...is perhaps not the best title for what I want to say. I'm thinking about the "netroots" and how they're supposedly taking over the Democratic party and moving them so far left, out of the mainstream, that Democrats will be doomed to political and electorial failure for time indefinite.
Of course, the people making such declarations are, by a vast majority, conservatives. Seldom does a week go by (and I'm being generous) without O'Reilly mentioning such Far Left institutions as the New York Times, and to a lesser extent, the blogosphere, the Supreme Court, and anyone else to the left of Joe Lieberman.
Joe Lieberman is a prime example of this phenomenon, with the netroot's overall support of his opponent Lamont sending the D.C. pundits into a tizzy of speculation not limited to the editorial pages of the Weekly Standard. Kos, mydd and the like have all been properly taken to the metaphorical woodshed and scolded for their participation, organization and activism in their own party's evolution and future.
If the establishment is worried, the netroots must be doing something right. Time and again, the conservative pundits have sought to define the boundries of the Democratic movement for the democrats, and really, when Democrats seek self-enlightment, is there really a better source of clarity to turn to than the conservative movement?
The irony of the republican base calling any democrat to the left of Lieberman and any institution to the left of TNR the "far left" is amusing at best and pathetic at worst. The republican playbook of going to the farthest right possible to ensure the religious vote seems to have worked quite well over the past six years, and America has benefited noticably (snark) from the union of conservatism and religious fundamentalism in such areas as Science, Immigration and the general role of the government in the lives of the poor and needy.
Those who seek to define or dissuade the boundries of the Democratic movement have, almost without exception, shown themselves to be interested in neither the welfare of the Democratic party or the voters it represents. The Far Right will not be allowed to define the Left. The mere fact that they are giving air time and editorial pages to the growing organization and influence shows that a) they are worried and b) the netroots are succeeding. Talk of the Far Left should no longer be tolerated without equal discussion of the Far Right, it's union with the GOP, and the counter-productive results endured by this country.