One of my favorite quotes about him : "...between the monotone, the laborious detailing of horrors, the vagueness on solutions and his world-weary flippancy, he’s disempowering; Goodman’s program produces a similar effect; Greenwald is also a merchant of solution-free horror; This isn’t really politics - it’s a religious cult of self-flagellation!"; also "For chomsky, for trots - the only successful revolution is the one that never happened" .

Speaking of his function in the American regime - yes he can be seen as some kind of pipeline to "left" but his influence - thus negative role - is much stronger in controlling the opposition. Unfortunately there are good reasons why, say, Hampton and King are dead and Noam is a celebrity millionare.