Rusted Sky

And it was about what you'd expect from that branch of the Democratic base. Bush was bashed, the WoT was bashed, Lieberman was bashed, well, just go over to DailyKos to get the full agenda from the contents of the site.

However - reading between the lines of the reporting, I come away with a marked sense of disquiet. These guys may think they're hitting on all cylinders, and REALLY getting a lot of support - but it's not at all apparent in the latest elections, and I've got to wonder if the "All hate, all the time" message that they're putting out is really one that's resonating - not to mention the minor problem that there's a rather odd disconnect from reality. Case in point - the following few paragraphs.

At blog-fest, it's not politics as usual - Tom Curry - MSNBC.com

Grass-roots activist Jed Rathband of Portland, Maine, who runs an oil-buying cooperative, noted that Richardson “didn’t call Chavez a friend, which I find interesting. My view on Chavez is: as long as he’s willing to poke the Bush administration in the eye, he’ll be my friend. Because my enemy’s enemy is my friend.” Rathband said he’s trying to figure out how to buy oil from Venezuela for his customers.

Um, no. The enemy of your enemy is your enemy's enemy - NOT your friend. And just because YOU think he's a friend doesn't mean he wouldn't cheerfully slip a knife into your back if you get in his way.

That shows, to my thinking, a marked lack of common sense. Could you imagine a mainstream (or even fringe) Democrat in the '80s rooting for the USSR in Afghanistan because it would give Reagan a black eye if they 'won'? Chavez stands to become a South American version of Hitler, if he goes a bit further round the bend, and this guy sees this as a GOOD thing? As long as it gives BUSH a poke in the eye?

Look - Bush is only going to be in office for TWO more years. Chavez looks to be a lifetime El Presidente - and we'll be stuck with him FAR longer than Bush. So, like the saying goes - "Be careful what you wish for - you might just get it."

Moulitsas acknowledged that many Americas don’t read the bloggers. The grocery-store cashier in Pueblo, Colorado may not own a laptop, much less be blogging for four hours a day.

“The Netroots will always have its limits,” he said in an interview with MSNBC.com. “It’s a ‘pull’ medium; only the people who really like that material are going to go read it. We’re a pull medium; we need more liberal ‘push’ media; we need liberal talk radio, we need a Fox News alternative in cable news…. Blogs aren’t the be-all, end-all.”

We won't talk about the noted lack of success of Air America as far as liberal talk radio goes. Or it's many missteps on it's way to the current levels of obscurity. Something's not quite hitting with the message, and although the far left of the Democratic party has it's adherents who are grabbing hard for the controls, it rather looks to me like the course they're trying to steer is going to run hard into a wall instead of into the mainstream.

Do they scare me? Yes. Dean's candidacy imploded, and left us with Kerry. Who's going to be the next candidate that the netroots signs on to, and how competent are THEY going to be? (They're already discounting Hillary, not that she had much of a chance - and I understand in a straw poll she came in second behind John Edwards.)

I don't see any good coming of this for the DNC - and that's a bad thing for the country.

J.