OK, so I'm watching Mr. Kos on the Keith O. show with my wife. Kos is about half-way through his interview with Keith when my wife erupts with something like, "Why are they even giving this guy airtime. He's gonna ruin the Democratic party. He's way too far left. Who elected this guy,anyway. Etc."
Shields up! My response was pretty terse. "You haven't been paying much attention, have you." I went on to say that Kos and the folks who blog at his website and MyDD are THE reason why Ned Lamont is going to beat Joe Lieberman. THE reason why Tester beat the establishment candidate in the Democratic primary in Montana. One of THE reasons why Webb has a shot against Allen here in VA. I also pointed out that no one can accuse Tester and Webb of being left-wing nut cases. We had a few more heated exchanges and I decided it was time to refresh my Jim Beam and jump on DailyKos.
Now folks, my wife is no dummy. Magna (or Summa, I forget) Cum Laude at Penn State in microbiology. Clinton Democrat. Hates, despises George Bush. Like me, rabid environmentalist. But, like too many people, she gets her news from mainly CNN with a bit of MSNBC sprinkled in. And you and I both know from listening to the MSM that "we" are constantly characterized as leftist, radical -- you get the picture. We're gonna have a continual fight on our hands to change the attitude of people about the blogsphere and our influence on the political scene, even amongst people as educated and sanguine as my wife.
How many of you have been to Williamsburg, VA? It is described as the world's largest living museum. My wife and I went there for the first time last Thanksgiving and, if you get a chance, make the trip. Yes, the shops are interesting (everything from wagon wheels to fabric to silver to guns); but, the part that will send chills down your spine is when you sit in the same building in which Jefferson, Madison, Paine, et al met as members of the House of Burgesses. It was here, and at the numerous taverns and inns of Williamsburg, that representatives of people enjoying the highest standard of living on earth met to form a new system of government and, when the time came, to challenge the oppression of the British crown.
It just may be that the blogsphere is to us what the inns and taverns of Williamsburg were to the likes of Jefferson. We too are suffering under an oppression of not only Bush and the neo-cons, but the global corporations who have polluted our politics with ghastly sums of money to which both parties have succumbed. It is time for a revolution!