The Sad Delusions of the Marginalized Left

I like the Internet, because I hate network and cable news.  I get to skip the stories about car chases and Natalie Hollowell (was that the poor girl's name?) and read about what I want to read.

But the Internet can also be an echo chamber.

Today, Senator Mark Warner said that MoveOn.org and the Tea Party both prevented their respective sides from compromising.  Now, I'm a member of MoveOn, and I think they do a pretty good job.

But I live in Connecticut.  Mark Warner represents Virginia.  The VA Democratic House delegation got its clock cleaned last Tuesday.  So I could see the political angle in Warner's hippie punching.

But the response at DailyKos was over the top.  They want to primary him from the left, they want a third party, they want to purge him from the party.

In effect, they want to act like the Tea Party.

Few people in politics annoy me more than Ben Nelson.  One who does is Holy Joe Lieberman.  But I understand that Nelson is from frakking Nebraska.  He HAS to be on the Right of the Democratic Party.  Lieberman is from Connecticut.  He's just a self-aggrandizing putz.

I like MoveOn and support MoveOn.  But if guys like Warner or Webb need some daylight from what is perceived to the "Left", then so be it.  Joe Manchin might turn out to be a Nelson-esque nightmare from West Virginia.  But it's f-ing West Virginia!  What did you expect?  Teddy Kennedy?

I agree with many posting over there that a dispirited base was a big reason that Democrats lost big on Tuesday.  But the Democratic base rarely votes in the same numbers in off year elections as they do in the presidential years.

And you may have noticed that the economy sucked.

But while Blue Dogs are endlessly annoying by seeming to equate MoveOn with the Tea Party (when really it was just the reluctance to compromise that makes them similar), they also provide the seats for the majorities necessary to get ANYTHING done, especially in the House.

Yes, voter enthusiasm made a huge difference on Tuesday.  But Mark Warner trying to get a public option would not have saved Tom Periello's seat.  The dude was gonna lose.  The Democratic base was demoralized only in small part by the lack of a public option.  They were demoralized because a lot of them have lost their jobs and their homes.

The Democratic party could have done better by them on THAT.  Cramdown of mortgages in particular would have been nice.  But the Democrats didn't lose because DADT wasn't repealed or the public option failed to clear the Senate.

They lost because the economy stunk, and swing districts swung the other way because of it.

And to get the majority back, the Democrats will need to have a few more Blue Dogs win seats in 2012.  Like it or not.  That's the reality.