weak Rahm Emanuel mentality that says water down real reform at the urging of Republicans and corporations, thus making Democratic reform less popular with voters than the real deal would have been. If Democrats had passed the overwhelmingly-popular public option and broken up the big banks when they had the chance, they'd be cruising for a landslide victory right now.

I'm as proud as any liberal of Nancy Pelosi for beating back Emanuel's plan for a "kiddie care" health care bill, but to go and make a statement like this is absurd. The abject wail for jobs by voters is crystal clear right now. For a leader of a group as visible as the PCCC to say that a public option and a bank-breakup amendment would have had Dems "cruising for a landslide" tarnishes their credibility. More importantly, it harms the word "progressive", contributing nicely to the stereotype of liberals as elite and out-of-touch.

That progressives will criticize their leaders more than conservatives is, fundamentally, one of the healthiest things about the left in America. How frequently this criticism is destructive or self-serving is one of the most dysfunctional. When I hear phony criticism like this amplified through a loudspeaker, I don't hear a well-intentioned activist committed to doing what's right no matter the cost. What I hear is: join my mailing list!