The recent decision of Sen. John Kerry to choose the popular Daily Kos blog as the platform from which to announce his decision to support a Senate filibuster in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Samuel Alito has the blogosphere and media world at large zooming with buzz.
Crystallizing and in some ways fueling the debate is a Saturday Washington Post piece entitled "Blogs Attack From Left as Democrats Reach for Center". While looking at a variety of ways in which blogs are affecting the political process, Staff Writer Jim VandeHei chose to portray the liberal and center-left focused blogosphere as a unified group enraged by the "gutless sellouts" that hold leadership positions in the Democratic Party.
There was an immediate pushback and response from blog land, as could be expected, led from the left by MyDD:
To be fair, there is some tension between the Democratic Party and the
progressive blogosphere. Unlike the rightist blogosphere, we tend to be a bit more independent and suspicious of power. But to pretend that we're in an all-out war is silly. If that were the case, I doubt the majority of us would still consider ourselves Democrats. Some of our favorite Democrats are people like Jack Murtha, the pro-life Harry Reid, and Russ Feingold, who voted to confirm Chief Justice Roberts. As Markos has pointed out time and again, the tension doesn't stem from ideology. It's all about entrenched power and reform.
Some blogs, MyDD included, felt it important to look at VandeHai's own purported bias as well as that of The Washington Post itself. The Left Coaster had this to say:
You can always tell when the traditional corporate conservative media and the Beltway Democrats start feeling a little heat from an energized and well-informed pushback by the center-left blogosphere. In the case of the media, and especially the GOP water-carrying Washington Post of late, their clueless ombudsperson Deborah Howell whined that the center-left bloggers were mean to her for pointing out her careless dismissal of easily-verifiable facts about the Abramoff/GOP connection.
Others, such as The News Blog, felt it important to apportion blame for Democratic failures in the appropriate place, namely with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, stating "… It is the DLC and friends who sandbag Democratic candidates and follow Republican talking points. Not the bloggers. We support Dems who fight, simple as that. Jack Murtha, Russ Feingold, doesn't matter. The only litmus test is a willingness to defend principles."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Scott Butki
Excellent piece, Eric.
2 - Bryan McKay
Very interesting, Eric. I think the answer to your question remains to be seen, but I do think that blogging stands a good chance of rehabilitating the arena of politics if not the Democratic Party itself.
The very nature of blogging gives voice to constituents who would be otherwise rendered voiceless. The Blogosphere itself is the most democratic of venues (in the traditional sense of the word). No one is prevented from opening up an account with a host like Blog*Spot. With the number of political dialogues occuring on blogs, politics are being taken back into the hands of the people.
It's a revolution, for sure. Not a Democratic one and not a Republican one, but a revolution of the American people. Even the bloggers from opposing political camps, whether they like it or not, are all part of the same movement to reclaim the political.
3 - gonzo marx
very nice read, Eric...
it points out quite a bit that usualy remains unseen and unsaid...especially the insinuation that the DLC is exactly why the dems can't seem to win the big stuff in the last few years...
the whole, "why woudl i vote for Republican-lite" bit, has left quite a few folks floundering over the years
now, to me, the far Left is about as scary as the far Right...
but the observation that the "center-Left" is MUCH more individualistic and scattered than the seemingly monolithic "Right" just shows where a lot of the problem lies
we will see after November , just how much the Net and Blogosphere has impacted our political process as more folks tune in, turn on, and speak out
Excelsior!
4 - Paul
I think the only reason Kerry would use Blogs is out of desperation. He cannot get any support from the rest of the Democrat senators to support a filibuster. One thing everyone learned from the presidential elections is that Kerry is not independant or free thinking.
I agree with Bryan that the blogs are are a result of the people taking back politics and more importantly the media into their own hands. I keep hearing every one call it conservative and corporate media, but the media has been mostly left and liberal until the last election.
5 - Pat Fish
I chanced to read the Democratic Underground while the Alito hearings were ongoing. Those people worked like the dickens to call/email/fax every Democratic senator and it looks like they managed to get some of them to call for a filibuster.
Whatever the idealology, those Dem blogs worked it hard AND they won!
Biden was on some show (isn't he always?). He said he was going to vote one time for a filibusteer but he didn't think it would succeed. His manner was so nonchalant...you didn't even have to read between the lines to see he wanted to say "we gotta throw the daily kos and other blogs a bone".
But since your post says will the blogosphere ruin the Dem party I'll tell you what I'm starting to suspect.
Remember when Howie Dean was running for prez? He threatened to form a new party and got everyone scared. It's why they made the man head of the DNC so goes the scuttlebutt.
Well I think the Dem party is really going to split into two parties.
Yes I do.
Now I don't think anything will happen until after the midterm elections. But if the Dems do bad in that election (which I think they will), then you will see a split in the party.
It's why Hillary, Kerry, Pelosi...et al, pander to the extreme left. Kerry doesn't have a chance in hell of being anything unless there's a third extreme left party. And Al Gore! My Lord, he'll be their first presidential candidate!
6 - Eric Berlin
Thanks all!
Bryan -- I agree that blogging is a wonderful and wonderfully powerful medium that is just starting to flex its power. There will be some level of conflict and friction between those who get with the New Way and those who get left behind. For the Democrats, they are stuck in a scenario now where they have an activist e-chattering class on one side and an amorphous middle on the other that has not been fully won over since the Clinton administration.
Gonzo -- I actually think that the Dems would have had a better chance in recent years of sticking with a centrist, triangulated campaign (Clinton/DLC style) OR fully embracing the activist left. They've gotten stuck several times now with a mixed message and until they get in gear with a strong message of some sort they will continue to lose.
