Are The Netroots Being Played By Rove?

[kevinmc]

Andrew Sullivan

One reader thinks so:

I just wanted to say thank you so much for being the only blogger (aside from Al Giordano) who gets it. While the rest of the blogosphere (especially the liberal bloggers) lose their heads you are an island of common sense. Patience and Steel. Yes, yes. yes.

It also occurs to me that in a way McCain and Rove have actually simply taken over the liberal blogosphere in some way. They are being played.

Just a few examples---yesterday Obama gave a fantastic interview at the Service Forum. Did the liberal blogs even cover this? No.

He gave a great speech on the trail. Are his town halls even posted or excerpted? No.

Andrew Sullivan thinks so -

The liberal bloggers have become McCain central. They make people click on his ads, make the world spin around him instead of focusing on our candidate and what he is trying to do. There is ZERO coverage of what Obama is actually doing every day talking tough on the issues. There is ZERO coverage of Biden (who is on the trail but the blogs don't seem to care or cover him unless he is doing what they think he should be doing. Sadly AFP did cover him this week and people seemed to be too busy saying he was not doing anything to include the link with his forceful comments against McCain. The one time the blogs linked to Biden---when the MSM tried to make a big deal out his answer to a question that made Hillary look bad and he defended her. That was it).

McCain and crew realized early this cycle that they did not have a visible internet presence. So what did they do? They took over the liberal presence, they are manipulating the leading liberal blogs , just as they manipulate the MSM. All to their own advantage. And the blogs have all fallen for this hook, line and sinker. Does no one realize this?

They are all being played.

And Obama, god bless him, he gets it. As does his team. while everyone whines he keeps at it every day with much much class and like a laser focused on the issues. The problem is not Obama, is that no one wants to follow his lead. Instead they are following McCain-Rove and they don't even know it.

.
……and so do I

[EFerrari]

1. Well, no. Maybe Andrew should check his blood sugar or something.

[nebenaube]

2. what was I saying the other day...

yes... some kind of Turing test.

[Andy823]

3. The republican plan

Is to keep Palin as the subject of conversation so the real issues can not be talked about. Every day, all Palin, and it works, just look at all the post here on Palin, not McCain, not Obama, but Palin! :eyes:

[HughBeaumont]

4. The media loves the Alaskan Dope Closet, that's fer sure:

Today they had a graphic on one of their many Failin' stories . . . "Obama vs Palin".

Uh, John MCCAIN is the presidential candidate, NOT Sarah Failin'

Rove?

PFFFFFFT. Rove is a blip. A nothing. A fat sack of pigshit. His ace in the hole is a failure. He's playing no one but himself. We've always been about this lousy economy under Republican Presidents. Unlike the lamestream media, WE'RE not taking our eye off the ball.

[riverdeep]

5. You don't ignore Palin, it's just idiotic.

And I read Andrew Sullivan, so I know his blog has been covering Palin extensively, although he is in no way a liberal. WE know what Obama stands for, we don't have to have as extensive cheering. Blogs are at least partly a battle plan, that means covering the other side at length. The conservative blogs do the exact same thing.

However, the tide is turning, a new round is beginning, the Palin effect is imploding, at least in the rational world, in the world of the low info voter- who knows? This round will be critical, and I believe will be focused more on Obama and Biden, Biden just because of the debates if nothing else.

Of course, Karl Rove is holding me at gunpoint forcing me to type this...

[dmr]

6. It depends on how you look at it

While the blogs may be discussing the Palin and McCain scandals, most of us out here are still quite aware of how and what our candidates are doing. We haven't lost sight of them, nor have we dimminshed in our support. We are well aware, and are working hard toward victory.

Who can we trust to to cover, dissect and connect the dots of the foibles of McCain/Palin, and RNC vote tampering better than those on the net? It helps us keep the so-called MSM from totally hiding the truth; and the RNC from getting away with absolute dishonesty. If anything, it makes us knowledgeable of the facts and the ability to pass those facts on in real life.

