Sirota seems to think that the netroots shouldn't speak truth to power, but that is
the role of the blogosphere. We are here to speak truth to power, not censure people from saying what everyone is thinking. Sirota knows better than this. And the blogosphere needs to support the long-term best practices we all know we must adopt -- by rewarding good behavior and shunning those who position themselves against a better future for the Democratic Party. But most of all, there are no "untouchables" and the blogs need to criticize poor behavior, regardless of how does it.
As the blogosphere emerges, good friends will end up on the opposite side of primaries - that is politics. Considering we are all going to be doing this for decades, it is counter-productive for Sirota to try and tell bloggers what they can and can't say.
Regardless, I started posting on the blogs because I wanted to be able to say what I'm honestly thinking when it comes to the politics of the day and the future of our Democratic Party. I've paid some dues writing what politicians needed to have written, but online I can support our democracy as a citizen using the First Amendment to say what I want. So I don't want to hear what I can't say because I am determined to share what is in my heart, as my contribution to the conversation about the development of the Democratic Party.
Truth to Power
Blogs don't need to toe the line, the netroots needs to fill the role of speaking truth to power. The revitalized Democratic Party grassroots need to reinvent politics from the ground up. We don't need old bosses or new bosses telling us what we can and can't conclude after seeing what is going on in the Democratic Party.
When DailyKos had an online strong straw poll testing Major Hackett vs. Congressman Brown, it came back with Paul Hackett holding a 70% pt. lead over Sherrod Brown Yet some bloggers decided to disregard the movement that was happen online and instead decided to try and convince the netroots that they should do the exact opposite.
This race is going to be won from the ground up and Hackett is the one Democrats trust because Hackett speaks truth to power. That is the point that escapes Sirota, this won't be a typical campaign because Hackett is running like he has a new lease on life and he has a proven ability to inspire voters with that "it factor" that is the difference between a normal election and a movement.
Rewarding Good Behavior
One of the most important roles for the blogosphere is to reward good behavior. When a politician does something you like, drop 'em a note or toss $5 via ActBlue. We need to reward good behavior, because that is how we will win in the long-term.
Nothing Sherrod Brown has done in the last week deserves reinforcing as a best practice. If the blogs won't speak truth to power on this very important point, who will? Everyone is wondering what the hell Brown is thinking, but the blogs are the only place that citizens are willing to speak truth to power and call it like it is.
Meanwhile, Major Paul Hackett has played his cards exactly as the netroots have asked. Hackett ran in a district Republicans had won by 40 percentage points because Hackett thought voters deserved a choice. This came directly after Hackett stepped up to serve in Iraq for which he took a six digit pay cut serve with his Marines.
After Hackett blew away all expectations in the OH-02 Special Election, people began to take note. The netroots won CNN's Political Play of the Week (during the final episode of Inside Politics). The Associated Press wrote a story comparing Paul Hackett and Rocky. Hackett then took a nationwide media victory lap while finally getting to spend some time with his wife and three kids after up and going off to a war and then enlisting for a sprint of a Special Election.
But Hackett didn't let all of the media go to his head. Lots of very serious people started talking about Paul Hackett running against Republican Senator Mike DeWine in 2006, but Hackett focused on spreading his message of running everywhere and giving the voters a true choice. Hackett spread his message of bold action and straight talk. Hackett played it like the blogs have been asking.
Then Hackett showed us why we should reward the way he played his had in Ohio's 2006 Senate race. Hackett had nationwide momentum, he was in the limelight of the national media, and was being touted as the Democrats' best hope when it comes to credibility on Iraq. Yet Hackett didn't file to run for Senate, instead he deferred to those in the Ohio Democratic Party who had helped him in his campaign for Ohio's 2nd District.
The Background on the 2006 Ohio Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate
Ted Strickland had taken a pass and decided to run for Governor. Sherrod Brown was then considered the de-facto Democratic nominee to run against Senator Mike DeWine in 2006. In fact, in early July when a new poll showed Mike DeWine only had a re-elect number of 31% I pushed:
Here's to Congressman Sherrod Brown running for U.S. Senate in 2006 - he's a great lawmaker and would make Ohio proud.
