The Nation’s Ari Berman appeared on MSNBC Live with Third Way’s Matt Bennett to debate whether the soon-to-be-defunct Democratic Leadership Council brought “important strength and values to the Democratic Party.” Bennett claims that saying organizations such as the DLC or Third Way are just “corporate folks in the Democratic Party” is a “ridiculous” accusation often levied by those on the “internet left.” 

But Berman argues that though the DLC may have been helpful for Democrats during the Clinton years, more recently DLC leaders like Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh supported the war in Iraq and did not contribute to the rise of politicians and groups like Howard Dean and MoveOn.org. It was Dean and MoveOn.org, Berman says, who ultimately brought new grassroots energy to the Party.

Read Berman’s "The DLC Is Dead" for more on the demise of the Leadership Council.

—Kevin Gosztola