I think this Dean thing is a teachable moment to the netroots.

[LoZoccolo]

I have the beginnings of a post about it in mind but it's late and I'd want to collect my thoughts about it before I posted it because I wouldn't want it to just get locked or something. But I'm thinking about it and putting this post here to show that I was actually thinking about it rather than just bringing it up again a week later to act like a jerk or something.

It basically involves what happens when you confine your activism to the Internet, which I think is almost always a bad idea.

[villager]

1. Because you are all about being open to teachable moments!

n/t

[leftstreet]

2. We'll keep this kicked in case you lose your train of thought

[grantcart]

3. lol Is this like a preview or something? Can we see a clip?

[LoZoccolo]

4. More of a hint:

It's about how when you're on the Internet, all you can do is "approve" and "disapprove" to try to manipulate the leadership, rather than do much to work on the electorate, which puts you in a bad position when you have to "approve" of one person to advance a point of view, and then they do something that makes you "disapprove" of them and thus can no longer use them towards your former goal.

[leftstreet]

5. Thank goodness the Obama campaign didn't waste time on the internet

No siree! They didn't waste time building the largest internet following evah!

[LoZoccolo]

6. I don't really consider that to be "netroots".

Like people who work on campaigns and use the Internet as a tool to make them more effective don't really identify themselves as a separate group that's so bound to the Internet and with a distinct name. Part of why I want to put this off is to think of another way of putting it because people get so defensive.

[coti]

7. I think the teachable moment is seeing how Dean's supporters handle

him making a mistake. Namely, acknowledging it.

[LoZoccolo]

8. Yeah I think I also want to see this play out before I run my mouth.

[coti]

9. I'm a Dean supporter. nt

[Radical Activist]

10. about the mosque?

He always was a centrist, despite the Kakoffian framing for progressives. I'm a little surprised he favors backing down.