WAPO article, "Blogs Attack From Left ," calls us "fiery liberal"

[ProSense]

Blogs Attack From Left as Democrats Reach for Center

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 28, 2006; Page A06

Democrats are getting an early glimpse of an intraparty rift that could complicate efforts to win back the White House: fiery liberals raising their voices on Web sites and in interest groups vs. elected officials trying to appeal to a much broader audience.

These activists -- spearheaded by battle-ready bloggers and making their influence felt through relentless e-mail campaigns -- have denounced what they regard as a flaccid Democratic response to the Supreme Court fight, President Bush's upcoming State of the Union address and the Iraq war. In every case, they have portrayed party leaders as gutless sellouts.


First, liberal Web logs went after Democrats for selecting Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to deliver the response to Bush's speech next Tuesday. Kaine's political sins: He was too willing to drape his candidacy in references to religion and too unwilling to speak out aggressively against Bush on the Iraq war. Kaine has been lauded by party officials for finding a victory formula in Bush country by running on faith, values and fiscal discipline.

Many Web commentators wanted Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a leading critic of the Iraq war who advocates a speedy withdrawal, to be the opposition voice on the State of the Union night. Most Democratic lawmakers have distanced themselves from the Murtha position. "What the hell are they thinking?" was the title of liberal blogger Arianna Huffington's column blasting the Kaine selection.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/27/AR2006012701505.html?nav=rss_nation/special[/div

[rainy]

1. when right wing bloggers do this they are all smart and uncovering

important facts that the public really needs to know. when we do it the media calls us names and makes fun of us. First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you and then you win.

[AX10]

2. This is a cheap hit against us for calling the Post out on...

their falsely implicating Democrats in the Abramoff scandal.

Remeber, it's the Whorington Post.

[Justitia]

5. yeah, they kinda hate us for nailing their LYING OMBUDSMAN. -eom

[BlueIris]

3. Snerk. That spin is disgusting, but I keep reading it, When Blogs Attack.

Snerk. That's...kinda funny, even in this context.

[Justitia]

4. Gee, I'm starting to feel like "a force to be reckoned with" - yea! -eom

[Bumblebee]

6. Yes, we of course lost all these elections because of too much "fire" :)

What a tired line, and what an idiot.

[progressivebydesign]

7. Did someone attack Timothy Kaine? What's happened to Dems??

We have become the most narrow minded people on earth, if that's the case. I have to hand it to the repugnant republicans.. at LEAST they know how to rally around their candidate, even if he's a piece of shit. Democrats love to have circular firing squads.. publicly. I think Jeb Bush will make a LOVELY president in 2008, or perhaps McCain, cuz that's what we're enabling by this constant infighting and fucking purity test for liberals.

[AX10]

9. You are playing into their hands

This is but a cheap attack from the Post, in retaliation for our balls to go after them for lying about the Democrats being involved in the Abramoff scandal.

[wookie294]

10. You're right - Kaine should stop dissing the Left

Let's come together and promote the liberal wing of the Democrats and stop the DLC from criticizing us!

[Psephos]

12. Thank you for stating that sensibly

I expect no less from you.

Purity purges will be the death of progressive cohesion. As Franklin said, we either hang together, or we will hang separately.

Peace.

[joemurphy]

13. Arriana Huffington felt Kaine was dull, a boring speaker, and

lacking in charisma. She felt he was a poor choice to be the Democratic rebuttal to the SOTU.

As far as I know, she's the ONLY one making this argument. It's hardly a universal position among bloggers. I haven't seen anyone knocking Kaine here.

[AX10]

14. The Whorington Post strikes again.

[Canuckistanian]

8. VandeHei. Utterly predictable.

The defender of Howell's "democrats took money, too" excuse.

[MH1]

32. Note how he implies that K/E04 was advised by lobbyists.

When, in fact, Elmendorf was not a lobbyist when he worked on K/E04, and his current firm could hardly be called "Democratic."

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2006/1/28/10530/4735/126#126

[jillan]

11. Dam straight! Don't mess with the liberal bloggers.

I took that article as a compliment.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. OH. MY.

:hide:

[Blaukraut]

16. this article is making us sound

like the fringe left. We're being compared to right wing hate radio, and any Dem who listens to us is portrayed as weak-willed, whereas people like Kaine, who 'stand their ground' against us are the strong leaders, trying to unify the party.
We might as well be prepared for this; the MSM is going to try to discredit us at every turn, because we pose a threat to them, and the establishment.
The only difference between us and the so-called mainstream Dem voters is that we, through the internet, are simply better informed on the issues.

