It's always touch and go--an embryo endeavor can grow to enormous power, but it can also be aborted. That's certainly true with "netroots" media: if we abuse the nascent power that exists here, it will never reach its potential.
It's never been so clear as for the last four days. Again and again, the power of this medium has been weakened by gossipy diaries that repeat the plot of last year's Desperate Housewives complete with allegations of strap-on baby bumps for the Republican vice-presidential candidate. They are below us. And the attention that DailyKos is getting on CNN isn't helpful!
But even more importantly, three vital stories about McCain and the past four days have been virtually ignored!
First, who actually picked Palin? I'm certain McCain thinks he did. In fact, it appears that the back room boys used the same technique on him that has worked so successfully on Bush for eight years. Via Crooks and Liars
the country’s most influential conservatives met quietly at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis to get to know Sarah Palin. The assembled were members of the Council for National Policy, an ultra-secretive cabal that networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy.
The group who has actually run our government for two terms met in secret.
Though Dobson and Perkins reportedly attended the recent CNP meeting in Minneapolis, a full roster of guests would be nearly impossible to require. The CNP deliberately operates below the radar, going to excessive lengths to obscure its activities.
They picked the candidate. It appears Rove was assigned to tell Lieberman that despite McCain's affection for him, he was not going to be allowed to say "yes."
The story about McCain's total lack of judgment and the party's ability to manipulate him hasn't hit many folks at all.
The second story is about Palin's lack of judgment. In fact, they seem a "match made in heaven." When someone crosses her, she fires them. When someone competes with her, she ridicules them. When she is in labor, she risks lives and property to do what she damn pleases. She's been a member of a group that wants Alaska to secede from the Union, and another that opposes birth control. She vetoed important expenditures for public safety to build a fancy kitchen for her home town's sports complex. She lied about her support of the "bridge to nowhere," about her support of Buchanan's anti-semitism, and about ANWR drilling...and yet again and again this embryo powerhouse medium features photoshopped baby bumps.
And there's actually a third story. Where is Hillary Clinton? She should be totally offended by the attempt to "replace her" with an anti-choice, anti-environment, anti-health care candidate. Yet has she spoken out yet? The ideal ad this week would be Hillary telling women across the country that for their sakes, she has supported Obama and they should too.
This medium has power, even though it's barely in its infancy. It can push the really important stories this week. But it can't do it if we give CNN and Rush Limbaugh the opportunity to use what we write here to portray us as a bunch of gossipy idiots.