You are wrong kos – and here’s why:
My initial response was a total gut reaction – instinctively and instantly, I disagreed with you. So then I read your follow up diary and quite a few of the “rebuttals” on the rec list trying to figure out why exactly I disagreed with you.
Let me say up front that I agree with most of what you said about Operation Hilarity in your follow up post (and I don’t care if I get HRd to oblivion for saying so). From a tactical campaign standpoint, I think you are both politically and strategically, 100% correct; politics ain’t beanbag and everything available in the strategic arsenal should be considered. I agree with you completely that open primaries are fair game. It’s perfectly legal and I wholeheartedly support anyone voting however they choose and for whatever reason they want.
In fact, I agree with pretty much everything about Operation Hilarity except for… well, except for Operation Hilarity coming from you and Daily Kos. This “is a site for fighting Democrats” but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for you (or any front-pager) to advocate, organize and fundraise for an effort enlisting Democrats to influence a Republican primary on Daily Kos. If you’re strategizing in an on-the-ground capacity in particular, campaign tactics like these, albeit generally executed more discreetly, are tried-and-true, old-hat, the most fundamental of basics. Likewise, campaigns to promote cross-party voting online via blogs, social media, etc., again – are a-okay given the right conditions, audience and desired demographics.
(contd.)
I’d venture a guess that far more people (registered here or lurker/visitors), view Operation Hilarity negatively vs. those who support it. Maybe that’s not what you wanted or intended while growing the community (i.e. this “is a site for fighting Democrats”), but I’m pretty confident it’s true. So I don’t believe those who agree with you and are strategically like-minded on this topic, are the majority of your audience, at least not yet. Then, after people voice overwhelming disagreement, you resort to throwing around phrases like “lofty ideals”, “delicate sensibilities”, “fantasy unicorn” and “pearl clutching” which is not only an intellectually lazy way to argue your position, it’s an ineffective one and you lose people. Period.
Many of the people who are disagreeing with you are anything but “pearl clutching”; and in the bigger picture, you are misunderstanding something fundamentally important here. We didn’t become Democrats by accident. The reason you are seeing the visceral rejection of Operation Hilarity from so many people, is in several respects due to the very same reasons we became Democrats in the first place. Here are a few samples: We believe voting is a right and we’re fighting day in and day out against the continuing onslaught from those who are working to disenfranchise voters. We had an election stolen from us and it was devastating; and no, it didn’t change our minds about stealing elections being a bad thing. Fact: Hate speech promotes hate and we don’t support it in any way, for any reason. Never. NOT. EVER.
Part of the process of electing more and better Democrats is working to educate people and bring others to our perspective (meaning the progressive “our” of course). In working to elect more and better Democrats, we are also continuously working to not only attract, but create more and better Democrats. And to attract and create more and better Democrats, that is, to bring people to our perspective, educate and influence others to take up the mantel of progressive activism, you have to message to a broader audience. And in order to get an audience with a "broader audience" -- guess what??? -– you also need to have some sort of appeal to said audience. At least you do if you want to grow the progressive activist community and increase our reach in getting more and better democrats elected. Many progressive activists or high-potential, future progressive activists don’t have your strategic or political campaign expertise but they still bring incredible value to achieving the overall goal.
So the reason I think you shouldn’t have undertaken this particular initiative isn’t because I think it’s illegal or because I have a sudden case of “the vapors” resulting from my “lofty ideals” dueling with my “delicate sensibilities.” Nor do I believe that your actions will play an integral role in Santorum becoming the Republican nominee or (for that matter), you will actually change the outcome of any of these upcoming primaries. In fact, the reason I disagree with you from a tactical and strategic perspective is simply because you just tarnished your brand (and by extension, the community’s) by fundamentally misunderstanding your audience (customer). I don’t use the word “brand” lightly here – it matters and it matters a lot. You made a tactical and strategic PR mistake which your customers are telling you loud and clear - and they don’t want it to represent them. So not only was your initial messaging completely out of line with your current audience’s values, you double and triple down with tone-deaf and insulting responses.
Let me be clear – it’s fine with me if you don’t care about my opinion or anyone else’s here (you do own the place after all) – but ultimately it’s not a viable business plan. Or at least it’s not unless your goal is to listen as you reverberate in an echo chamber with only those who agree with you. You can message to both a more diverse audience and still work to cultivate and groom progressive activists, but if you can’t hear overwhelming disagreement, then over time you’re going to have a self-limited audience. Building a larger coalition and furthering your goals sort of means you need people to come along with you.
Personally, I think this one will go into the GOS/kos misstep column. Is it a huge one? Probably not. In any case, you’ve certainly survived them before and I’m pretty sure you will again. But let’s say after these primaries, you can quantitatively prove Operation Hilarity delivered a primary win to Santorum; you accomplished what you set out to do and achieved this particular goal. The responses you’re getting here are telling you plainly that a considerable portion of your community doesn't believe Operation Hilarity represents their values. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the goal to elect more and better Democrats is far more important than accomplishing a win for Rick Santorum in this primary.
Last thought -- You are inarguably the thought and action leader here kos - but your goals aren’t furthered by spending this particular nickel of political capitol on something most people in your current target demographic instinctively recoil from – whether you think they are right or not.