Dems are riding high on the wake of raves for Sen. Jim Webb's response on behalf of the Dems to The Lame Duck's lamest ever SOTU address. Lest we get too high, however, on the heady wine of the political moment, MyDD's Matt Stoller takes away the punch bowl for a minute in his post "The State of the Progressive Movement." Reflect for a moment on his sobering assessment:

On the eve of the State of the Union, I figured it was time to broach a little something about the state of the progressive movement. The state is fun, but honestly, it's pretty unhealthy.

Here's why.

Though the internet left has raised many millions for candidates, the dirty little secret of progressive activism is that there is literally no support for any of the people who make internet politics work. Many effective activists don't have health care, and scrap along with whatever they can. The right has a well-developed infrastructure, and that's why they tend to win. They take care of their people. We don't, and so our people quit, or leave, or become consultants, etc...We think that supporting the local bloggers that deliver us better and higher quality information than the traditional media and operative class is critical to gaining and holding progressive power.

Amen to that, and plaudits to Stoller and Chris Bowers, who are actually doing something about it through their organization, Blogpac, which is helping activists in financial need, like Lane Hudson, who recently lost his job, reportedly for publicizing the Mark Foley scandal. Blogpac is also credited with pioneering creative internet projects like "Use it or Lose it" and Googlebombing to get coverage for important but neglected election stories. Show 'em some love by clicking here and doing the right thing.