Okay that's it, the little power we have we are going to project on the Democratic elected officials? That's the best use of the blogs in their entirety?

I am sorry but I have always been skeptical of my electeds, and I will also always be skeptical of the blogs I read as well. But you live in DC you hang out with DC people and do the DC thing and you graduated from Harvard -- why are you better than them?

I love reading your wirting, but the Alito nomination is not some waterhsed event in the progressive political world, but it went better than you are claiming. Go read digbys post again.

I completely agree.  This is a great post...well said.

I tried to lay out a case for this (here) yesterday.

How is he back?

The only thing people are talking about after the SOTU is "addicted to oil," "human-animal hybrids," and "the general lack of any new ideas."

Wiretapping is not going away, and neither is Abramoff. If he's back any, I'd say it was more due to a 30-day pr campaign waged by the one organization in the world that can demand all the free airtime it wants and has an entire cable network devoted to its talking points.

Of course we lost Alito. We have a MINORITY. If they all had stood together for a filibuster, it wouldn't have lasted forever, and Alito would have eventually ended up on the court. The MAJORITY wasn't going to give up on that. So, we would have eventually lost...all the while distracting from issues that average, non-politically involved (THE MAJORITY) americans care about -- such as the massive screwing of the working class last night by the House. (bueller? bueller?)

I understand the need to feel like we fought. But, in reality, we fought in probably the best way. Some high-profile senators not on the judiciary committee got to rail against some BushCo policies, create a little tension, and then not be branded obstructionist who lost in the end anyways.

He may get a bounce thanks to the SOTU (it was bad, but not bad enough to not do its usual job), but he is not back. He's given up on SS, he will have to give up on HCSAs, and as long as we keep Abramoff, Katrina, and the NSA in the news...they will be kept off-balance, especially after the mid-terms when he'll have republican presidential candidates to deal with.

MyDD used to inspire me, now it's just depressing.

Bush is 'back'?

I doubt it. The reasons for Alito being confirmed had more to do with what the Dems didn't do than what Bush and the GOP did.

Bottom line he was confirmed because of the Republican Senate majority built in 2004 and in particular 2002 when Bush really was 'there'.

Another damp squib SOTU doesn't exactly suggest anything but more of the same in the coming months.  

Wake up people - the blogosphere caused support to decline.  Durbin expected to get 37, we got 25.  I love Digby, but he's wrong on this one.  Seriously, the numbers I was getting, the counts out of Congress itself, were higher before the blogosphere made its effort than after.

And some of the people who voted ... seriously, look at the list.  Some of those people are triangulating on you, voting for cloture when they knew it would fail.  They're playing you, which is why I'm not one of the people calling for rewarding the "Alito 25".

This just doesn't make logical sense.  

Not getting it right, doesn't mean nothing is happening or working.

We could easily respond that the mere fact of Democratic groups now working against the netroots is evidence of the pressure they are creating.

Matt is calling for us to take a social and political inventory in order to move forward effectively.  That's all.  It's a very clear message that I think we can all get behind.

The first groups which need to be held accountable are the progressive lobbying groups, like NARAL, to whom money has been given for years, for this very purpose.  These groups, at the precise moment when it was time for them to cash in their chits, and fight the good fight, walked away.  Aravosis is absolutely right that this fight doesn't get won unless a massive pr campaign is rolled out by the very folks we paid to do so.  We can then support that campaign, as suggested here before.

So, screw them first.  Take all that money you would give them, and give it to candidates at the local level (e.g. Dover school board), state level (e.g. Jerry Brown), federal level (e.g. Ned Lamont) (my list, choose your own), who you believe will fight for your values.  That's what the Christian right did.  Seems to be working pretty well for them. Not to mention, run for the school board yourself.  

The right wing juggernaut has been running for 40 years now.  Stop assuming a few faxed, e-mails or phone calls will win the war.  Start by replacing enemies, like Lieberman, discarding weak sisters, like NARAL, and rewarding allies, like Feingold.

Oh, and I realize it's just me, but who has been the happy warrior lately?  Al Gore, God help me.  The same folks who wish to marginalize him are trying to marginalize us.  This guy was right on the war, is right on civil liberties, and is a bonafide expert on global warming and alternative technologies, not to mention terrorism.  He is embracing us; time to return the favor.

