The Full Sirota

by: Chris Bowers

Thu Jan 08, 2009 at 07:30


Continuing with our series of major announcements on Open Left, this morning I am very excited to welcome David Sirota as Open Left's new full-time blogger. David will be joining me as the second regular weekday blogger, as Matt Stoller is now working in the House of Representatives, solving the rootsgap.

Matt can never be replaced-and we will always await his return--but David will be a force in his own right. As the author of two books, as a nationally syndicated columnist, as a regular presence on a number of blogs, as a freelance writer and as an editor for In These Times, David's accomplishments as a writer are impressive (and enviable). But beyond his accomplishments as a writer, it is what he writes, and the passion with which he writers it, that makes him such a good fit for Open Left. David has consistently, forcefully, and insightfully advocated for a broad, populist, progressive shift away from our aristocratic, top-down, right-wing, corporatist institutional structures. It isn't a stretch to say that his vision is what Open Left is all about.

So, welcome aboard David! It is an great honor to have you with us. I forsee great things for our community in the coming months and years, and this is a big step in that direction.
Chris Bowers :: The Full Sirota

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The Full Sirota | 29 comments
Welcome! (4.00 / 2)
Isn't David now obligiated to visit the Philly Drinking Liberally?  Of course, that would in a sense be a sort of homecoming.

Warm and Tingly (4.00 / 3)

Knowing Matt has moved on to policy making while having Chris and David as our passionate progressives makes me happy today. Keep up the good fight.
Ugggh (4.00 / 3)
David was my most favorite blogger at one point early in the campaign, but somewhere along the winding road he decided that he would like to become the Left's version of Rush, all bluster all the time, over the top hyperbole designed not to inform but to generate comments, attract attacks from the right (See, I must be right, they all hate me over there!), and make him a media go-to guy for outrageous commentary, like Coulter. We already have KO for that, we don't need another. Uggh.

Maybe he will debluster now that he's got a regular gig and doesn't need to compete for the front page. I'll give him a chance but he's on a shorter leash than Roland Burris on my RSS feed.

Spoonful of Honey Sirota (4.00 / 8)
I disagree.  Sirota is like medicine.  He says stuff I would rather not hear not because it is false but because I would rather not come to grips with how big the problems we face are.   Now that he has made the big time, not just appearing on Maddow, but Open Left, I am sure he will get slick suits and start sugar coating (or perhaps high fructosing) the message.

He believes that the powerful in this country don't listen or care about the rest of us.   I wish it were false.   I am going to clap three times and then he will be wrong.  

Maybe I just have to keep clapping.

[ Parent ]
Agree (with one exception) (4.00 / 2)
Great news.  David makes all the right enemies.

One nagging exception: Why nothing to say on Gaza, David?

The silence is deafening.

[ Parent ]
David just tells the truth, and (4.00 / 2)
you think it is hell.  There are a lot of us out here that David gives a voice too.   I welcome Sirota.  He has long been one of my favorites.  Bringing David on board is just another example of why OpenLeft is the best.    

They're asking for another four years -- in a just world, they'd get 10 to 20. ~~ Dennis Kucinich  
[ Parent ]
David is a good edition to (4.00 / 1)
Open Left.

Chris, David, and Paul Rosenberg help make Open Left THE progressive populist blog.

David is the obvious person to take over (0.00 / 0)
I will be interested to see if he begins writing about any different topics.  

"Here's a song about blind faith. That's always a dangerous thing, whether it's in your girlfriend--or if it's in your government." Bruce Springsteen, quoted in Glory Days (Born in the USA tour??)  
Excellent news (4.00 / 2)
Congratulations David.  
I can't say I've followed David Sirota's (4.00 / 8)
writings carefully in the past, but I will say this: he must have at least some real capacity for independent thought and action, given his latest attacks on "Dear Leaderism", which run so hard against the grain of the "progressive" blogosphere.

It's been sobering to me to see how over the past election cycle so many of the leaders of the left blogosphere have fallen in slavishly with the talking points fed to them from on high by politicians eager to manipulate, and how, to this day, these leaders do nothing but persevere in this function.

