In case you've forgotten, Feingold and Progressives United were responsible for the recent dust-up over Nancy Pelosi's surprising change of support for the Bowles-Simpson "Catfood for Gran" recommendations.
She implied (and still does) she would be open to cutting social safety net programs, and Feingold took her to task publicly for that. (Story here.)
Don't underestimate the importance of Feingold's public slap — it's a perfect example of a career Democrat having to decide between serving either the Party or serving the progressive movement.
Feingold took on the Party (in the form of its House Leader) and took flak for that — from other "progressives" in the House. Our House Progressive (Statement) Caucus — or at least its leaders — lined up behind Pelosi, making yet another statement, this time the wrong one.
To all appearances, that statement was — "Party first." (Violates rule 3, but who's counting.) I often don't get stuff, and I sure don't get that. We could use a few more like Feingold.
Back to Josh Orton and this good interview. We spoke near the end of the conference, in a semi-quiet hallway off the "gathering bar" in the "gathering hotel" — the bar that seemed to collect the most wandering people with conference badges and time to kill. Some background noise, but a very listenable interview. Orton is typically smart and on-topic.
Five Questions: Josh Orton with Gaius Publius, recorded at Netroots Nation 2012. Enjoy:
The full list of "Five Questions" interviews includes the following. Links to names will take you to previously-published interviews.
- Alan Grayson, former (and perhaps future) U.S. Congressman
- Marcy Wheeler, of emptywheel.net
- Cliff Schecter, who comments regularly with Sam Seder at Majority.fm among many other places
- Tom Tomorrow, cartoonist with DailyKos and This Modern World
- Alex Lawson of StrengthenSocialSecurity.org
- Josh Orton, with Russ Feingold's Progressives United
- Frances Causey, producer–director of Heist, the documentary
- Chris Pearson, a Progressive Party Vermont state legislator
- Susan Smith, Progressive Caucus chair of the Florida Democratic Party
- Sarah Burris, labor activist and progressive youth organizer
(If you have trouble with this audio, please let me know in the comments and I'll address it as quickly as I can. Thanks.)
GP
To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
