It's our job

So sayeth Digby

I don't say this because I think that liberal blogs are taking over the world and have changed the face of politics as we know it. I say it because I know that without us there would have been virtually no critical voices during the long period between 2001 and the presidential primary campaign during 2003. We were it. The media were overt, enthusiastic Bush boosters for well over two years and created an environment in which Democratic dissent (never welcome) was non-existent to the average American viewer. In fact, it took Bush's approval rating falling to below 40% before they would admit that he was in trouble.

I believe that if it had not been for the constant underground drumbeat from the fever swamps over the past five years, when the incompetence, malfeasance and corruption finally hit critical mass last summer with the bad news from Iraq, oil prices and Katrina, Bush would not have sunk as precipitously as he did and stayed there. It literally took two catasprophes of epic proportions to break the media from its narrative of Bush's powerful leadership. And this after two extremely close elections ---- and the lack of any WMD in Iraq.

[...]

I have written before about this and made it clear that I do not wish to destroy the mainstream media. I do not believe that this country can do without a credible press. But after waiting in vain for more than a decade for the press to shake off its torpor and exert its perogatives as the fourth estate, I reluctantly came to the conclusion that our (and their) only hope was to join the fray and pull as hard as we can on the opposite end of the rope.

I see that the press does not know what to make of this. And I see that many Joementum Democrats don't get it either. They remain convinced that the country will wake up one day and see that our arguments are superior. They are wrong. This political era will be remembered for its brutal partisanship and sophisticated media manipulation in a 50/50 political environment. Democrats have been at a huge disadvantage because of the Republican message infrastructure and the strange servility of the mainstream press. So, we are pushing back with the one tough, aggressive partisan communication tool we have: the blogosphere.

The mainstream press is going to have to get used to us because we aren't going anywhere. I suspect they are actually somewhat relieved that somebody on our side has stepped up to take the slings and arrows of the vast right wing conspiracy and provide them with some cover. (No need to thank us. Just report the truth.)

Joementum Dems, on the other hand, need to recognize that we are in a partisan time and that requires a partisan strategy. We are going to hit them hard every time they repeat Republican talking points and otherwise enable the opposition to dominate the media discourse. There is no more room for bipartisan gestures that only benefit the GOP side of the equation. David Gergen said yesterday on This Weak that Republicans are much better at message than Democrats but they aren't so good at governing. Nobody knows this better than those of in the grassroots who have been forced to watch this trainwreck from the sidelines for more than a decade. It's why Bush is at 39% today and yet there is no guarantee that Democrats will win in the fall or any sense in the media that the Republican Party has failed. We cannot afford any more Democratic complicity with Republican memes and we are going to work against those who do it.

Exactly so. In recent weeks, I've been on the fence regarding Joe Lieberman. I mean, it's a dangerous strategy to eat your own, and while Lieberman may bend over far too much to appear "bipartisan" and "responsible," he has been a consistent vote on issues I hold dear. But, enough already. To win this fight we are going to have to hold Democrats' feet to the fire, and show the same kind of message consistency as we face when dealing with the Mighty Wurlitzer of the Right. Continuing to support a war that Republicans themselves are losing the stomach for is not a winning strategy. Cutting off at the knees a rising star in the party to show support for a Republican colleague is not a winning strategy.

The Republicans have so browbeaten their "moderate" members that, for all the fervid hopes that the Northeastern/Rockefeller Republicans will "take back the party," they quake at the very thought of taking on the wingnuts in the party, even if it means losing votes back home. If Lieberman wants to be a Northeastern Republican himself, then he should go ahead. He won't be any more powerless than he is now, as a Democrat. But I won't support him.

On a separate, but related, point. I'm not sure if Paul Hackett would have been the best candidate to unseat DeWhine. There have been reports that he's a one-issue candidate (though I'm not so sure). And his views on immigration are, at best, uninformed. But why the fear of a primary? It seems to me a primary 1.) helps hone the candidate's positions, 2.) forces him/her to be a better campaigner, and 3.) keeps the candidacy in the spotlight. Yes, there's a threat of diluting the money stream, but that's not likely in a race where there's an opportunity to pick up a seat in the Senate. The money's going to be there anytime a Dem has a chance to beat a Ohio Republican, regardless of the race.