And what a one-sided buttkicking this is for the forces of logic. Kimberly Strassel in her role of Arbiter Of All That Is Serious decides the Netroots movement has lost, in particular, Daily Kos.
Her entire argument for “Netroots For Teh Lose” boils down to this:
Henry Cuellar, Harold Ford, and Joe Fucking Lieberman. Yep, that’s her entire argument: because these three Democrats exist, the Netroots lost in 2006. Hahahaha. Stupid Liberals!
Mr. Cuellar goes so far as to argue that instead of cowing Democratic moderates, the left-wing attacks have united them. More middle-of-the-roaders now believe that if the bloggers were to win a high-profile primary, it would only energize them to go after others. “This has brought us together to say, ‘this is us, and we’ve got to stick together,'” he says.
But perhaps the Netroots biggest failure, suggests Mr. Cuellar, is that it hasn’t bludgeoned his party’s leadership into abandoning the middle. It was moderate Democrats who won their party the majority last year (the New Democrats now boast 60 members; 13 new additions), and Mr. Cuellar claims few people understand that better than Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “I’ve seen her behind the scenes, and I’ve always thought she was liberal, but she’s done a good job of trying to bring us more to the middle.”
For proof, Mr. Cuellar suggests a look at “all the passes” the leadership has given red-state Dems on tough votes like Iraq, missile defense and immigration. This is an obvious recognition by the top ranks of the party that getting moderates re-elected is the only way to stay in power. They know that “if we go the way these Internet groups want us to go, we’ll be the shortest-lived majority in congressional history,” he says.
Now, keep in mind what the word “Moderate” means to Ms. Strassel, with the evidence of Joe Fucking Lieberman and company as examples: voting to prolong the war, voting to continue to rob Americans of civil liberties, voting in lockstep with the Republican party out of fear.
A good “moderate Democrat” is a cowed Democrat, one who cares more about getting re-elected by carrying the Bush water, supporting the President whenever possible, and having no spine to resist the systematic and systemic rape of America’s Constitution.
A good “moderate Democrat” is a Republican. And for trying to resist this, the netroots are supposedly “out-of-touch” with Americans…Americans who overwhelmingly want to end the war, want to bring our troops home, and want more protections to civil liberties, not less.
Because in Ms. Strassel’s alternate universe, a good American is a moderate. And a moderate shuts up and takes it like a victim. Pssst! Kimmy! America doesn’t trust you guys anymore.