The Best Hraka Around
The guy from one red paperclip finally did it. He traded up from one red paperclip to an 1,100 square foot house in Kipling, Saskatchewan.
On a related note, I have a tube of silicone sealant I’d like to trade for a $500,000 dollar beach house.
Seriously.
Lots of coverage in the internet press on the left side of the Blogosphere’s vicious attacks on Joe Lieberman during the run-up to the Connecticut Democratic Primary, but so far the answer as to why remains elusive to those not drinking the Ned Lamont kool-aid.
The question is, Why aren’t they happy? The fact is that Lieberman’s reputation as a “moderate” or a “conservative” Democrat has always been exaggerated. He might have condemned Clinton’s behavior in the Lewinsky scandal, but he did not advocate impeachment and backed off quickly from censure. During the 2000 campaign, he was more than happy to distance himself from neoliberal positions he had taken previously on school vouchers and affirmative action, and then he waited two years before challenging Al Gore’s “People vs. the Powerful” campaign strategy in which he had been a willing participant.
Why are MoveOn, Daily Kos, and so many other liberal activists so keen to find a primary challenger against Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman? The more you peel the onion, the stranger the answer becomes.
The common explanation is that Lieberman is a conservative. Or, more specifically, he’s a conservative who represents a liberal state–and, therefore, has no excuse. But, according to conventional indices, Lieberman is not a conservative. His lifetime rating from the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is 76, six points higher than the man MoveOn and Kos have encouraged to enter the race, former Senator Lowell Weicker. In August 2003 (before turning against Lieberman), Kos himself reviewed Lieberman’s ADA and American Conservative Union ratings and called the charge that he was a closet Republican “b.s.”
I think the answer is simple. Having so obviously targeted Lieberman, the netroots/nutroots/Townhouse crew must now defeat him, or risk being seen as irrelevant, especially considering their dismal electoral record thus far.
National races are one thing, but If the LeftNet cannot elect a candidate of their own choosing in a Democratic Primary in one of the most liberal states in the Union, then they can’t win elections, period. If that happens, it should become obvious to one and all that the Emperor has no clothes.
As to the question of why the LeftNet has yet to discover this on its own, despite repeated reminders, we’ve talked about this before
Essentially, the Internet has given the Left a perception of growth where there is in fact none. It may have even masked a decline in the real political power of the Left.
Say one 10-member anti-globalist organization, in San Francisco, comes into contact with another 10-member group, in Seattle. Each feels that their membership and political power has doubled, when in reality nothing of the sort has occurred. Communication and coordination between the two is enhanced, but the actual number of votes has not changed at all. There is an inflation in each group’s perception of its political power, but there is no corresponding rise in actual power wielded.
Given the horrid demographics of the Daily Kos readership (mostly elderly blue state boomers), the situation can only get worse, another reason why the effort to defeat Lieberman is so important to the LeftNet. When the most dedicated members of your power base are also the ones most likely to wake up dead tomorrow, you have to move now when it comes to grabbing a piece of the political pie. A victory in Lieberman/Lamont is crucial for the LeftNet. “Just wait till next time” is useless as a rallying cry for your base when so many of them won’t be around.
Update: Some predictions. As always, my predictions are not based on a reasoned analysis of the habits of the American voter, an in-depth knowledge of state and local politics, an understanding of the candidates’ positions on the issues of the day, or any familiarity whatsoever with current political theory, but rather on my obsessive focus on whatever pet theory has grabbed my attention at the moment.
1. Joe Lieberman defeats Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic Primary. First “netrunts” jokes appear soon afterward.
2. Republicans maintain or increase the number of seats they hold in the House and Senate in the November elections.
3. Sometime in 2007, an enterprising Democratic presidential contender will Sista Souljah the Kossacks in order to position themsleves as “the centrist democrat who can actually win an election.” My money’s on Hillary.
08/09/06 Update - 0-1 so far. Goood thing I take my predictions with a grain of salt.
baldilocks: The Least of These
I wonder whether such could be the case for those who harm children. Or think about it. Or even “joke” about it. For nothing is as horrible—dare I say Satanic—than even thinking about doing harm to the weakest among us. Even Jesus–the Redeemer–was at His most hardcore on this particular subject.
Evidently, Protein Wisdom is under a Denial-of-Service assault because of exchanges he had with a Professor at Psychology at the University of Arizona. Well, ex-Professor of Psychology at Arizona. Prof. Debbie Frisch disagreed with PW’s politics so vehemently that she began to leave tasteless and threatening comments towards blogger Jeff Goldstein’s progeny. The comments depict someone who is in only tenuous contact with reality. It’s not pretty.
Thankfully Jeff contacted the proper authorities and Frisch has been forced to leave her post at U of A. I have had some success getting through to PW’s site, but it is rather slow. I guess Frisch has some supporters that don’t know how to play nice either. Show your support for PW’s right to free speech by reading his post on the matter here.
Update:In the interest of equal time, Deb posts her defense here. Also no indication from her that she is part of the DoS.