Good Huffington Post article; "Bloggers in the Wilderness"

[Batgirl]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/the-broken-triangle-pr_b_13691.html

"This, then, is the reality: progressive bloggers and online activists -- positioned on the front lines of a cold civil war -- face a thankless and daunting task: battle the Bush administration and its legions of online and offline apologists, battle the so-called "liberal" media and its tireless weaving of pro-GOP narratives, battle the ineffectual Democratic leadership, and battle the demoralization and frustration that comes with a long, steep uphill struggle."

The writer offers his explanation of why even though Bush keeps getting caught red-handed he keeps slipping through our collective fingers. And he describes a scenario of how the Alito situation could have gone down differently if our Dem leadership were on the ball.

[SeattleRob]

1. this is a very important article - all must read! n/t

[CottonBear]

2. "...online activists -- positioned on the front lines of a cold civil war"

This is our grim reality. :(

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

3. K&R. Good article.

[emulatorloo]

4. Kicking and Recommending -- Everybody outta read. . . .Please . . .n/t

[applegrove]

5. Thanks for posting!

[Batgirl]

6. thanks for reading

Can't help wondering/hoping if articles like this will help us find answers for how we can get our leadership to work with us, the "netroots", so we can be more effective.

[Jawja]

19. We need new leadership.

Howard Dean is a great start. John Edwards is a great start. So is Barbara Boxer.

We need to see more of THEM in the media, representing the party in the Alito discussions. With all due respect to Biden and Durbin, of course.

[Surya Gayatri]

36. After watching ranking Dem Leahy

during the hearings, I have to agree. New blood is needed, with all due deference to the older generation's service. The lack of dynamism and energy is palpable when guys like Kohl, Biden, et al. drone on & on. They may still have good ideas but lack the punch to inspire others to implement them. SG

[Batgirl]

7. kicking for a worthwhile read n/t

[AuntiBush]

8. That's the Best Article I've Read (Explaining Our Dilemma)

In a long, long time! The author, "Peter Dauo" knows how we feel, and details it so precise - Right to the point he writes it.

And, my sediments exactly!

Snip

"The NSA scandal and the Alito confirmation hearings are just two more examples of the left’s broken triangle and of the isolation of the progressive netroots. A flurry of activity among bloggers, online activists, and advocacy groups is met with ponderously inept strategizing by the Democratic leadership and relentless -- and insidious -- repetition by the media of pro-GOP narratives and soundbites. It's slow-motion-car-wreck painful, and most certainly NOT where the left's triangle should be a half decade into the new millennium, as the Bush-propping machine hums and whirrs, poll numbers rise and fall, Iraq bleeds, scandal dissolves into scandal, terror speech blends into terror speech. The landscape is there for everyone to see, to analyze. Enough time has elapsed to make the system transparent. It is dismaying for netroots activists to see the same mistakes repeated despite the benefit of hindsight."

End Snip

Thank you Huffington Post, Peter Dauo and Batgirl for putting this out here. While it gives one no pleasure to read how things are (bad, very bad in my opinion), it's some comfort knowing we're not alone. Well, a little comfort... a tiny bit, anyway.

:cry:

[shadowlight]

9. I'll kick this. nt

[samhsarah]

10. thanks.

[CrackpotAmerica]

11. Thanks for posting This!

It's rare that I go over to Huff for some reason... This made my day!

:nominated:

[bpilgrim]

12. who's STREETS?!?

Our Streets

we have to do it the old fashioned way at the end of the day... the www will help us organize but thats it. once organized we have to exercise our liberty in the streets there is no other way.

peace

[KoKo]

13. We took to the streets and it was barely reported. We stood with Cindy

Sheehan and for awhile there was some attention, and then it drifted away with Katrina.

When we gave it all we had....it was pretty much ignored or dispared as "aging hippies" who just like to show up for a protest. Even though the camera shots showed people from all walks of life...

We've signed petitions until one wonders where they ever go since they are not answered. We've written the media for years and they don't change. We've "de-freeped" online polls almost daily...we've written our congresspersons, put flyers in librarys and on telephone polls, we've gone door to door working for our candidates, we've gotten involved in our local Party.