Paul -- Yes, I think it's clear that Kerry was looking for a strategic win-win in heading to the blogosphere, trying to basically combine the Deaniac forces with the ABB Democrats.
7 - Dave Nalle
This raises the fascinating question of whether Kerry's appearance on Kos helps to legitimize the extreme faction which Kos represents or whether his appearance on Kos means that he's moved so far to the fringe that he's no longer a serious political figure. Or is it okay to openly be a socialist in the Democratic party now, and what does that mean for the future of the party?
Dave
8 - Scott
I think it has to do more with the daily kos counter than anything. They get a lot of traffic and Kerry wanted some sort of forum to speak to get his message out to people who might generally agree and support him.
9 - Dave Nalle
Wait, I have a new answer for the title of the piece.
Bloggers will save AND destroy the democratic party! If they get their way the party will be leaner, cleaner and more ideologically pure. It will probably also be way more able to push its new socialist agenda. So that will save the party.
The problem is that it will also become a real minority party with no more than a 30% showing in national elections and ony about a third of the seats in the house and senate, so the national democratic party as we know it will be destroyed.
IMO this would be a desirable outcome for all concerned, of course.
10 - Howard
Blogging won't amount to anything in the big picture.
Kerry lost in 2004 thanks to the Supreme Judicial Court of the People's Republic of Massachusetts.
The judicial edict allowing homosexual marriage built a fire under a few million Conservatives who went out to vote because they wanted no part of anyone from that sorry state in the White House.
I doubt they blog or care what bloggers are saying.
And those who blog have already chosen sides.
11 - Howard
If you haven't seen it, check out Oliphant's cartoon on this subject.
http://www.ucomics.com/patoliphant/
12 - Jawahar Mundlapati
Politics is about explicitly "protecting" the interests of masses while implicitly "balancing" their interests.
Hope democrat bloggers will master this art.
13 - Eric Berlin
Dave -- As I always have, I reject both the notion that Daily Kos is part of the "extreme left" and that the activist wing of the Democratic Party is "socialist." That's a distortion of the truth -- one you'd like to believe, but that doesn't make it true.
I also reject the notion that blogs and the blogosphere has no influence. From Howard Dean to Dan Rather to the current organization and structure of how both the left and right communicate, blogs are a major factor and that will only increase over time.
2008 is going to be an all out blog jamboree, mark my words!
14 - Dave Nalle
Kos is what the people there believe in as a group, and it's attracted some very extreme left-wingers. And as for socialism, the ties between Kos and the SWP seem pretty hard to ignore. The management may not be that far left, but so many of the active voices are far left by nature or outright socialist stootges that it really makes no difference.
Dave
15 - DJRadiohead
I have watched many 'saviors' be co-opted, corrupted, marginalized...
Blogging will neither save nor destroy the Democratic Party, Republican Party, or the two-party system at large. I think blogging will burn bright for a time only to fizzle when it is co-opted (signs of this already evident) corrupted (not hard to imagine a scenario where that happens) or marginalized by the next big thing. Blogging has its moment in the sun now. Starting with Rather, the clock is ticking. We are probably at 14:55 on the 15 minute scale.
16 - Justin Berry
It will still come down to the candidates. As Kerry should have learned all the star power in hollywood in addition to his beloved RedSox breaking a curse couldnt get him elected.
People vote for the candidate who supports their beliefs. Blogging will have an impact but not enough to swing an election away from the values of the voters.
17 - DJRadiohead
not enough to swing an election away from the values of the voters.
I guess I have gotten cynical. I haven't noticed the values of voters getting mixed up with elections.
18 - Dave Nalle
Voters have values?
Dave
19 - DJRadiohead
Dave's more cynical than I am. =)
20 - Justin Berry
This one does and I ont expect anyone to understand them. I vote on how the platform compares to my core values. I would expect everyone else does the same.
Although noone has asked my opinion lately I expect them to vote to my core values.
21 - Eric Berlin
DJR -- I love ya but I see the power of blogs only increasing. They'll intermingle with mainstream media and may not always look like your traditional blog, but they are here to stay.
22 - DJRadiohead
EB, the admiration is mutual. You may prove correct.
I see the blogs as I see 'grunge' music and the Reform Party. They both made an impact upon their arrival but got co-opted, corrupted, fizzled, etc. The blogosphere is being bought up by corporate America as we speak. There will likely remain a few lone pirates but the overall scene looks ripe for corporate-izing. Napster went from one dude's invention to a corporate entity. Napster wasn't a blog. I'm just saying. I don't know that the blogosphere as a truly independent voice and powerful force will be a long-term reality.
23 - Ty
Bloggers should think on their own and suppport the THIRD PARTY that best supports their beliefs (i.e., the Green Party, the Constitutional Party, Libertarian, etc)
24 - Matthew T. Sussman
Blog nation isn't unified, at least under the Democratic Party, because as a whole they don't agree with everything they stand for.
Sure, they want reform. They want peace. They want a strong economy. But can half these blogs come to some kind of agreement on how to do it? My guess is they can't.
25 - JP
Howard, I think you hit the nail on the head--last time it was Gay Marriage, and this time all signs are pointing toward Abortion. Honestly, I think while the online community debates how effective bloggers are and how to harness the power, the far right is simultaneously milking the Culture Wars for all they're worth in middle America. The numbers ensure that strategy will again pay off--it's why the right doesn't have as much of an organized presence in the blogosphere--they dont' need it, they're already winning elections.
As for the Dems, I think a split is coming. And honestly, I'm praying every day that a similiar thing happens among Republicans, where the freaks on the Christian Coalition Right pull so far away from moderates that they can't agree on anything. Bush is planting the seeds of that right now.