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John went on MSNBC yesterday afternoon to talk health-care reform. He was paired with John Stirewalt, the Washington Examiner's political editor, who was not only at a disadvantage in the neckwear department but had the misfortune of having to defend the sorry record of the Party of No.

Amato most of all issued a challenge of sorts to the House of Representatives to stand up for itself in the face of the Senate's mishandling of the legislation:

Amato: To say that it's dead is way premature, because they still have to go to conference. And the House has to make a choice: Are they actually a legislative body? Do they have a say in this process? Or is Congress just Joe Lieberman? So really, right now, it's still premature. Liberals are still fighting, progressives are still fighting.

It will be worth seeing whether the House rises to this challenge.

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I grabbed Darcy Burner for a quick minute to say hi to C&L's readers at the 2009 Netroots Nation shindig. She was recently named to serve on the board of the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation. It's been an amazing time and just before she did this video, Darcy was named to give the keynote speech Saturday night. Good times.

[Please join us at 9 a.m. Thursday for a live chat with author Eric Boehlert as we discuss his new book, The Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press. -- ed.]

Eric Boehlert's new book is a brave look at the way liberal blogs changed politics and the media that covers it forever. He chronicles the rise of many bloggers, (including CrooksandLiars.com) and brings it into focus on the landscape of politics during its early rise in 2000 until it was recognized by the traditional media and turned into the Alt. Press, so to speak by the millions of readers who drove this Internet train full steam ahead. (We hit over 200 million readers last month.)

He covers the start of the liberal revolution, the bloggers and also traces the wild primary battle (online and in the media) between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. You'll know some of the cast of characters, but he also gives a voice to many bloggers that add so much to what we have achieved and may not get the recognition that they deserve.

Grab a copy and check it out. Chances are you followed politics and the rise of the blogs like I did, all the way until Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. It was freaky for me reading about it and being interviewed for the book and it will be very interesting to hear what you have to say about it.

Reviewed:

Bloggers on the Bus traces the online events that rocked the campaign trail and reveals the untold stories of the internet activists who made them all possible. In the tradition of Timothy Crouse's classic, The Boys on the Bus, Bloggers on the Bus investigates the cutting edge of liberal politics to reveal the stories and scandals at its very heart. The cast includes everyone from former professional rock saxophonist John Amato who, years before YouTube, changed blogging forever by unleashing his TiVo and figuring out how to post TV clips online, to sixty-something Oakland housewife Mayhill Fowler, who joined the Huffington Post as a volunteer journalist and went on to break two of the biggest stories of the Democratic primary.

Boehlert tells the story of acerbic West Coast blogger Digby, whose gender shocked the male-dominated blogosphere, as well as that of graphic tech Philip de Vellis, who culture-jacked an iconic Apple ad in order to create the infamous "Vote Different" video that influenced the Democratic primary.

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Digby, Howie Klein, Robert Greenwald and myself co-hosted a blogger get together at Brave New Films Tuesday afternoon to meet with a true progressive candidate named Tom Geoghagen. He's running to grab Rahm Emanuel's vacant seat in IL. and and showed off his progressive chops big time. He was very impressive as he spoke about many issues that would have a huge impact on America if he's able to win that seat. He's a real leader, not some yes man and as a labor lawyer he knows what's been happening to working class families all across America. He touched on an interesting concept that I haven't heard any one else touch on.

Since we've spent so much money bailing out the financial institutions, Tom thinks that working families should get the same consideration when it comes to their own credit record and with some help they should get the same fresh start as the banking industry was given. Without the private jets and huge bonuses of course.

After he spoke for about 30 minutes and then a Q&A, Robert and Howie grabbed me unexpectedly and off I went into the studio with Tom to ask him to explain in simple terms what the Employee Free Choice Act really is since there's so much misinformation littering the airwaves about it by the corporate elites.

It's insane watching the right wing freak out over the fact that all this act does is give the employees and not the employers the choice of how to unionize. That's it. In this video, Geoghagen gives a very straight forward answer that dispels a lot of the anti-union nonsense that the Orrin Hatches of the Republican party are spewing. After meeting him, listening to him and speaking with him about the issues, I'm convinced he's an excellent choice for Rahm's seat and is a person that I am fully endorsing.

Howie writes:

Yesterday I got to hear author and congressional candidate Tom Geoghegan speak live. Robert Greenwald and the folks at BraveNewFilms hosted a blogger get-together for the progressive candidate running in Illinois' 5th CD. I knew he was already a good candidate from his writing and from trusted friends in Chicago; that's why we endorsed him and added him to our ActBlue page. But seeing him live... it's like the difference from hearing a band's recorded songs and seeing a live concert.

Katha Pollitt called him "the next Paul Wellstone" in The Nation and Thomas Frank wrote that he's a "true reformer" in the Wall Street Journal. This morning Don Rose endorsed his candidacy in the Chicago Sun-Times.