Rove and the RNC would prefer we not focus on the troubles of McCain/Palin/RNC vote tampering. They want all the troubles to be swept under the rug, or sanitized. The net involvement makes it harder for them to re-invent themselves and their myths, and steal the election. It puts them in the defensive position to dig themselves deeper with more lies that get harder to cover up.

I do think, however, some web-sites forget to pay attention to other issues that are important, but from the sites I visit I find that while they have a focus on McCain/Palin, there seems to be a balance of election coverage and important issues.

And while Sullivan says, "Obama gets it" - well, so do we. He can focus on the Obama/Biden campaign, and we can continue to hold McCain/Palin's feet to the fire. Sullivan calling the net-roots whiners and that we are falling into the trap of following McCain/Rove instead of Obama/Biden - I call that insulting bullshit bunk psychology.

[Kitty Herder]

7. My mom keeps saying pretty much the same thing.

She says we need to boycott Mooselini. (And although Sullivan didn't mention her, it's obvious that she's the one we're all obsessed with.) Don't watch her on t.v. Don't read about her on the internet. Don't buy newspapers and magazines that feature her prominently.

I think it's a nice idea, but I don't think it will work. The woman is hard to ignore because she incites passion on both sides, adoration from the fundies, and deep loathing from us Democrats. The trick is to get the dispassionate undecided voters, those who really don't care one way or the other, to see her and McCain for the lying sacks of crap that they are.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Assymetrical Chinese Checkers

Sheesh...unlike Repugnicans, Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time. DU and the other blogs are NOT the Obama campaign...and what happens out here is reflective of the many different people who've found this medium as the alternative to the strongly scripted corporate media...where anything goes and so be it. These are the trenches and the netroots are proving themselves to be not just a growing influence in the body politic, but a serious threat to the GOOP and the Rove machine.

Who does the greatest amount of fact checking and vetting? The blogs were onto corrupt and vacuous Grandma Barracuda even before she was on the radar. Senator Obama didn't have to dig in "the sewer"...he gleaned the good stuff out of the flood of information that came forward. It's also forced the corporate media to stop being fully in the tank for the GOOP and no longer accept the Rovian lies and games as they once had.

Yes, Senator Obama has been focused on the issues and he needs to stay there. He's being baited...the GOOP wants the focus to be on anything except the issues. They're gonna play dirty and throw even more distractions and outrages out there as they become more desperate (and that's what's happening). Camp Gramps had been stagnant and this was a last-gasp attempt to stay competitive...energize a base that is still very fragile and desperate as well.

There's one more game they're ignoring...the ground game that shows far more Democrats have registered in the past year and a grassroots GOTV effort that will prevail. We have a role in that final push as well...making sure each and every possible Democratic voter gets to the polls, they can and do vote and the votes are counted. It's Politics 101...the campaign that's more organized wins.

[progressoid]

9. Yep.

[midnight]

10. Palin and Co. are creating a circus event while we are being

introduced to her and her family. Some here are being sucked in by the seduction of the sexism against Palin. She is obviously not qualified-period! I would hope that those who are being distracted would wake up.

[chill_wind]

11. In any immediate sense, we're being played by Steve Schmidt

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Steve_Schmidt

Last Saturday's Reading: Fun Steve is dead

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Saturday_Reading_Fun_Steve_is_dead.html

McCain/Schmidt Campaign

(Politico)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7054376#top

[Greybnk48]

12. K&R. Agree n/t

[libodem]

13. I believe it could be possible

seems to me there were many trolls hanging out under the bridges of the Presidential forum, especially during the primaries. And i think it would be easy for some one with excess to sit over at AP and sift the stories coming released through that outlet, or any news feed. I'm no tech geek but how hard would it be to front the top stories hitting LBN or the Editorials or start thread in the general forum. Bet it doesn't take long to jump your post count in a few discussions with a strong give and take. And as for me I 'll have subjects on my mind when I come to DU but they fade fast as I start clicking on the threads. ie I woke up this morning worried about the vote counts in Florida and Ohio. Wonder if we can have extra poll sitters from other countries, someone doing exit polls at every voting station, watching for irregularities like having to stand in line more than an hour. It will all fade as I blithely leave comments where the subject interests me.