The left blogosphere needs, foremost, independent voices: people who have beliefs independent of politicians, do not accept instructions from politicians as to what they should say and support, and argue for their beliefs in the face of attacks from the muddled hordes of the blogosphere who are led by those politicians or their effective intermediaries in the blogosphere.

Who would have thought a priori that in the supposed wilds of the blogosphere, deviation from perfect conformity would be so hard to come by?

David at minimum breaks away from that conformity.

Yep (4.00 / 4)
Although David can push the "Dear Leader" thing a bit too hard sometimes (agreement on a particular does not always equal slavish worship), he does exemplify one of the things I like the most about this site and what makes it a rare thing indeed: it's a political site for non-joiners.

Obviously, this doesn't mean it's not activist or participatory (quite the opposite, obviously), but that it's run by people whose first reaction is to push back rather than fall in line.  This is rare in most cases, but it's especially important when we're winning, as a healthy and active skepticism is going to be even more important as our own side gets more deeply into power.

[ Parent ]
OH NOES! (4.00 / 3)
But, but, but Sirota is mean to Obama!!!  
Works for me. (4.00 / 1)
I'd sort of thought he was one of the official bloggers here aleady, given his volume of postings.
Sirota (4.00 / 2)
Great addition.  Thanks, Chris and David
I'm really happy about this. But tell David to ignore the most vocal critics. (4.00 / 3)
Debating one or two people who say "personnel isn't policy" isn't really necessary. Most of us have common sense.  
welcome aboard! (4.00 / 1)
David - your passion and knowledge are welcome here at Open Left.  Your writing continues to improve over time (or maybe I'm just getting more progressive!).  In any case, keep up the good work!
Welcome (again) David (0.00 / 0)
Now more than ever we will need independent voices who will challenge not only the leaders, but the readers as well.  

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that."
-Lawrence Summers
Great decision (0.00 / 0)
Very glad to hear this.  
Very Pleased Reader (0.00 / 0)
OpenLeft always has the most thoughtful, creative writing on strategy and politics.  I'm really glad to see that I'll be getting a steady diet of Chris, Paul, and David.  Keep up the fine work.
Can you guys do something (4.00 / 2)
so that every time he posts it plays the "my sirota" song that Franken used to play on Air America??? :)
Open Left has a great group of bloggers (0.00 / 0)
I assumed David had pretty much become a full-time Open Left blogger some time ago. Great news nonetheless.  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
good stuff (0.00 / 0)
When do datelines from Chicago start?
Yes David (4.00 / 1)
when are you going to come to Chicago to start helping our new superstar Tom Geoghegan? If you come here I know this place about four blocks out of the 5th CD that makes a fantastic bowl of curry noodle soup -- if you are nice I'll buy ... ;-)

(I know, I know, I need to find a good noodle place inside the district -- at least for the next six weeks!)

If you live on Chicago's north side, get involved in Northside DFA.
www.northsidedfa.com

[ Parent ]
Really good move (0.00 / 0)
especially for OpenLeft. David adds a higher profile in other media and a different style that translates more easily into the "talking point" universe. Don't get me wrong, David's work is plenty substantive. I'm just saying that his style is more terse and reductive.
Great news (0.00 / 0)
Please do what you can to keep an eye on the insidious health insurers and their sellout pals on the Hill...

Join the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee in the fight for guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model at www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org/blog
Great! (0.00 / 0)

Good pick (0.00 / 0)
You need somebody to keep up Matt's brand of in-group anger.

I don't always read David (detailed economics is not my forte), but I suspect a full-time blogging gig will improve his work further and there are synergies to be had between his columns and OpenLeft.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

woohoo! (0.00 / 0)
awesome news.  Glad to have you full time, David.  So, about getting Tom Geoghegan elected...
David, the Sexy, Sexy Wonk (0.00 / 0)
in the words of our great friend, Al Franken.
The Full Sirota | 29 comments
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