Poor Keith Olbermann — he must be so chagrined after last night’s indignation-fueled Countdown rant against the “shadowy groups” funded by Republican donors.
How could he have known that Republicans are just doing what his guys did first? He must not read conservative publications like National Review or The Weekly Standard, where he might have learned about a progressive plan hatched in 2008 to create a $110 million shadow party under the umbrella of a donor group called the Democracy Alliance.
But how could he have missed reading about the Democracy Alliance in the Washington Post or The Nation? Has he never heard of George Soros, Progressive Insurance founder Peter Lewis, Taco Bell heir Rob McKay, billionaire heiress Pat Stryker, Hollywood director Rob Reiner, and dozens of other well-heeled progressives who have used changes in campaign-finance law to create their own shadow party?
Perhaps he was absent the day they talked about it at a panel discussion at the Democratic National Convention in August, 2008?
Well, he knows about it now. Expect a correction tonight. Or not.
— Rob Witwer is a former member of the Colorado house of representatives and co-author of the book The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care).