(edited to add above sentence)

[OKthatsIT]

19. I dont care what they say...they're morons

[EFerrari]

29. Yes -- so we'll step back in line. Nice try, WaHo. n/t

[Bumblebee]

17. And this is just a straight lie:

"Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) also opposes the filibuster." Unless he went back to opposing it.

[lyonn]

18. First the media says Dems don't stand for anything

then they hammer them for trying to make a stand on issues. Don't know anything about Gov. Kaine but he sounds real exciting, sarcasm. What makes Kaine special? You would think they would pick someone that is known and proven, Boxer, Feingold, Gore, Obama.

I'm waiting for some weekend voo doo and that All the Dem. Senators will get their act together and vote together. What's so hard about proving Alito is a radical rightie? He has towed the neo-cons line since college and now they try to tell America he is impartial??

[FreedomAngel82]

26. Yep

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[alcibiades_mystery]

33. Kaine is special because he proves to the DC establishment

that Dems can only win if they are, in fact, soft Republicans. It is another feather in the cap of one=party rule, the dream of all the Washington press corps as they swagger around half drunk on martinis and their infantile love of power. More power, the more to love and grovelo to. The fucking Washington press establishment is an outrage. They should thank their sweet asses that I'll never be in power, that's for sure, cuz things would change damn quick with them.

[seabeyond]

20. i agree with this article. kinda what i was talking about this morning

i think it is something we need to take into consideration in the future. we need blogs, we need du. but i can see where it can become disruptive and cause problems that is for sure. we dont have msm. we need our bloggers and us to represent fairly. or we become what the media is for the right, only on the left

[Armstead]

21. Goddamn it -- The "activist left" WANTS a focus on economic issues

The writer is clueless, in terms of understanding the core issue for the "activist left." He has it bass-ackward.

Social issues are not the real problem. The problem is that the Centrist Democrat position on economics is NO position on economics.

I just want a return to traditional liberal Democratic economic values, instead of the corporate CONservative status quo that the Democrats come to echo over the last 25 years. I want the Democratic Party to care about and reprsent the real bread-and-butter concerns that affect mainstream Americans.

That's Radical? Bullshit.

[joemurphy]

22. Found this on Salon about VandeHei

Why Is Jim VandeHei Covering The Jack Abramoff Story?

Can someone tell me why the Washington Post sees no problem with assigning Jim VandeHei to cover the Jack Abramoff beat and the White House spin emanating from Abramoff’s plea deal, when VandeHei’s wife used to work for Tom DeLay? On top of that, they paired him with Steno Sue Schmidt, who was Ken Starr’s leaking buddy during the Lewinsky days. So let’s just assume that the Post isn’t really serious about getting any Pulitzers on the Abramoff story, OK?

1/27/2006

[stepnw1f]

23. There Aint No Rift... Nice TRY! LOL (nt)

[Guaranteed]

24. Gutless sellout! Who was it that said that yesterday?

LOL I know I saw that around here somewhere. ;)

[FreedomAngel82]

25. From what I've read here Kaine is also against

gay rights.

[proud patriot]

27. "battle-ready bloggers and making their influence felt "

:evilgrin: I kinda like that

[jsamuel]

28. The "Swift-boating" of the liberal bloggers

[McCamy Taylor]

30. The Right will try to split our vote with 3rd party candidates that

they can hand Democratic votes to via electronic fraud.

[Pirate Smile]

31. The ending is really good. Here it is:

"John Kerry is beginning to bring the traditional Democratic leadership in Washington together with the untraditional netroots activists of the country," James Boyce wrote on the Huffington Post. "A man often accused of being the ultimate Washington insider looked outside of the beltway and saw the concern, in fact, the distress among literally millions of online Democrats."

Other Democrats, Boyce wrote, "triangulated, fabricated, postulated and capitulated."

[BuyingThyme]

34. I like how this d-bag, Jim VandeHei, identifies conservative issues

and conservative politicians as liberal issues and liberal politicians.

To this trained liar, Byrd is a crazy hippie and Murtha a love child. He sees war-by-choice as a conservative standard.

A well-trained WAPO liar. An enemy of America.