Does Jon Tester have a real shot of winning his primary, or is that just another big wad of cash that is being flushed down the toilet? I know people may not want to hear this, but the electoral track record of the progressive blogosphere has been absolute crap. So far what have we accomplished, besides throwing away thousands of dollars on long shot candidates who have had little or no chance of winning?
People complain about the DNC and DCCC, but in those cases where the blogosphere has managed to overpower the "bad" DNC, it has resulted in more harm than good. Remember Ginny Schrader? Remember when Kos said this:
"It's this sort of bullshit that keeps pushing me further away from the party committess"(sic)? He was pissed that the DNC wanted get her out of the race because they didn't think she had what it takes to be a candidate. And what happened? She walks out of a debate because she can't handle personal attacks and her whole candidacy goes down in fucking flames. In a district we easily had a shot of winning with a reasonable candidate!
What about other blogosphere luminaries like Jeff Seemann? Even if he'd been an amazing person his chances of winning in his district were an uber longshot. But he wasn't perfect, far from it, in the end he didn't even end up filing his FEC reports! Then he disappeared off into the sunset, and no one knows what happened to him, and it's probably just as well.
What about Paul Hackett? I will grant you this, Hackett actually made his contest competitive, but in the end he lost and what good did it do? He decided to run for Senate and rather than toughing it out till the end, he got pissed off and dropped out because he couldn't handle partisan politics (reminds me a lot of Ginny Schrader here). He didn't make another run at his congressional seat again, so what did all that money spent on him accomplish?
I'm not knocking Paul Hackett, Ginny Schrader or even Jeff Seemann. They all have my respect for running and at least giving it a shot. I have nothing against any of them as people, but the reality is they were clearly not cut out for political races. It's nothing to be ashamed of, I could try to run for congress too and I'd probably end up going down in flames (though I'd at least stay for the debate). My point is, you'd be stupid to waste money supporting me in doing so, as the blogosphere has been foolish in supporting all of these total longshots.
How much money is going to be wasted on races just because it catches the fancy of one of the liberal blogosphere's big wigs? Kos likes to say he's not a gatekeeper, but I'm sorry that is bullshit. He and all of the other big liberal bloggers clearly are gatekeepers and they need to realize the responsibility they have when they decide to use their megaphone to promote any cause or candidate. Responsibility is something that is given, whether you want it or not, and it's not something you can simply disavow as Kos has tried to do (all the while reaping all the benefits of it promoting his book).
But, it is not my intention to get on Kos's case directly. Rather, I am posting this because I think the liberal blogosphere is in need of a huge wake up call. What we are doing is simply not working. We've done some good things here in other avenues of politics, but when it comes to electoral politics and promoting candidates we have absolutely failed. There is no other way to put it, our attempts have been an utter failure. We are wasting money for no measurable good, and in some cases actually doing harm instead.
Who is going to be the next blogosphere bust? Christine Cegalis? Jon Tester? Both? Maybe they'll both succeed, but right now I am convinced that the liberal blogosphere is in need of some change on this matter. We need to accept that what we are doing is not working. At the very least, maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be so quick to disregard the advice of political consultants. Could it be the DNC, DSCC and DCCC actually know a little bit about what they are talking about?
I'm not saying we shouldn't support any candidates. I think monetary support can be good, in the right situation. I just think we need to be a hell of a lot more discriminating in selecting who we support. I also think the guys with the big megaphones (not just Kos by any means) need to be more mindful of the power they wield and doubly mindful of how they use it.