Liberal Bloggers Selling Conservative Narratives?--UpdatedPeter Daou
gripes endlessly about the media selling narratives that favor Republicans. You know, Republicans strong, Dems weak, or Democrats have no message. But when will he start chastising his fellow liberal bloggers at the HuffPo and elsewhere for the same thing?
Cenk Uygur, who's always good for a laugh, gets the ball rolling with
a post entitled:
Note to Moronic Democratic Senators: Americans Can't Stand George BushBut on the other hand, the Democrats refuse to be outcowarded. In the face of overwhelming facts -- on their side for the love of God -- they will not back their fellow Senator in pressing forward with a censure.Dems cowardly, anybody?
RJ Eskow repeats
that narrative:
Without the power and wisdom of Solomon, the "bully" player will always prevail. So it's possible to view the Democratic leadership as the "chicken" player who fails because, time and time again, they would rather lose than destroy the political process which they value and believe is still functioning as it did before the GOP changed the rules.Dan Carol
has a different narrative, but one that seems equally corrosive to the Democrats:
That said, while we need to help Rahm Emanuel and crew, as I have posted before, I shutter at the thought of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats doing a big photo op and a Democratic Contract with America. I am with the folks who suggest we give up on the national Democratic Party as a source for coherent national message anytime soon (yes, we should still hope for the best) and instead focus intelligently on helping our best candidates speak clearly in their own voice.
Trust me, there is no such thing as an organized Democratic national voice unless we have the Presidency -- or for the six months we have a nominee which will happen in June or so of 2008. The rest of the time we have a bunch of Senators and Governors who go their own way when they need to without any fear of a challenge - another argument for Party discipline and parliamentary democracy we can do another time.What about Peter's buddy, Glenn Greenwald? Posting over
at Crooks & Liars:
This response is not uncommon. Many - if not most - national Democrats really are afraid of working with actual citizens, and are particularly afraid of having any involvement at all with the blogosphere. It's as though they think they need to remain above and separated from the poorly behaved, embarrassing masses. They actually have been scared away from working with the very people who they are supposedly representing and who are on their side.Dems out of touch elites? Nice narrative! Meanwhile, the Anonymous Liberal, posting over
at Greenwald's blog:
And like it or not, Senator Feingold has put this proposal out on the table. It can no longer be ignored. Either the Democrats will vote their consciences and come across as confident and principled, or they will once again look fractured and cowardly, uncomfortable in their own skin.A three-fer! Cowardly, disorganized and elitist!
Update: Yet more,
from David Sirota:
The American Heritage Dictionary describes the term "weak" as "lacking firmness of character or strength of will, lacking aptitude or skill, lacking the ability to function normally or fully or lacking authority or the power to govern." Incredibly, even with President Bush at an all-time low, we are watching the Democratic Party in Washington fulfill all these definitions and more.Democrats weak, anybody?
And
still more:
If you are one of those Democrats like me who is completely fed up with the inside-the-Beltway party hacks who continue to lose elections because they have no spine and no vision, listen closely to a little something you can do this week to rap the knuckles of the Democratic Party machine.Dems cowardly and lack vision? Is there no end to the Republican narratives being spun by liberal bloggers?
