Yeah, that's right. I blame you. And the Netroots. Because while progressive bloggers were gazing at their navels playing inside baseball, the Republicans and the tea-baggers were reaching out to the seriously pissed off working people of MA, including the seriously pissed off Democrats of MA. And they managed to pull off this coup the old fashioned way. By friggin' earning it. Here is how they did it:
First off was talk radio. Check out the most recent episode of the local show "Beat the Press" if you want to know more. The Republicans have a lock on talk radio - the background music of virtually everyone who works with their hands or commutes. It is inescapable. And no one was there to speak out against it - even to call in, because the let isn't organized to confront it (more on that later) and because Coakley was, in many ways, an indefensible candidate. It is hard to defend a candidate who can't defend herself without resorting, at the end, with an avalanche of negative ads - so many, and with such a shrill and grating tone, that I couldn't even listen to them.
And the accusation of elitism? She made herself open to this attack by her unwillingness to engage with the people - apart from Hillary Clinton Democrats. If she had made an effort to engage with the low-information knuckleheads supporting Brown, she probably would have encountered a lot of unhinged invective - something that she could have turned to her benefit if she had run a proactive campaign - but as it was, she couldn't bother. If you are going to take the low road, you better be willing to get dirty.
But mainly, she lost because she was the wrong candidate, out of step with her times. Mike Capuano is at least a fighter, and he would have gone toe to toe with Brown. But he lost the primary - another testement to the impotence of the netroots compared to the talkradioheads.
How to prevent this from happening in the future? With the demise of Air America, and without a fairness doctrine, we can't. There are other venues, though. Public access TV is a resource, and most stations run Democracy Now!. There are a few progressive shows, but they are overwhelmed by local right wing nutjobs, at least in my area of Plymouth. Why the YOUNG TURKS and a video feed from Thom Hartmann aren't being distributed the same way Democracy Now! is being distributed is beyond me.
But the other problem is right HERE, at the DAILY KOS. Why is it that I can't connect with other progressives in my geographic area via the Daily Kos? If porn sites can figure out that I live in Massachusetts, and place a banner ad at the top of a page for "LOCAL BOSTON SWINGERS!" then why can't THE DAILY KOS offer a button that allows me to see what other MA Kossacks are writing, and give me a way to share ideas with them and organize politically? Is this so impossible? If all politics are local, then THE DAILY KOS exists in a political vacuum called the blogosphere.
Or perhaps the actual function of the Daily Kos is to misdirect ideas and passion into the void - where they can do no harm, and elect no one.
I welcome any comments.
Petruk