Amusing Loons

[NOTE: I almost wrote a radically different post on this topic, then went back and checked my story...first impressions can be deceiving (MATT STOLLER)] I'd privately noted a few weeks ago that when the DCCC released their "Frontline '08" list - the most vulnerable of their freshman reps, Carol Shea-Porter (NH1) was not on there. I was rather surprised as her opponent Jeb Bradley said he was running again and this is the kind of race that the DCCC must win to keep control of the House. I wondered if ideological disputes (and her rejection of establishment aid in 06) had come back to haunt her?

Apparently Matt Stoller, of progressive blog MyDD.com, thought the same thing, saying in a recent column bemoaning the alleged exclusion of progressives from party decision-making

From what I understand from talking to a few progressives on the Hill, the freshmen in Congress are being extensively 'trained' by Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record)'s DLC band of consultants and pollsters, which is one reason they've been silent. Carol Shea-Porter is an exception, and notice how she was shut out of the DCCC's front line program.

Uh Matt? Check any sources lately? That column was published March 3rd. On Febraury 19th, CQPolitics noted that Shea-Porter and another grassroots candidate, Nancy Boyda, both

ran as political outsiders last year, and they aim to maintain that independent posture even as they seek re-election from inside Congress.

“I wanted to stay with the kind of campaign I ran before,” Shea-Porter told CQPolitics.com on Friday. The freshman explained her desire to continue her state’s tradition of “retail politics,” which favors local, door-to-door efforts. “It’s really about building trust and relationships.”

So Stoller flips out citing Shea-Porter's absence from the list as evidence of an alleged anti-progressive conspiracy. In reality, it was public knowledge almost two weeks before that Shea-Porter herself rejected DCCC aid.

It's been said before but bears repeting: this faction of the Democratic Party exists in a reality-free void - factcheck, factcheck, factcheck.