I'm a moderate Democrat, just a middle manager from middle America, who posts occasionally and therefore is labeled a knee-jerk liberal. Well, I'm a progressive who has been radicalized by five years of crass audacity. For all my anger, I just want my country back on firm moral ground, not some grand utopia that the neo-media KNOWS I want.

I have thought for a long time that there is a misperception about what the netroots believes and wants. I think there's confusion over what I'll call idealogy vs. tactics. I think the netroots is filled with people that span the Democratic spectrum. There is plenty of disagreement, for instance, over whether we should immediately withdraw from Iraq or try to find some way to make up for the mess bush has made.
That debate rages everywhere. Idealogically, therefore, I don't think the netroots is more "extreme" or further to the left in any major way from the rest of the party. Some are, some aren't. It isn't really about what we "believe".

I think what distinguishes the netroots is 2 things - first, people who would define themselves as members of this group are far more informed about the various things that are going on than are the rest of the public, Democrat, republican, Independent or just uninterested. (Most people get their news through the MSM which means they are not getting a lot of news and the news they get is slanted.) Because we know what's going on in far more detail, we are far more appalled, angry and frightened.

Second, because we are appalled, angry and frightened, we are much more rabid about fighting the fight. We want to see our leaders fight with everything they have, on all levels, everyday. To us, part of that fight includes zero tolerance for what we see as collaborators and enablers.

I don't know what to call "the rest of the party that aren't netroots" but, at any rate, from our perspective, these folks don't understand the seriousness of the situation we're all in, and therefore hesitate to fight the fight as it needs to be fought. And that makes us want to scream.

Because we think our country is genuinely in jeapardy we have little patience with our leadership, who we think really ought to have figured things out by now. Thus we end up in direct conflict with what we see as established interests who want to carry on as though it is "business as usual" when to us, it is clear that the situation is very far from normal and needs to be responded to very differently.

That's the difference. We think the situation is dire and believe it is time to take the offensive. Others seem to think the situation is disturbing and prefer to remain on the defensive.

Later yesterday, I wrote a post arguing that what the progressive netroots wants in Democratic candidates is also what the general public wants.

So?  We also know that "Independents" track with Democrats on the issues, but I still hear insider speak about attracting the "Independent" vote at the expense of throwing red meat to the base.  

Everyone's ready for a full frontal assualt EXCEPT the "leadership."  No wonder there's mutiny in the air.
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What frustrates the daylights out of me is "let's make nice" bloggers. I go a little nuts when I hear otherwise smart, articulate, self described"  progressive" bloggers going on about how we have to work with the other side.  

My question to them is "What day is it?".

This biggest "elephant-in-the-living-room" dysfunctional family secret that nobody will talk about ? The DEFICIT. George bet the mortage payment on a "sure thing" (free oil from Iraq) based on the word of the "good fellows," (Wolfy, Rummy, Count Chocula). Now he's bust, but the Dems lack the nerve to have an intervention.

The Blogosphere is totally failing to connect with the biggest single voting block that has a dog in this fight - AARP. AARP members need to hear the message "A Hellfire missle costs $80K, and every time one fires, it means a couple of you won't be getting kidney dialysis !" and "Add in the cost of the drone that fires the missile, and you can forget about heart bypasses, artificial hips, and new knees for about 20 people. Hello bedsores !"

Also, at a time when our votes seem to be lost or stolen and only money talks, it is well to remember that the single largest PAC is run by AARP. These are the people we need to connect with. Join AARP, or go score them some medical marijuana or something.

So, wait, MyDD and DailyKos are the netroots? WTF? You are becoming the enemy Bowers. You are becoming the reason why hundreds it not thousands of progressives start blogging about.

Don't fucking call it "the netroots". Call it, "the DailyKos and MyDD netroots".

You do not speak for me and believe me, as I read the hundreds of feminist blogs out there, neither for many feminists.

This may mean less than it implies. I suspect that if you found a comparable right wing blog with tags, a lot of the tags would be the same, but they would be arguing from a very different perspective ON THE SAME ISSUES. I suppose if you found a lot of tags dealing with obscure issues it might suggest something, but then again, I suspect that any blog that addresses political issues generally (rather than, say, focusing only on the judiciary) would yield most of the same issues.

That's why we're not mainstream.  Because we care about politics.  That's what makes us weird and all. It's okay for the M$M because they are being paid to talk and think (such as it is) about politics. And the same for all the pundits and politicos.  But given their druthers, they'd rather being talking about Paris Hilton.  We wouldn't.  And that's what makes us weird.

but kos clearly earned his new "elite" credentials by favoring snooty posters like this.  He has given this snob permanant moderator powers, though he won't admit it.  This is the guy who has spent three days posting in defense of the establishments takedown of Hackett.

I admit i hardly read Kos anymore, because of him.  I still like you but Kos is hardly netroots anymore, and he never will be so long as he snuggles up to people like Dhinmi. While next hurrah has some good writers, I ignore them as well, not just because they post on his blog but because they cover his ass, with rating abuse, and bannings.

Educated, wellread mainstream.

Now that people know that Iraq had nothing to do w/ 911 or Alqueda and has no nuclear capabilities--they have the same opinion as the netroots.

Thus the netroots is really a mirror of society if you educate them on the issues.

In a story about Hackett's withdrawal, MSNBC quotes Jennifer Duffy,:

The negative reaction to Hackett's exit "will certainly pass, it may even pass before the next news cycle," remarked Jennifer Duffy, an analyst with the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

"Hackett is the kind of candidate who illustrates that the blogs are loud, but not necessarily representative," she added. "In this election cycle in particular, people are watching blogs and assigning them enormous importance that isn't necessarily warranted."

I'd class that as ignorant commentary, on several levels, but it seems to be a common attitude.

I still haven't figure out exactly what your problem is with properly identifying the corporate right wing ideology of the M$M Matt.