Some in the press kept talking about the potential for Sherrod Brown to pull out of the race which underlies the media's distrust of Brown after his history of lacking direction. Kos noted:
I emailed back and forth with National Journal political writer Chuck Todd, asking why he hadn't included Brown in his last Senate roundup. He told me that Brown was the candidate who cried wolf too many times -- flirting with candidacies for higher office, only to pull back in the end. He didn't think Brown would jump.
When Brown had the unified support of the entire progressive family to run unopposed in the 2006 Democratic Party Primary Election, he didn't have the trust of the press. This is a key point to consider as the Ohio Senate candidates position themselves. Even worse, after Brown told everyone he wouldn't run then decided he was entitled to the nomination, the press began mocking Congressman Sherrod Brown.
I say that now, but back in July I raised my glass to Sherrod Brown's Senate Bid. Both the blogosphere and the netroots were 100% ready to support Sherrod Brown, but Brown Brown called no joy and publicly pulled out of the race.
When Sherrod Brown didn't run, he stood poised to support his friend Congressman Tim Ryan. Congressman Ryan is a blogosphere legend after last year's Iraq Draft Speech. Representative Tim Ryan proved to the blogosphere that he had break-through talent and the blogosphere was ready to take Rep. Ryan all the way to the U.S. Senate. Yet Ryan is new and has some plans for his district before he focuses on his plans for the whole state of Ohio. Yet it is almost conventional wisdom that Congressman Tim Ryan's future is so bright that he should wear sunglasses on the floor of the House.
When Tim Ryan announced he was planning on running for re-election to congress, Congressman Ryan went out of his way to let people know he had "encouraged" Paul Hackett to run for Senate. Following the entire Ohio establishment promising not to run, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee urged Hackett to run (notice Sherrod Brown shows up in the story).
To recap: Democrats had spent years writing off Ohio's second congressional district, but Major Paul Hackett wanted voters to have a choice so he ran in a district that Republicans had been winning by 40% pts. Congressman Ted Strickland decided not to run against Mike DeWine and instead announced for Governor. Congressman Sherrod Brown was tee'd up to run for U.S. Senate, but Brown announced that instead of focusing on getting himself a bigger title, he was going to spend 2006, "helping to elect Democrats across the state at every level." Only then did Paul Hackett once again step up and enlist to serve America. Hackett waited for three separate members of congress to have a shot at the seat, but when they each declined, Major Hackett stepped forward and offered his name so voters would have a choice. Hackett believes in democracy, in The People having a choice, so he stepped in when nobody else would.
Pulling out of a campaign is like losing your virginity: you can't call it otherwise in the morning. You can't take it back, it breaks down the system.
During the entire primary effort, Paul Hackett demonstrated deference and showed that he is a team player for our Party. As far as the Democratic Party was concerned, everything was falling into place. Paul Hackett's bold presence would change the national dialogue when it came to Democrats having credibility on foreign policy and security issues. Paul Hackett and Ted Strickland were positioned to run as a team against the Culture of Corruption. And Congressmen Brown and Ryan would compromise the perfect surrogate tag-team for both the gubernatorial and senatorial races, just as they had during the OH-02 Special Election.
Major Paul Hackett personified the blogosphere ideal of the perfect candidate. Major Paul Hackett leveraged all of his strengths, Hackett distributed his campaign and was gracious to the netroots for everyone's 50 state approach to a district that the Washington Establishment said was a waste of time. Along the way, Hackett provided the Democratic Party credibility on the war in Iraq and his nation-wide media attention should be added to the list of tactics that might have helped quicken voters' movement on the issue of the Iraq War. And he fired up local Democratic Party organizations.
Hackett stepped up and lead in an orphan of a congressional district. When nobody else would run against DeWine, Paul Hackett stood up and offered his ideas and his life for a year to give the voters a choice. This is exactly what the Democratic Party needs, we should reward Paul Hackett.