And, so much never changes. How much longer? As long as it takes? Or, until we have fresh troops to help up get that ball up the hill where it will stay. I don't see our groups increasing in my state. It's still the same ones of us who are so worn out with it that without more people getting off their butts we won't have the energy and the time it takes to keep at it without more hope than we are seeing coming from DC and the MSM.

[bpilgrim]

14. we have only just begun to fight...

it hs to be a long sustained campaign and it MUST include civil disobedience.

if the power that be have no sustained pressure they will ignore us, as their first step, every-time.


more...
http://GlobalFreePress.com

[0007]

40. Civil Disobedience is right around the corner, not because

this administration is out of line, but because the people are becoming desperate, suppressed and angry. Perhaps many of the demonstrators will be people that love junior, LOL!

:hi:

[Southsideirish]

33. There has to be an embarrassing downside for the Wimpy Weasel Dems

who ignore us and stab us in the back.

[lonestarnot]

15. Let's do it again! Thousands .....throngs to D.C.!

[PassingFair]

16. If you follow the link to the essay, you will find this:

"I attended communications strategy sessions where veteran consultants presented one set of ideas, then plunged into Democratic Underground’s forums to read thousands of impassioned arguments to the contrary."

[KoKo]

17. What links are you talking about "following?"

:shrug:

[PassingFair]

18. Sorry KoKo...

In the first paragraph he references the original essay on the "triangle". I was too lazy to post it.
After your kick in the pants:

http://daoureport.salon.com/synopsis.aspx?synopsisId=147a2536-4de0-4716-9cc0-6c681e095ffd

Enjoy!

[KoKo]

29. Thanks for that link..the "inside Kerry Campaign report" was fascinating

as was reading all the comments to the Daou Editorial. Many wonky DU'ers would probably find it a good read right now..even though the Editorial is from September..most of the issues seem even more important given the possible Alito confirmation without a fillibuster.

I can't say I agree with what Daou thinks we should be doing here on the Netroots. His view is really from working with a Campaign and I agree with some of the Commenters on his article that we need to be working on areas broder than what he says: "focusing on Democratic Leadership and the Bush Legacy." But, a good read for though.

[KoKo]

31. Your Salon Link to Daou's Insider report on Kerry Campaign are

an interesting complement to the Huff Post article.

[kentuck]

20. Yep, we're on our own...

<snip>

"Which brings me to the Alito hearings, a perfect instance for the left's triangle to change conventional wisdom, to shape public opinion. But rather than a Democratic triumph, the Alito hearings have thrown the dichotomy between the netroots and the Democratic leadership into even starker relief, illustrating the profound dysfunction of the left’s triangle. As well, the depth and breadth of media complicity and the obliviousness of so many Democrats to it, is alarming. From the choreography of Specter and Alito creating the "open mind on abortion" soundbite that media outlets dutifully ran with, to the Sen. Graham/Mrs. Alito tear-fest that should have prompted Dems to slam the Republicans for bringing the Judge's wife to tears but instead turned into another Dem-bashing occasion, to the complete failure of the Democratic leadership to create the appropriate tone of outrage (in soundbite form), the chronic breakdown of the establishment and media sides of the left's triangle is apparent."

[Strawman]

21. Kick Kick Kick

Peter Daou really gets it.

[liberalcanuck]

22. Great stuff - I went back and read his article...

"The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying Story Will Unfold (and Fade)". How prescient and scary is that? Each and every point we have all seen played out. It can be so f&*(*%^ depressing at times. The damn triangle is broken. The disconnect between lefty bloggers and the democratic leadership can't be more apparent. But optimistically speaking, there are some great tactics in this blog entry that need to be incorporated into whatever hapless "strategy" we have now, namely...

"3. A list of mainstream reporters, GOP shills like Norah O'Donnell and Wolf Blitzer, would have been targeted by a Dem war room: their various Bush-propping tricks (like using polls to 'prove' that Americans are "divided" and don't share liberal activists' alarm over Alito, that the hearings are boring and Alito is a shoe-in, that Democrats are pre-judging Alito but Republicans aren't, etc.) would have been laid out in a detailed memo before the hearings."

