The Biggest Mistake Progressives Have Made in the Last Year (Also, BREAKING!!! Rahm!)

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday February 13, 2010 · 5:23 PM PST

2010/02/13 · 17:23

The right-wing has its media echo chamber (Fox, talk radio, internet communities, email). We have one that is mostly a few shows on MSNBC, internet communities and email. In some ways, it's harder for us to get our message through in the current media environment, but we still have our ways. Unfortunately, we're not using them.

There are a lot of good policies that have been put in place and a number of important pieces of legislation that have been passed and signed into law. There's been very little in the way of support from the progressive media echo chamber when it comes to those policies largely because there's this false premise that moving the discussion to the left means only criticizing from the left.

Constructive criticism from the left (not hair-on-fire BS) is needed, but equally loud praise from progressives for shifts to the left (however small those shifts are) is needed, too. The broader public doesn't hear about why progressives don't like something; they just hear that people across the political spectrum hate a policy (even though the reasons are different) and assume that they shouldn't support it.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday February 07, 2010 · 10:33 AM PST

2010/02/07 · 10:33

MythBusters is a fun, informative show on the Discovery Channel. I figured it might be nice to bring a little of that here.

Misinformation and myth-making lead to uninformed opinions, and there are some things that have floated around the blogosphere for way too long. It's not helpful, and I think that debunking some of these myths will help people understand some political dynamics better. You may not like those dynamics but understanding them is key to changing them.

So in the spirit of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (who said "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts") let's get on with a few of the netroots' favorite myths and misinformation. This edition focuses on myths relating to campaigns.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday February 03, 2010 · 2:34 PM PST

2010/02/03 · 14:34

Much of the response to the Focus on the Family Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow has been focused on CBS's hypocrisy and the uneven way they apply their advertising standards. I think it's great that people are pointing this out. But I would not fight the airing of the ad. I would simply say, "It's great that Pam Tebow had a choice."* Then, I'd fight to get pro-choice views aired, because what is missing from the response is an actual argument for choice.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday January 26, 2010 · 5:36 PM PST

2010/01/26 · 17:36

The progressive agenda can't move forward without coalition politics. Coalition politics is filled with headaches, but ultimately it is necessary and can be very successful. Progressives have an uphill battle on a number of fronts, and divisiveness within the coalition holds progressives back.

I have discussed how the netroots aren't THE base but part of the base, and did an introduction on some of the organizations that make up progressive infrastructure. Those two diaries are a decent backgrounder to this one, because it's important to understand the different parts of the base and how different organizations are better suited to appeal to the needs of different parts of the base. It's also important to understand that there are many organizations that are quietly effective and do work without any coverage from the netroots or national media.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 23, 2010 · 7:15 PM PST

2010/01/23 · 19:15

Plouffe was a great campaign manager for Obama. He has experience in all facets of a campaign. He's also worked on the Hill. He's been an unofficial adviser to the WH and DNC all along, but because he's not involved in the day to day, he can bring some perspective that is hard to have when you're in the middle of everything every day.

There's been some spec that this is to placate Obama's liberal base (okay, @marcambinder 's tweets). That's rather silly, because 1) Obama's liberal base isn't represented by the loudest corners of the netroots; 2) Plouffe isn't known to many outside of Obama's online supporters and pol. junkies -- which overlaps quite a bit w/ Obama's base but not completely.

Plouffe's role is to act as the guy in the Democratic Party that has the respect of other consultants and members of Congress, and can get them to move in the correct direction politically. (And in addressing Congress, it'll also help with Democratic activists and voters.)

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday December 30, 2009 · 8:28 PM PST

2009/12/30 · 20:28

Joe Klein's recent column is a subject of much discussion. I agree with parts of the column, and disagree with others. I want to home in on one part of it though:

The denizens of the left blogosphere consider themselves the Democratic Party's base. But they are not. For Democrats, as opposed to Republicans, the wing is not the base; the legions of loyal African Americans, union members, Jews, women and Latinos are.

This and the recent Ron Brownstein piece have ruffled the feathers of many in the netroots.

