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The MSNBC crossfire continues. On Thursday night, Chris Matthews dismissed the Democratic netroots as “troublemakers who love to sit in the back seat and complain:” you may recall that his colleague Keith Olbermann sometimes blogs at Daily Kos and recently used the platform to dismiss the health care bill currently under consideration. Yesterday, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz rolled a clip of Matthews’ remarks for Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, who promptly fired back:

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Even though we live in an era in which some people think it’s OK to interrupt the President of the United States on the House floor, we still have a strong political tradition of listening whenever former presidents have something to say. Which is why Former President Jimmy Carter made a big splash yesterday when he said that criticism of Barack Obama shows that there is an “inherent feeling” in America that a black man should not be President. How did cablers respond?

Where were you a year ago today? If you are a political journalist — or media hanger-on — chances are you were living out of a suitcase at the 2008 Presidential Conventions, with the Dems nominating Barack Obama in Denver and the GOP nominating John McCain in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Remember those heady days?

This year’s Netroots Nation, the annual gathering of of progressive bloggers launched in 2006, was different: The president from the party they fought to elect — President Barack Obama, a Democrat — is in power, and they no longer represent the voice of the opposition.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t have any.