[Jon8503]

23. Thanks for the article. On Target. Kicked. --- N/T.

[Armstead]

24. As raunchy as DU can be sometimes, this is why it's important

Sites like DU, for better nd worse, are the voice of a significant proportion of the population. (We're also as diverse, as the frequent flame wars show.)

The Democratic power brokers ignore this type of grass roots expression at their peril (and ours).

Hell they should see the "blogosphere" as an ongoing free public opinion poll and town hall meeting. A valuable resource for them, and free for the taking.

[Stephanie]

25. we're the ground troops in the propaganda war

we're the front line

[SeattleRob]

26. true

and it appears most of the people in our leadership aren't taking advantage of the people they have at their disposal -the people oin the front lines of the web!

[Ninga]

27. I am depressed at the thought of not being around to see the

"turn around" when this country gets its senses back and realizes that total GOP control is a very very bad thing.

It took women 73 years of activism, work , abuse, sweat, tears, rebelion and eduction to get the vote.

I don't have 73 years.

[cyberpj]

34. I'm with you. And that protester with the sign that said

I CAN'T BELIEVE WE HAVE TO PROTEST THIS CRAP AGAIN!

[MODemocrat]

47. I lived through some real good times during my 73 years

Also some bad times, but I'll swear to you, all the bad times were during a republican administration.
I'll never live long enough now to see this horrible mess straightened out. The democrats are surely falling down on their damned job. Shame on them for continuing to accept a huge paycheck for doing exactly opposite of what we elected them for...... :spank: :spank: :grr: :cry:

[obreaslan]

28. Kick! Because it's important!

:kick:

[maxsolomon]

30. The Democratic Senate Leadership is OLD

OLD OLD OLD.

and this has a great deal to do with it. I know that the GOP Senate Leadership is OLDER, but they just read the talking points memos, its an entire bottomless-funding consultant empire that makes their frames.

the "young guns" such as dot-com millionaire Maria Cantwell - where is she on this issue? do we have a frame-making apparatus? cuz i don't see one that's functioning. at all.

[cyberpj]

32. This is exactly why so many of us feel overwhelmed and fatalistic. nt.

[Dunvegan]

35. Cue in the Fighting Dems...

...and the fighting old Dems like Reid and Kennedy.

Oh...and us older folk here (who also agree with the sign that said "We have to protest this again?")

[Hestia]

37. "Democrat" & "Leadership" is an oxymoron

It does seem like to one-two punch - the Democrats are pummeling Dean, the person who people really want as President and Leader, and then you have K Street -- could the current Dem Leadership not be getting their cues from the K Street Leaders? Told to latch onto the little distraction and keep the Dems befuddled all the time? They are doing their jobs well, i.e., there is no Democratic Leadership,
just business as usual in DC, find the highest paying job and hang onto it tooth and nail while you benefit from the laws you helped to bring into fruition.

[Blutodog]

38. Dauo's latest

He's a good analyst up to a point. He accurately explains why Bu$hCo can get away with outrage after outrage as did Reagan and Nixon but what he misses is a simple fact at this pt. in time 60% of the public in poll after poll has basically "got it" in respect to what Bu$hCo et al. are up to and have basically had it. Nevertheless, the general public like those of us in the left blogoshere also understand were essentially stuck with this guy and his fascist admin. for the time being. We hope.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

39. I think he provides no solutions.

He offers techniques, but he doesn't provide an idea of how to implement them. In order to implement them, there has to be a structure in place that people are tuned into. Republicans have that structure: churches. Churches are what neighborhoods used to be in the U.S. before sprawl, corporations swallowing small business, and the automobile, began distancing everyone and turning us into a nation of gypsies. Churches are the only form of socializing many people in the U.S. have now. (Waving hi to the neighbors is not socializing). Churches bring mass numbers of people together for hours, where they can be (and are) easily reached, and Republicans moved their politics into the churches of the U.S. decades ago. Once so many people reached so easily, they can be easily mobilized. Churches are a very cheap and quick way to reach mass numbers of people. However, that's the domain of the Republicans.