Here's the thing: They're more right than wrong when it comes to the makeup of the Dem base.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 25, 2009 · 9:44 AM PST

2009/11/25 · 09:44

Big and small donors start making their end of year contributions around this time, and I thought it might be a good idea to run through some worthy progressive organizations that you may not have heard of and to remind you of some progressive organizations that are well-known but could always use the support anyway. In addition, I'm going to do a quickie guide to different type of organizations, who can (and cannot) donate to them and how they use their money.

Many of the organizations I'm listing are state-based and are often neglected by national blogs or are only spotlighted when there's a controversy or screw up. In most cases, the organizations I'm listing have multiple entites to which you can donate. One organization can have a 501(c)(3), a 501(c)(4), and a state PAC. Donations to 501(c)(3) organizations are tax deductible.

Many of these organizations rely primarily on big donors, but they will take small donations as well and many also want to grow their grassroots community.

These organizations reach millions of voters that blogs don't reach. In some cases, these organizations have established roots in their communities and are considered trusted messengers.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 16, 2009 · 5:01 AM PST

2009/11/16 · 05:01

Targeting Republican representatives who voted against health care reform and represent districts that Obama won is a win-win.

Let's just start with the fact that constituent pressure is what works. Those living in GOP/Obama districts shouldn't be calling other members of Congress anyway. They have two options: work their own rep. or call Obama supporters in other districts and get them to contact their reps. The latter is obviously worthwhile (and being done), but the former is as well.

The most obvious benefit is if a representative's vote actually changes. The chances of actually swaying one of these GOP votes on HCR is next to none (Cao was the only one on the first vote), but even if it doesn't happen, Democrats get several benefits from targeting GOP reps who rep Obama districts.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 12, 2009 · 2:45 PM PST

2009/11/12 · 14:45

If you want to boycott, fine, go ahead. Your choice. Just don't on the one hand claim to be responsible for the election of moderate-conservative Democrats, but then, be pissed when the party committees and party leaders protect them for re-election.

Don't champion the 50-state strategy and talk about how great it was and how it was responsible for the wins in 2006, and then, complain about the inevitable result: moderates representing moderate districts and conservatives representing conservative districts.

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 10, 2009 · 2:41 PM PST

2009/11/10 · 14:41

I've posted from time to time that I didn't think a lot of bloggers understood Obama or how his operation works. I think that while Obama does believe in a lot of that hope and change rhetoric and genuinely wants to find common ground, the portrayal of him in the media and the netroots of someone who won't get dirty is false.

I'd known about this for almost 2 years, but Plouffe basically outed the Obama campaign for the Edwards haircut tidbit (which a lot of y'all thought was the Clinton campaign, b/c Obama would NEVER do that):

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 27, 2009 · 10:53 AM PDT

2009/10/27 · 10:53

I whipped this up quickly in a comment in Sunday Talk, and folks seemed to like it, so here it is with a few changes in a diary form.

Even if a source isn't anonymous, much of this guide is relevant.

The guide below the fold...

Newsie8200

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday October 25, 2009 · 11:36 AM PDT

2009/10/25 · 11:36

If Dems can get 60 votes for public option with opt out in the Senate, they'll go with that.

If they can't, then, they go with 60 votes for public option with trigger.

Then, we go to conference, and merge the Senate bill and the House bill.

What can't happen is for Democrats to lose the vote on cloture in the Senate if we go with opt out, because that means either the whole effort is dead or we have to give up even more (like the public option altogether) just to get something out of the Senate.

That's the state of the game right now in four sentences. Parse everything (anonymous sources or on-the-record quotes), and that's where we've been the last few days. It's all kabuki right now to round up votes.

Newer
Older

RSS

The Biggest Mistake Progressives Have Made in the Last Year (Also, BREAKING!!! Rahm!)

MythBusters: Busting Commonly Held Netroots Myths About Campaigns

What's Been Missing from the Response to the Tebow Ad

It Takes A Coalition, Stupid!

The Importance of Plouffe

Here's A Fact About the Democratic Base [Updated]

'Tis the Season for Giving: A Guide to Progressive Orgs

A Win-Win Situation

At least own up to your role in this...

OOPS

A Guide to Anonymous Sourcing

State of Health Care Reform in Four Sentences