Posted by
flagwaver on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:00:21 PM
The net roots as a political force are officially
dead on the Democratic side of the aisle. While we may continue to hear about
them in the media, and the Democratic Party candidates will continue to pander
to them, and attend the Yearly Kos convention to shore up their support, they
are basically dead men walking. Their heyday, such as it was, is over. They are
now just another special interest group for the Democrat Party to pander to in
order to get their votes.
The
net roots effectively killed themselves with their defeat of Joe Lieberman in
the 2006 midterm primaries; while getting the nomination for Ned Lamont was a
victory, it was the classic example of a Pyrrhic victory. Winning that one
victory cost them any chance of being a real player in Democratic politics
because it came at a heavy cost to the net roots crowd; it showed their true
weakness.
The
net roots went after Joe Lieberman in the primary with both guns blazing, using
all sorts of incendiary and anti-Semitic language to attack him for not backing
off of his vote to authorize the war in Iraq. He was painted as being some sort
of lackey to the Bush administration, and of being some sort of neo-con war
hawk. And many a Democrat politician abandoned Lieberman when it became clear
that he would not be winning the primary, and they went hard after him when he
announced that he would run in the general election regardless of whether or
not he won the Democrat nomination. As we all know, Ned Lamont won the primary
but was smoked like a pack of Kool and Mild's in the general election.
And
that is where the net roots lost any of the real influence they had gained in
the Democratic Party. The Democrats may be many things, but politically stupid
is not one of them! They saw that while the net roots were able to turn out
enough votes to make a splash in the primaries, they did not have the type of
support it takes to win a general election. Daily Kos, Democrat Underground,
and Moveon.org may be able to muster a few thousand in Connecticut to sway the
results in a primary---where a very low percentage of voters even bother to
turn out---but they do not have the power to impact the general elections. It
takes more than a few thousand voters nation wide to affect the outcome of a
Presidential election; and even if the net roots could deliver a couple of
million, that wouldn’t get it done either.
What’s
more, the Kos kids and others are pretty much true believers in their liberal
causes, and they aren’t about to find that in the Democratic Party. Big time
politics demands compromise and flexibility, and the net roots just don’t have
that in them. They cannot seem to abide any politician that is not in complete
lockstep with their positions and beliefs, which effectively locks them out of
any real power.
So
the net roots crowd now finds itself in the same boat as gays, the poor, and
blacks. The Democrats will come around ever so often, pander to them, make all
sorts of promises they never intend to keep, and collect their votes. Think
about it: Where else are the Kos kids going to go? They hate the GOP and they
don’t want to identify themselves as the socialists they truly are, so they are
pretty much stuck with the Democrats.
So
the members of the net roots can continue to believe that they are a real power
bloc, that they are very influential, or that they are Democrat king makers.
But we all know better than that, don’t we? The Democrats have the net roots
right where they want them.
So
please join me in welcoming the net roots into the Democratic Party.
Welcome
to the Democratic Plantation; make yourselves comfortable, because you’re going
to be here a long, long time!