Even before Labor Day, it was conventional wisdom that Paul Hackett was going to run for Senate. Hackett knew he had some time to spend with him family, which he deserved after volunteering for a sprint of a Special Election after spending time in the war he volunteered to fight. On August 27th, Swing State Project began filing posts on Hackett under the title, "OH-Sen" to indicate that any discussion about Paul Hackett was a discussion about the Senate race Hackett was preparing to launch.
Everyone knew Paul Hackett had offered himself as a candidate when nobody else would run.
And then Sherrod Brown decided to focus on himself instead of the Democratic Party and the State of Ohio. Congressman Sherrod Brown's recent flip-flop concerning his entire political future should be shunned. The long-term health of the Democratic Party is better served when Democrats can take other Democrats at their word. The Ohio 2006 Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate against Sen. Mike DeWine featured positioning that was as orderly as can be and the netroots and blogosphere showed respect for the way the situation advanced (prior to the last week). The netroots and blogosphere would have supported Sherrod Brown, but he told us he was going to focus on helping elect other Democrats. We were ready to hop on the Tim Ryan Bandwagon. And earlier in the year, we were ready to back Ted Strickland. But they all promised us they weren't running and we took them at their word. So Major Paul Hackett stepped up to serve (again), and then Sherrod Brown waffled and then flip-flopped to run against Hackett.
Until this last week, the primary rolled out in an orderly fashion due to respect and straight talk among the principle players. As the Toledo Blade reports, "Hackett decided to run after Brown announced in August that he would stay in the U.S. House - a decision that, Brown said two weeks ago, he didn't regret." The Toledo Blade also offers a key quote:
"Sherrod Brown told the candidate three weeks ago that he was not entering the race, so the campaign was surprised at Sherrod's indecisiveness and change of heart," said Michael Brautigam, an adviser to Hackett. "Sherrod's entry into the race is not only dishonorable, it's disloyal to the Democratic Party and to democratic ideals."
So when David Sirota says I can't use the word "untrustworthy" to discuss a candidate in a Senate campaign when the politician has proven himself to be untrustworthy in the campaign to date, I call bullshit. I think the blogosphere needs to reward good behavior and help Major Hackett take his Fighting Democrat approach all the way to the United States Senate. I'm ready for the Democratic Party to have credibility and a message on Iraq. I believe that bloggers should stand up for individuals who run in districts regardless of the Democratic Performance Quotient. I believe Democrats should distance themselves from politicians with a sense of entitlement so large that they think they can lie to the voters in their home state as long as they vote a certain way when they are in their new hometown of Washington, DC. I passionately believe that bloggers should not attempt to censor other bloggers. I am going to fulfill my duty and speak truth to power. Sherrod Brown is making an ass of himself and everyone watching is wondering WTF. We had Ohio primed for Democrats to pick up a Senate seat while Paul Hackett used the national attention to provide the Democratic Party credibility on Iraq, yet Sherrod Brown cared more about himself than anything else, including his word.
Sherrod Brown might be a good vote, but that doesn't mean he gets free reign to frag the leaders who emerge from the ground up. Regardless of what is printed in Washington, D.C.'s Roll Call, he pulled a dick move by forcing this primary upon the Democratic Party. There didn't need to be a primary for Sherrod Brown to be the nominee, we were all waiting for him to announce, we urged him to run. But he told us he was going to run for re-election in the House and so people began making other plans.
Fracturing the Blogosphere
Just like there didn't need to be a primary, there didn't need to be a fracturing of the netroots and blogosphere. I think one could make the case blogosphere unity is more important that any single election.
This has been a great year for blog unity, thanks mostly to George Bush. When it came to Bush's push to end Social Security, the entire Democratic Blogosphere could agreed that there was no crisis.
Then there was the Special Election and bloggers came out of the woodwork to provide their unique services in the effort.
But now we have a primary, for no other reason than the fact that Sherrod Brown decided to follow his waffle with a flip-flop. Compare that to Paul Hackett's bold leadership and it is clear who we want in this marquee Senate race.
Sorry David, but I'm going to what about things that everyone is thinking of. The blogosphere deserves a debate. I don't care who a politician is, it doesn't give him a right to be a dick to the base.
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