There's an arena that the Dems need to seriously step into and that's the Indian Trust. While the Dems are backing off the Indian casino/Abramoff issue they haven't recognized that the Indians are subsequently getting substantially less representation. So, get some courage Dems, figure out a plan and be the party that actually represents the tribes and FIXES their issues. That will end up being just as big as the Abramoff scandal itself. $160 billion in curiously non-audited funds, hey take the opportunity, it hits all the hot buttons, Americans misrepresented, energy, oil, national lands, education, you name it this is the place to go.

I have said this before and I know it is not popular, we have no levers of power and control no House of Congress so the ability to stop Alito was very slim.  A filibuster is an extremely difficult tool to use effectively because the Senate is like hearding cats and you have to keep 41 votes together at all times.  Eventually someone weakens, misses a vote or cuts a deal and it falls apart.  

If the netroots want to have true power, we have to show we can actually win elections.  We have lots of good ideas and we can raise money but have we actually elected anyone?  Two of our most prominent races are Howard Dean and Paul Hackett.

Dean is a darling of the netroots but his appeal to the electorate proved limited.  

Hackett did extremely well in a difficult district but in the end he lost.

We have to stop thinking the filibuster gives us power.  It will provide us an occasionally victory but it will not allow us to control the agenda.

If we really want to stop the Bush agenda, we need to control one or both of the Houses of Congress.  The best thing we can do is elect like minded Democrats to the House and Senate.  
We should do a Dean dozen type of candidate identification and make sure these candidates win.

I don't see how dumping on the Democrats is going to help.  If Hilary gets the nomination in 08 (and I hope she doesn't), I'm going to vote for her because what is the alternative?  We saw what happened when Nadar ran last time.

Meanwhile, our screwed-up electoral system leaves me feeling completely unempowered.  I live in a deep blue part of a deep red state (Atlanta, GA) and it doesn't seem likely that my state will go for the Dem in 08 regardless of how hard I campaign.  Both of my senators are conservative rethugs -- I write them letters occasionally but they don't care what I think.  My representative -- John Lewis -- is a good guy, but doesn't need any help getting reelected.  He does the right thing most of the time, in my opinion.

About the only thing I can do to help me feel better is to give money to candidates in other states.  I gave money to Paul Hackett last summer and Tim Kaine this fall.  I will probably give some money to Nick Lampson one of the these days.  I wish I were rich enough to give money to all worthy candidates for national office this year.

I guess my question is what do you mean "start acting like an American"?  The truth is, we don't really have any power and, given the current system, there's no way to change that.

Fine, I'm an American, you are an American, we all are Americans! Fine, Jeff had a grand diary on why our party is failing us!

Once again we have a twenty step plan on how we might, in the far future, cure our ills as a party. Jesus, it is not that complicated. Start the process with concentrated incremental steps with MEASURABLE results. Pick one f**king DINO and mount an all out effort for termination!

Typical progressive response, we are smart, so let us think of a grand strategy to change to whole system. Well, I hate to break so harshly to my fellow progressives, but we the base have been here before long before the blogs, and have the same problem as before, NO POWER. The problem is our fear of losing a precious seat if we don't win. The seat is already lost! Just ask any DINO incumbent, what will you do if you lose? They all say "I'll run as an independent". So, what is your excuse?

I agree with Matt. The phrase "functional apparatus for projecting power" resonates with my own experience.

For the past few years, I have been deeply involved in a dual battle to both change the politics of the area I live in, while also leading a campaign to stop one of the richer and more powerful global corporations from despoiling the area where I live.

In 2005, we elected a progressive government in my town, and also defeated the corporate Goliath, which spent $58 million in its failed campaign.

Developing a "functional apparatus for projecting power" in a community that was demoralized was precisely what we did (and I am working, slowly, on a book about how we did it).

One of the things we came to realize was that big issues on the local level (in this case, a major environmental threat) open the door to a wide range of other issues. By activating citizens throughout our region on this issue, they became interested in a host of related issues (economic development, land use planning, freedom of information, how review processes work, media criticism, you name it).

And by getting people to engage in a local issue of direct impact on their lives, they become more engaged citizens on every level.

As such, I have come to believe that the recent national failures of the Democratic Party are tied into the lack of attention to developing the party on the ultra-local level. Frankly, if every community had been as galvanized and engaged as mine has been over recent years around a local issue, Bush would be long gone.

In short (sorry for the long post), a major component of developing the apparatus of projecting power should be to return the focus to highly localized cultivation and activism. Indeed, that's just what the Republicans did in their long march to Alito: through churches, chambers of commerce, rotaries, clubs and campuses, they developed the mechanism for delivering votes. Combined with their investment in think tanks, messaging, and media flacking, this has paid off big time.

