I had been very upset about the Clinton campaign calling Barack Obama
an "elitist".It has angered me more than anything else has. The centrist Democrats have used such terms against those of us who were outsiders...for years. Fringe, elite, etc.
I did a search at the DLC website on the term "elitist", and I found this jewel of an article from 2003. There is almost no one left to insult. :-)
Caucuses like Iowa's are briar patches where born and bred activists flourish. They are run according to complex procedures, and they exclude independents. The arrival of the Internet has provided a powerful set of tools for activists to get organized well in advance of the already front-loaded nominating season -- a period when, almost by definition, activists are the only ones focused on politics. Using the Internet, Dean has achieved a virtual mind meld with those activists by capitalizing on their visceral hatred of President Bush and disdain for moderate Democrats. When all is said and done, the new dynamic could lead Democrats right into the hands of President Bush, who wants nothing more than a liberal Democratic opponent
...."But there is also another, simpler explanation for why fringe groups would be using the Internet better than mainstream campaigns: "Because they have to," said Fose, McCain's Internet manager.
Certainly, the fringes of the political spectrum are active online on heavily trafficked discussion boards such as the left-wing democraticunderground.com and the right-wing freerepublic.com. Dean's fiery message resonates in the left-wing haunts. He is the favorite son on democraticunderground.com, according to the site's proprietor, David Allen, and the people posting on that site are an animated bunch. Much of what they post -- about Bush, and about moderate Democrats -- would not be appropriate to repeat here.
But the question remains: It's easy to activate the activists, but what about everyone else?
That will be the real test. Recent political history strongly suggests a liberal protest coalition simply doesn't add up to enough votes for a Democrat to win a national election.
Perhaps the closest parallel to the Dean strategy is the dot-com companies of the late 1990s: Accumulate eyeballs now and fill in the blanks on their business plans later. If, in the end, the early hype and glory of Dean's Internet campaign goes the way of the dot-com bust, then historians may rightly conclude it was for similar reasons.
Nothing but NetIf you do a search on "fringe", "elitist", and or even the word "activist"...you might be surprised at what turns up.