C&L: John Amato interviews Craig Crawford

I had the chance to talk with Craig Crawford, columnist for CQ Weekly; News commentator for MSNBC and "The Early Show" on CBS; Author of the book, ATTACK THE MESSENGER.

He's a really smart and seasoned analyst and I thought his book was an excellent read. Craig makes his case simply and effectively that our media has carefully been manipulated by politicians over the years with one goal in mind. To render them as ineffective as they possibly can be.

Download | play -MP3 20 minutes Podcast also

Crawford explains how the simple task of attacking the messenger has now become the industry standard when a politician wants to deflect any criticism. We've recently seen it with the Valerie Plame incident and the smearing of Joseph Wilson. He uses case by case incidents throughout the last forty years that proves his conclusions to be correct.

C&L Exclusive: John Amato interviews Gen. Wesley Clark

Gen. Wesley Clark joined me for a few minutes on Oct 24th, while he was in Los Angeles to meet with the 4 Star Democratic Club of Los Angeles. The main topic of discussion was torture and he expressed his feelings on that issue-including his disappointment over Dick Cheney's role to promote it. I wish I had talked with Mr. Clark after we had learned of the newly discovered secret prisons. It's important to hear his opinions on this vital topic now more than ever because this issue is so damaging to our country.

Download | play -MP3 (Podcast as well) 8 minutes long.

(Update): blah3 has a partial transcript up

(Tech note): The phone connection was cutting in and out because Mr. Clark was in LAX-so I tried to edit out some of the distortions when I lost the connection. Nothing that General Clark said was altered even though some of my edits weren't precise. (I just got the trial version of Adobe Audition)

C&L Exclusive: John Amato interviews Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow from Air America and Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show "The Situation" took some time out from her busy schedule and joined me last night to discuss Tom Delay, the Plame leak and a few other assorted items.

Download | play -MP3

Bittorrent-MP3 (Also a PodCast)

Rachel is described in New York Magazine as "outshining host Tucker Carlson, finally giving liberals a feisty voice." The interview runs about 22 minutes long.

C&L Special: John Amato interviews Paul Hackett

I had the chance this morning to speak with Mr. Hackett for a little over twenty minutes as we discussed his upcoming race for the US Senate seat in Ohio.

Download | play -MP3 (This is a Podcast as well)

Paul talked about his views on special interest groups, citizen legislators, Iraq, and much more. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to everyone that posted a question earlier. (I'm doing my best at learning a new craft and I know I have a long way to go.)

I was contacted a few days ago by the White House and told that the President wanted to meet with some progressive bloggers -- including me. So, as Dave noted below, five of us -- Barb in MD from DailyKos, Atrios, Joe Sudbay, Oliver Willis and I-- got together for a chat. I don't often write about my travels, but obviously this is a little different. So after I was asked, I put my health issues aside and went to DC.

The President started by saying that he understood and welcomed the criticism that had been going on inside the Liberal blogosphere and that they welcomed our words and understand that our readers make up the base of the party.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, listen, I know we’ve got limited time, so I’m not going to give a long speech on the front end. I thank you guys for coming in. Obviously a huge part of my base reads you guys, cares about what you do. The staff does as well. I think that what the blogosphere has done is to create a conversation that encourages activism across our citizenry, and I think that’s absolutely crucial. We benefit from the constructive feedback and criticism that we get, and it helps hold us accountable. But you guys obviously have also done a great job holding the mainstream press accountable, and that’s really important to us. So I’m glad that I’ve got time to sit down with you guys...

I did want to get the President on the record about the horrific incident that happened on Rand Paul's watch because I hadn't seen a quote from him yet and I happened to be first one up. I asked how he felt about the vicious attack by the Paul supporter on the female MoveOn activist. He had a saddened look on his face when he started talking about what transpired and said it was disturbing:

THE PRESIDENT: Sounds good? All right. John, we’ll start with you.

Q Thanks for having us here, Mr. President. Just to start off, because the news of the day is obviously what just happened in Kentucky. What’s your feelings on the thought of a Rand Paul supporter actually stepping on the neck of a female MoveOn supporter?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, I think that one of the things that I’ve always tried to promote is civility in politics. I think we can disagree vigorously without being disagreeable. And what we saw on the video was an example of people’s passions just getting out of hand in ways that are disturbing. In fairness, I don’t expect every candidate to be responsible for every single supporter’s actions, but I do think that all of us have an obligation to set a tone where we say the other side is -- may be wrong but it’s not evil, because when you start going down that path of demonizing folks, then these kinds of incidents are more likely to occur. And my expectation in the remainder of this campaign is that all candidates out there are a little more careful about making sure that they’re framing the debate around issues and sending a clear message to their supporters that our democracy works when we disagree, we debate, we argue, it gets contentious, but that there are certain lines we don’t cross.

.

I believe President Obama's call for civility is in line with how he operates, but there are lines that Conservatives do cross and have been crossing for a while now.

I'll have more on the meeting tomorrow,,,,

Full transcript below:

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