Unfortunately, there is a real reluctance among Democrats, nonprofits, and other agents of change to invest in "local" causes. It is a giant mistake, if you want to develop the apparatus to win.

What the hell took you so long?

I mean...

On every conference call with elected officials, I hear preening, sycophantic questions towards elected Democrats.  That time is over.  They work for us, the people.  Or rather, I am an American, and I am not going to bow down to someone because they are a Congressman or a Senator.  I don't have to say that someone pursued 'great leadership' just because they wear a Congressional pin.  I don't have to care about titles, about nobility, about respect for the office.  I am an American.

The highest title in the land is... citizen.

The President is Mr. just like my Dad and just like me today.

I don't meant to be rude but if you or anyone else has been falling all over these guys as anything but YOUR GODDAMN EMPLOYEES then

WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU????

(and yes, I am screaming)

First, the key election was 2004, not 2002, for this vote.  We got blitzed in the senate.  Lost FIVE seats.  Instead of southern Dems like Breux, Bob Graham, or Hollings we got the Republican Robots.  Vitter, Martinez, Graham (faux moderate), Coburn, and Bunning.

Beyond that, I read the full article from the Washington Post and I didn't see the evidence to support much of the naysaying.  The netroots got results.  There were more votes for the fillibuster than against Roberts, and the article made it plain that he was pretty similar to Alito.  And there were 20 more votes against him on confirmation.

What did we accomplish?  A lot.  

We got Chafee on record making his continued tap dance much harder.  Will Laffey blow him away in the primary.  The vote against confirmation helped.  Will he lose in the general election, the vote against fillibuster helped.

The same can be said for a lot of the other seats just up there for election.  Do you think this is going to help Amy Klobuchar against Norm Coleman in Minnesota.  Yup.  Mike DeWine get a boost?  Nope.  Whether it is Sherrod Brown or Paul Hackett, the Democrats will be unified in November.  Same for the Kean,Jr/Memendez battle in NJ.  Alito may be from here but he's no local hero.  Jr. is shedding his moderation and even the appearance of it.  He's no Clifford Case (the moderate who was the last Republican to win a Senate seat here).

If anything can and should be said it is the folly that Republican moderates are worth anything when the chips are down.  Why are we giving the "popular" Olympia Snowe a free pass.  Maybe she's popular becauswe nobody has gone after her?  Maybe she's popular because her image is right (even though the reality is not).  Mainers love independence but how independent is she really?  Arlen Specter, anyone?  Specter?  Specter?  Bueller?  He voted and acted like Pat Toomey, not like what we needed.

As for Neas?  Well, he was a day late and a dollar short.  Maybe too old and too self satisfied for this game.  Same with the other interests.  If we get better coordination the next time we'll get better PR.  You can't count on the gift of Clarence Thomas every time.

... that if you want to read a good article about how this battle was lost... read this one from the New York Times. The other guys planned, organized and reaped the benefits of their efforts. We did not. Plain and simple. This was a disorganized mess much like a lot of what we saw in the 2004 election effort.

There is an old rule that works... 80% preparation, 20% effort.

Who is planning the ground game for this November? It should already have been planned and the plan should be starting into motion now.

Who is currently planning the ground game for 2008? That plan should be getting mapped out right now and the pieces to execute it should be being positioned, requisitioned, trained, developed, etc.

The sky is not falling.  Bush is not "back."

Alito would have been confirmed no matter how hard we fought his nomination.

You wan't progressive judges to be appointed to the Supreme Court?  Than get Democrats elected.

Our side seems to have an obsession with tearing Democrats down for the slightest perceived ill.

Republicans do a much much much much much much much much much better job of circling the wagons and towing the party line.  Gee, I wonder why they win all those elections?  They don't even need to waste that many resources tearing down Democrats when the  supposed party faithful will do it for them.

Its simple, learn to support Democrats even if you disagree with them.  They are much better than the only other alternative.  Everytime you say both parties are the same, you repeat a Republican talking point that has been recited ad nauseum by members of the media.  You also help enforce a message that preserves the status quo of Republicans maintaining power over the Federal Government.

Both parties are NOT the same.  Get that through your thick skulls.

