He organized a listserv with exactly that name after leaving LBO. I was on it for a while. It has a bunch of luminaries -- Dissent Mag types -- but when I was there they usually didn't say much of anything.
After fighting with Leo about this statement I've developed a more jaundiced view of the so-called "democratic left," and not because I'm against democracy, leftism, or the two in combination.
Of those I know personally who signed, I think well of most of them. I reject the sort of talk I've heard aimed at Cooper and Berube. Gitlin I'm a bit more wary of. I still think they are more right than wrong, in general. They all opposed the war. They don't do circle-jerks with David Horowitz (as far as I know).
But the very monicker democratic left is pretentious. It's a device of definition by exclusion and stigmatization. And it's stupid. Noam Chomsky is no less democratic than any of these characters. The real distinction is one's position vis-a-vis U.S. foreign policy. The DLs are just not all that radical in their criticism of it. It's not a sin; it's a political stance. They are not any more democratic than most other lefts. I'm sure people could regale us with tales of how democracy has been abused in DL organizations.
To say someone is or isn't democratic is really a political criticism. There's nothing wrong with debate on that count. Democracy is not an absolute that trumps everything else. What I find obnoxious is when it's couched as a moral criticism, as a question of "values." It's not about values. It's about class.
mbs