There are many plans of attack. The writer has some. Even I have some. I think, for example, an excellent plan of attack might be to use every opportunity to point out how immoral and amoral Republicans are. There are certainly countless examples of it! However, once again, to implement anything you have to reach a huge number of people cheaply and quickly. How do we libs reach a mass number of people as cheaply and quickly as Republicans do via churches?

[PATRICK]

43. A REAL news network

and fast. A real change on the part of the Democratic leadership in regards to national forums and use of real information. At least criticize Dems who play into the GOP cards by calling their best hope, the "left", the "progressive activists". Well, in a regressive climate in crisis standing still is an option?
The Dems are wandering around with the discarded rulebook being encouraged and mocked at the same time by the only people they do listen to- their enemies and the enemies of all the decent, silenced majority.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

49. Good point!

I think Air America is a great start.

[Toots]

44. You are exactly right and we need to go into those churches and preach

the word of Jesus. Christianity should be taught in Christian churches and not Hatred and Hypocrisy. How the heck did they turn the Church against Christ???

[Sarah Ibarruri]

50. Religions have always been used for corruption

Not only have religions been used for corruption, but the right wing of religions has always been authoritarian and leaning towards fascist, cruel governments and societies.

[PATRICK]

41. Instead

the Dems go on the GOP controlled talk shows fundamentally giving the lies the legitimacy of a "mainstream" position against which the "minority" Dems try to use watered down forms of reason and indignation. But no matter HOW strong and great their stands are on the slanted tube, they go there giving the immediate impression of humble acquiescence to a fraud without really lunging through the airwaves to get at the audience OR get the audience themselves to break through the accepted fraud from their end.

As for being the front line, the Dem leadership, if it knows where any front line is, can't imagine that anymore than the scope of election rigging. They like our money and fire support, but to them it will always be a sideshow EVEN when their position crumbles into retreat. Some Congressmen like some news reporters and some rich guys, and some Conservatives even, tie into the efforts of truth but each one is rendered feeble EVEN if the actuality is the majority of the defrauded, stifled population is becoming noticeably aware and on our side. Our side being the fuller, more judicious news of the Internet and the public forums surrounding it.

George is King of the Hill and the Dems on the Hill play that game. They all cannot acknowledge those crawling up the slopes to topple them all, to change the insanely slanted, lying fiasco that is that sordid game.

[PATRICK]

42. Instead

the Dems go on the GOP controlled talk shows fundamentally giving the lies the legitimacy of a "mainstream" position against which the "minority" Dems try to use watered down forms of reason and indignation. But no matter HOW strong and great their stands are on the slanted tube, they go there giving the immediate impression of humble acquiescence to a fraud without really lunging through the airwaves to get at the audience OR get the audience themselves to break through the accepted fraud from their end.

As for being the front line, the Dem leadership, if it knows where any front line is, can't imagine that anymore than the scope of election rigging. They like our money and fire support, but to them it will always be a sideshow EVEN when their position crumbles into retreat. Some Congressmen like some news reporters and some rich guys, and some Conservatives even, tie into the efforts of truth but each one is rendered feeble EVEN if the actuality is the majority of the defrauded, stifled population is becoming noticeably aware and on our side. Our side being the fuller, more judicious news of the Internet and the public forums surrounding it.

George is King of the Hill and the Dems on the Hill play that game. They all cannot acknowledge those crawling up the slopes to topple them all, to change the insanely slanted, lying fiasco that is that sordid game.

[uniclave]

45. Huffington Post surpassed Free Republic in readership

See alexa internet traffic numbers.
www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=6m&size=medium&y=r&url=www.huffingtonpost.com#top

[Oakland]

46. This is a companion piece and another must read

http://www.alternet.org/story/30487/
Chompsky says, "There is no war or terror", and there is no opposition party."

[Oakland]

48. Subject: This is a companion piece and another must read

http://www.alternet.org/story/30487 /
Chompsky says, "There is no war or terror", and there is no opposition party."