...Why!  Why!  why the hell can't our elected officials get off their preening, weak, pathetic asses and go to work.  They are afraid to offend people on the right, but that is exactly what we must do if we are to have a message at all, they find our very existence offensive, it is impossible to reason with them.  It is impossible to be a 'nice Democrat' in their eyes, except a boot licking type like Lieberman or Zell Miller.

I think we need to take stock, we need to unify our caucus before we will be able to move forward.  That means we are going to have to jettison people that won't work with us, not conservative Dems, but people that put their own interests ahead of the Party, and those groups that are unreliable.  If people go against us, they need to PAY.  We need to replace them with forces we can rely on.  Unity is everything in this fight.  If we are weak, the Republicans will crush us.

It seems that every time I go on a liberal website and argue that we need to be holding Democratic candidates as accountable as Republicans, and should consider their decisions the result of our successes or failures I get shouted down, by more than one poster.

Two weeks, before I wrote "Betrayal (a black man's perspective on the Alito confirmation process)" on Daily Kos, which stayed at or near the top of the Recommendeds for a day, I wrote a blog titled "What Shame We All Should Have [Re: Alito]" arguing we all were to blame for Scalito's appointment.  The concept of anyone taking any kind of blame for failing to pressure our advocate groups and Senators seems so foreign to so many.

It is time that the netroots begins to understand it's power both financially and technologically to find OUR candidates, groom them, run them, elect them, and then hold them accountable.  It is time we begin to collectively consider the failures of our leaders the failures of our movement...shared burdens, shared victories and shared losses.

Throughout the nomination process, many of us were writing letters, making phone calls and expressing our opinion that Alito was all wrong for this country.  However, I think many people took a back seat until the final week.  

Did our Senators exploit us?  I think that is way too cynical.  Kerry and Kennedy were begging us to fight harder because too many Senators heard almost no opposition to Alito from their constitutents.

What did I learn from the experience?  We need to start sooner.  We need better tools to make the effort simpler.  There was too much time spent sorting through lists of names, looking up phone/fax numbers.  Even the process of faxing and emailing needs to be made easier.  

In short, blogs were not up to the task of online canvassing!

Bush is back?

Bush is quacking like a duck.  He'll have victories on small issues.  

However, the grandiose Bush dream of eradictating the New Deal is finished.  

Just as dead is PNAC's delusionary dream of a Pax Americana.

However, I do not under-estimate the damage caused by Bush. His legacy will be an overly conservative Supreme Court, massive debt and lives lost in a useless war.

here yet appears to be calling for more of this exact type of action.

Rep. Slaughter, who voted in favor of Dick Cheney's industry authored energy bill, posted a diary at KOS railing on Bush's energy approach stated in the recent SOTU speech and Kossacks fell all over her: Fools. I don't believe she got a single response to the cross-posting of her diary here from this community who were aware of her previous actions.

Outstanding.  

Return no encumbent in 06/08. Vote in the 06 primaries, kick out the encumbent, if there is one.

If people, of either pary, do this in 06, it should send a strong message to all our "representatives" that we've had it with their b.s.

Return no encumbent in 06/08. It's easy to understand, it's bumper-sticker friendly, it's non partisan.

Return no encumbent in 06/08. Pass it on.

Sorry if others have brought up this point but I don't want to read all the comments on both diaries.  :)

I think the liberal/progressive relationship with power is less about inspiring progressives to take power, and more about helping them to get over the judgments against power.

"Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely."  There is just a huge, huge, huge percentage of the left that believes this innately.  As soon as any progressive attains too much power, even "power for good", people on the left are apt to distrust them.

People on the left are apt to distrust themselves with power.

So it creates a dynamic where people on the left are quite comfortable agitating for change, but far less comfortable inhabiting the spaces where they actually have the power to affect that change - because it's a cousin concept to "selling out" or "being part of the system" or "submitting to the man" or whatever.

I'd like to see more visible bloggers talking about this head-on.  What's your discomfort with power?  Can you imagine yourself in power?  What would you do if you were in power?  What do we need to do to be comfortable with the idea of actually having power, or to be comfortable with supporting the people that actually look comfortable with power?  What is it about the people that look comfortable with power - even if it is "power for good" - that we inherently distrust?  Why do we often think that "power for good" is an almost self-contradicting term?

I've long felt that the real advantage that the right has over the left is just that they are more comfortable with the idea of holding power.  Sure, it's easy to say that it's because they're less burdened with things like integrity and a conscience, but I believe it goes deeper than that, too.