Politics - Parallel Party Pushes Democrats

[babylonsister]

Politics - Parallel Party Pushes Democrats


After President Bush vetoed an expansion of a children's health program on October 3, Democratic leaders ramped up pressure on Republicans to override his rejection. A loose-knit army of online bloggers sprang into action -- but with a different focus. They targeted five wayward House Democrats who had not promised to vote with their party. After a flurry of telephone calls and newspaper advertisements, three of the five Democrats backed the override.

"We felt there was a little bit of hypocrisy in the Democrats' tactics," activist Howie Klein told McClatchy News Service. "Here they were with this expensive campaign to draw attention to Republicans who voted against the bill, but no one was saying anything about the Democrats who voted against it."

Whipping congressional votes into line is normally the province of political parties, but the aggressively liberal bloggers who nip at the heels of the Democratic Party are doing it. In fact, they have found that the Internet lets them run a parallel political operation without much money. And they often act without support from party leaders, as when MoveOn.org's September ad criticizing Gen. David Petraeus as "General Betray Us" forced Democratic presidential candidates to defend the U.S. commander in Iraq.

Freelance liberal activists -- who have dubbed themselves "the Net-roots" -- have usurped a broad range of traditional activities, says Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at the University of California (San Diego). In the textbook The Logic of American Politics, Jacobson and colleague Samuel Kernell list these functions of modern political parties:

* Recruit and train leaders.

* Help combine varying interests and groups into coalitions and help channel and constrain political conflict.

* Help foster political participation.

Each of these tasks has been taken on by Internet activists, Jacobson says. "The Net-roots are not the first group to do so," he adds. "Their efforts reflect the nature of the party. The Democrats are a diverse coalition. Competing factions within it are always trying to bring the party closer to their agenda."


more...

http://blogometer.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/11/politics_parall.html

[Jim__]

1. Tom Hayden was on cspan 2 today talking about ending the war in Iraq.

One of the ways he advised was to be active in close elections. Push hard for the anti-war candidates and you can make a difference. Pushing for the anti-war candidate in the primaries would help too.

[babylonsister]

2. That sounds like excellent advice, and I know many bloggers are

doing that, one candidate at a time. Here's a terrific example:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3694539

[Jim__]

4. Organize - not just for more Democrats but for better Democrats.

I like that.

[DCKit]

3. They'd just switch their positions over to anti-war....

Politicians are like weather vanes.

[babylonsister]

5. Yes, but bloggers are smart and won't support someone who

is so fake as to do that.