Mike Lux writes about the DLC over at Open Left, outlining a lot of reasons for their current irrelevance. But he concludes with this:

I think the DLC is in a defensive crouch that they may never get out of. On the one hand, as they always have been, they are afraid of Republicans every time they call Democrats soft on terror, soft on defense or when they say we are class warriors. But I also think, as Ford’s opening indicates, that they are realizing that they have lost the battle over the soul of the Democratic Party, and that their only hope for influence is if they can seem like they are reaching out to us. If they were sincere in that effort, I would be glad to work with them on issues where we can agree. But when they say they want to reach out, and then attack Harry Reid as playing into the terrorists’ hands, or attack DailyKos for its “anti-Semitic” comments, it’s hard to take them seriously.

I think Lux is being charitable. I don’t think Harold Ford was, is or ever will be “reaching out to us.” He went on Meet the Press and was conciliatory toward Markos to get his guard down so he could hit him at the end of the segment with charges of anti-semitism (which Markos battled back resoundingly). That particular canard is part of a more global, concerted effort to discredit the blogosphere by the right wing and it’s showing up on many fronts, today notably in the somewhat less than mentally healthy post by Susan Collins’ shills where we’re now a “foul mouthed fem-blog” (Thanks, grandpa.) As Kagro says, “And the mask comes off. ‘Moderate’ Susan Collins’ staff reveals the sneering, venomous underbelly of modern Republican campaigning.”

Harold Ford has a financial relationship with Fox News, and he’s happily carrying the water for the Republicans at this point to destroy the only messaging arm the Democrats have. He’s not a “centrist” as he was identified on MTP, he’s an extremist. If it’s hard to take him seriously it’s because his overtures are anything but serious.

BTW, you can give some turkee to Tom Allen’s campaign here. We “foul mouthed fem-bloggers” are doing what we can to defeat Republicans in ’08, although the men on our blog are feeling a bit touchy today and left out. You can’t blame them.