Well said.  I am with you.

Do some good work tonight, it will make you feel better:

Evening ACTION ITEM: Help each other in 3 Easy Clicks

And I love that quote!

I say this because Toby was fired in the show's last season for...wait for it...leaking!

Anyway, one small request: can we all listen to Ezra Klein here, step back, and chill? No magazine whose publisher endorsed a potential Gore '08 candidacy can really be considered right-wing.

How can I say this? Because I could never see The National Review doing the same.

As a commenter said over at TAPPED, for better or worse, Markos and Jerome (and to a lesser degree, you and Matt S.) are big-time inside-the-beltway players. Welcome to the bigs.

I would love to see a link/pic to what you wear, Chris.  I am a guy who loves fashion, too.  Seems like a lot of true blue liberals dress very disheveled and crumpled up like Wellstone and Bernie Sanders.  Nothing more exciting than a suave ultra-left progressive, IMO.

I am ultra left, and I'd like to think suave, but maybe I am fooling myself.

I commented on the open thread from 6/14 about my impression that Chris seems to be overdoing it a bit.  Of course, that comment came on 6/16 so probably only Winston and three other people saw it.  

So let me try again.  I've noticed a lot more angst about the MyDD readership and the way we respond (or not) and what we do coming from Chris.  I suspect that part of the problem is that the netroots community probably hasn't changed that much in the last year (or so?) but that Chris has, because he knows more movers, is interviewed as a lefty blogger, etc.  I suspect that some of his frustration may be because the amorphous MyDD community et al moves like molasses.... (Of course, this whole sense of frustration could be due to other things--like Chris' real life...)

Regardless, another indication of the fatigue is above:  I'm actually a little tired of meta-talk about the progressive netroots right now.  The statements and somewhat uneven demeanor remind me of some burned out social workers I've met.

Scott and Jerome have moved to other things.  Matt and Jonathan have come in, but you need more front pagers.  I think two more.  Maybe at the outset MyDD was fine with three leads, but you all are more busy with other things now, largely from your efforts here I'd guess.  Two more front pagers would allow everyone a little more slack, some more time to focus on tight articles, and less pressure to produce multiple articles in a day.  Heck, there might not even be a need for Chris to apologize for taking 24 hours to move.

I don't have a strong opinion on who to recommend, but I'll throw out Annatopia and Paul Rosenberg.  IMO, the best thing would be to try to find someone who fits that netroots profile you published:  over 40, educated, etc.  Or try guest front pagers for a month at a time.

Meanwhile, keep up the good work.  This and Michigan Liberal are the only political blogs I ever read (probably why I don't get the deal about the Liberal Blog Advertizing Network).  I read MyDD because I like it best, when it is at it's best, which is usually.

Feingold's interview in GQ was great.

Enjoy being "only" 32.  It goes quickly.

On the Schaller-Saunders debate, I'm with Schaller.  I think progressives are starting to go in circles with this.  Philosophically, the guys who wanted to target only swing districts or swing states had it right.  You go after the low hanging fruit first.  A state that Kerry missed by 2% is more likely to go into the column of whoever is the nominee in 2008 than one that he missed by 20%.  A state that he carried by 2% needs more attention than one that he missed by 20%.  Same on the distict level.  This shouldn't even be controversial.  You put minimal funding -just enough to get a name on the ballot and someplace for partisans to get together- in the third of the country that most strongly supports the other party.  You put somewhat more funding in the top third that most strongly supports you, and work really hard in the remaining third.

The reason the swing state strategy was needed was that Democratic consultants took this much too far.  They concentrated their efforts in just enough states to get 270 electoral votes, or just enough districts to get to 220 congressmen.  This is stupid.  You just can't do this because electorates will slip through the cracks, winnable races will be lost due to dumb luck.  But the principle is right, they just needed to spread the resources more and target about sixty more electoral votes and thirty more disticts than they did.  Likewise, to win back the Senate, the Democrats really need nine Republican seats that might flip, since not all will and the the gaining party always loses one or two of their own.

I guess what I really favor is a 37 state strategy, not a fifty state strategy.  But Dean is trying to build up state parties, and even in deep red states that will help since there are usually pale pockets there that can elect a Democratic congressman.

because, as anybody who's managed any kind of project knows, that's exactly what you must have in order to succeed.

First here to tar, and feather Karl Rove will win a prize!

We are all in this new movement together folks. I may be only 32, but I waited my whole life for a real progressive movement to come along in this country. Now we have it, and we are making some real waves. We will win and lose together. I have your backs because you have mine, and because I've seen energy in the netroots that I know will lead to the changes in America we all desire. We can do this. We just have to stay together.

Netroots, man. Tuesday is the big vote. I've been calling the "Undecided" Senators and "No Information" Senators all day. The "No Information" Senators obviously need more callers. I read the message below from Savetheinternet.com and for Democratic Senators add that the netroots are the key to Democratic wins in '06 and '08. Bayh and Cantwell joined the pro-Net Neutrality side today.

The Undecided and No Information Senators

"Network Neutrality is the First Amendment of the Internet. Congress must protect this set of principles, which keeps the Internet free and open to all. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Byron Dorgan have introduced a bipartisan bill (S. 2917), which protects Internet freedom. Please support their efforts for meaningful, enforceable Network Neutrality protections."

I agree with Chris regarding the Schaller/Saunders debate.  The "Southern strategy" simply is not a viable way to retake either house of Congress presently, but it is important to build up the Democratic Party in Southern states so that in the future we can be more competitive in that region.

I think one of the things we in the netroots need to do is to emphasize that the 50-state strategy is a plan for the future of the Democratic Party, not designed to win us the 2006 elections in deep red areas of the country. Building the party organization helps us field quality candidates in the future and helps us organize for a time when we can be more competitive in areas we cannot win today. It also helps us to define the Democratic Party by local candidates rather than by the natioanl smear image the Republicans try to put on us.

After election day, I am betting the Republicans, and possibly the pundits, will lash out at Dean for the "failure" of the 50-state strategy, pointing out that we won few districts that received 50-state strategy resources.  If we start defining the strategy as one for the future, rather than the present, we can head off the inevitable GOP narrative after election day.

The Southern stratagy should be educating the south not dragging our politics back to the 1800's so as to appeal to the culture of treason that the south reveres.

When all of the bigot Bedford Forrest schools/institutions are renamed for Sherman, those named for that scum Lee are renamed for Grant and all of the institutions statues etc named for that traitor jeff davis are renamed for Lincoln then there will be some hope for them.

This should be the southern strategy that is part of the 50 state strategy.

But until the south renounces their history of treason, bigotry and genocide there is little hope to find intelligent life south of the mason dixon line.

I'm 62, and I've been waiting all MY life for a progressive movement.

I thought I had found it, but I'm very disappointed in the way the liberal blogosphere has handled Jerome Armstrong's problems with the SEC.

I have no idea whether Jerome did anything wrong or not, but the assumption I've seen from the major bloggers that no one can question a progressive sounds suspiciously like right wingers who say no one can question a right winger.  I'm sorely disappointed.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Chris - I love the quote from West Wing.  Agree 100%