This was the case of Cindy Sheehan and many seasoned campaigners since. What began as a cry in the wilderness of Crawford, Texas and the birth of “Camp Casey” ended with the one-two gut punches of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Cindy sought the spotlight for her son’s death but when the overwhelming devastation of Katrina is revealed American eyes turn to that tragedy. In 2008 Cindy plans a march on Washington and unseating Nancy Pelosi. Kos points out in Sheehan’s case that she is reviving a strategy that was no longer viable — the march. Nobody cares.
Kos juxtaposing Cindy’s march with the one staged by millions across the globe protesting that foray into Iraq... argues that it did not dissuade Bush nor the U.S. military. Taking insists that a neophyte blogger with an insightful weblog is a more powerful weapon in the activists’ arsenal than a thousand marches.
At one point Cindy posts her “resignation,” Martin Luther-like, on the door of Daily Kos. She resigns from the Democrat Party. But a couple of days later she, well, comes back from her self-imposed exile and continues posting to her Kos diary as if nothing happened. But something did happen, she became irrelevant and misspent the political capital and sympathy garnered by her activism. It was simply too little too late.
Kos the Internet strider walks the news-cycle tension with the precision of a silkworm. While conservative observers would never wrap up in the socialist-like silk Kos and his Kossacks spin on a daily basis, they cannot ignore the power it yields. The genius here is catching. A small story ignored, propped up with a tiny crutch (read keyboard) waxes by day until, and Kos says this is essential; the story catches fire with NBC, CBS or ABC and its top anchor is spouting Internet-bred “BREAKING NEWS.”
Exactly what brought down the much-ballyhooed GOP candidate George Allen? Enter James Webb: “[He] was fresh off his netroots-fueled Democratic primary ... was going head-to-head with a Republican heavyweight who was busy scoping out a presidential run.” Allen is pointed out by The Weekly Standard as “a leading contender for the Republican nomination for president in 2008.” Therefore no one saw it coming when this incumbent senator was brought down by a racial slur “macaca” and a single camera wielded by the very man whom he was addressing. The viral video's warp speed revealing both Allen’s Jewish and racists’ roots make Allen livid. He did not recover. He lost his senate seat and all presidential hopes. That was not supposed to happen and Kos argues that only netroots activism made it possible.
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