Five weeks ago,
I complained that the media and political establishment were unfairly focused upon the Connecticut Senate primary. While conservative Democrat Ed Case poses a serious threat to incumbent Senator Daniel Akaka in Hawaii, and while far-right Stephan Laffey poses a serious threat to Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, the media and political establishment has paid relatively little attention to those primaries. How much less? Look at these numbers from Google News:
The Connecticut Senate primary has drawn nine times the national attention of the Hawaii and Rhode Island Senate primaries
combined. There are two reasons for this.
First,
as ineffectual as some reporters would like to claim the progressive blogosphere is, clearly the media and political establishment are obsessed with us. The Connecticut Senate primary is the race the progressive netroots are focused on, and so the political and media establishment are focused on it as well. Whether they love us or hate us, they are fascinated by the progressive netroots, and are clearly following our lead.
Second, the Connecticut Senate primary upsets the natural order to American politics over the last few decades. Progressives are not supposed to be on the attack. Progressives are definitely not supposed to be on the ascendancy. For a right-winger to unseat a moderate or a liberal, well, that is just how things are supposed to work. Thus, it seems perfectly normal for Ed Case or Stephan Laffey to pose serious challenges to more moderate opponents. The conservative movement and the DLC are supposed to win. Progressives are supposed to sit in the corner and enjoy losing.
Given this, whenever I see
the LA Times or any other rag editorialize on the Connecticut Senate primary, I just think back to these Google News numbers. If they, or any other organ of the political and media establishment think that primary challenges against incumbent Senators are wrong, then why aren't they editorializing about Hawaii and Rhode Island? All of the complaints that have been leveled against progressives for trying to unseat Lieberman can easily be turned against the DLC for trying to unseat Akaka, or against the conservative movement for trying unseat Chafee. However, such complaints are not coming. Until they are, and until the news media starts giving those two races anywhere near the same level of attention they lavish upon Connecticut, anyone who complains about what we are doing in Connecticut is a hypocrite. As long as conservatives and the DLC are not criticized for using the primary system to enact change, progressives should not be criticized for using the primary system to enact change. Don't lecture us on politics while your fly is down and your double standard is in full view for all to see. Don't tell us we aren't making an impact when we are clearly leading your coverage of the 2006 elections exactly where we want it to go. You are not dealing with stupid people here, and if you treat us dishonestly, or if you treat us like children, we will notice the contradictions in your claims.
