NOW-- ON PBS: DONNA EDWARDS vs THE MACHINE

Last night PBS' NOW ran a show, "Democrats Divided 2008," featuring the contest between Donna Edwards and Al Wynn. It starts off with a bias that drives me insane. "Can moderates from the Party's Establishment turn back a challenge from the progressive wing?" asks the putatively authoritative announcer, David Brancaccio. What makes the behavior of Al Wynn "moderate?" He voted with Bush and Cheney on Iraq and he is a consistent supporter of the radical right corporatist agenda-- owned, lock, stock and barrel by sleazy lobbyists. Is that the new definition of "moderate?" He then goes on to claim that "the middle of the road policies shaping by Bill Clinton and embraced by many party leaders are now under attack." Who wrote this for him? Rahm Emanuel. What makes the Clinton-Bush trade policies that have ravaged the American middle class "middle of the road?"

Brancaccio and his Emanuel-scripted blathering soon gives way to Maria Hinojosa talking about "Democracy in action" and focusing on Donna Edwards' campaign in Maryland's 4th congressional district-- for 2 seconds. And then she's yammering on how "by anybody's definition Al Wynn is a liberal Democrat, well-matched to his district." I nearly turned it off at that point. I'm glad I didn't because it soon gave way to footage of Donna explaining the real differences-- differences apparently too subtle for Hinojosa or Brancaccio-- between Wynn and herself. And then... Matt Stoller gets his say. Matt's is one of the most articulate and brilliant voices in the blogosphere. He's able to explain the race-- crashing through the subtleties in a way even a Brancaccio or Hinojosa can understand. And Matt, doesn't use the Establishment propaganda language-- accurately replacing "moderate" when talking about reactionary Democrats with "conservative."

The funniest moment in the show is when Wynn, acknowledges the public record that shows him taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from big business interests. "I think there's too much money in politics," he agrees. "But I don't write the rules." [He doesn't? Isn't that exactly why there's too much money in politics-- because corrupt, self-serving incumbents like Wynn and Emanuel do write the rules and because they write they to serve their own narrow interests?] "What I do say to voters is 'Look, you can look at my record both on the contribution side and on the vote side and I can show you instances where I have voted against the interests of people who have given me contributions." [It's true-- he regularly screws the members of Establishment puppet labor unions like AFSCME by voting against their interests while the corrupt party boss, Gerald McEntee, dances to whatever jig Rahm Emanuel and Nancy Pelosi are playing for him.

The show uses Donna's campaign against the corrupt and reactionary Insider Wynn to show the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party between the grassroots and the Inside-the-Beltway Establishment. You can watch the video at the PBS page, here. If you watch it, though, beware that Matt Bai is also on it, spouting his regular, ignorant nonsense.

After you watch it, please consider going over to Blue America's Act Blue page and contributing to Donna Edwards, John Laesch, and Mark Pera, all of whom face Insider hacks in primaries next month.