Decision ‘08

Nutroots® Rule The Democratic Roost

Ryan Grim details a scenario that should be cause for concern for all moderate, non-’progressive’ liberals: the complete domination of Harry Reid by the likes of Matt Stoller and Kos.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had been under weeks of pressure from liberal bloggers and MoveOn.org members angry about a scheduled Democratic debate co-sponsored by Fox News.

By last Thursday, Reid was ready to hear the rabble-rousers out.

In a 20-minute conference call, a group of bloggers told Reid an uprising was brewing over the decision by the Nevada State Democratic Party to partner with Fox for the August debate in Reno. Among the bloggers, some were national — Matt Stoller of MyDD, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos — and some were local — Hugh Jackson of the Las Vegas Gleaner.

In the call, Reid explained that he had been focused on the Iraq war debate the past few weeks and didn’t seem to have closely followed the controversy over the Fox sponsorship. (When the debate was announced last month, Reid called it “great news for Nevada” and declared himself “happy.”)

Stoller said the bloggers told Reid that the issue was spoiling his popularity with the party’s Netroots: his DailyKos straw poll approval rating, they told him, had gone from the mid-80s to around 40 percent recently.

Reid backed off of his support of the debate, contending that he had had nothing to do with the decision, adding, “I don’t like Fox News.”

About 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Fox got a call from Bill Buck, a liaison working as a media consultant for the Nevada State Democratic Party. He said the debate “was in trouble,” said sources knowledgeable about the day’s events. Buck and Jamal Simmons, both national political veterans, are media consultants with the Washington, D.C.-based firm New Future Communications.

Fox Vice President David Rhodes then called Reid spokesman Jim Manley for an explanation. Manley told Rhodes he would get back to him shortly. The next time Rhodes heard from him was after 9 p.m. Friday, when Manley called to make sure the network had received an e-mail and fax informing Fox that Democrats were dropping the debate.

Reid’s office confirmed the exchange over the weekend but would not comment on the decision-making process.

First John Edwards, now Harry Reid. Here’s a tip, donkeys, though I don’t know why I should help you out: these people have less power than you think they do. Far less. Far, far, far, far, far…..far less. As in, not much power at all.

Ask Ned Lamont how far the Nutroots® can take you in a general election…or Joe Lieberman how much damage they inflicted on him, despite every effort to ‘crush’ him (making him, instead, the most powerful senator in Washington).

Genuflecting before the likes of these is nothing short of humiliating…and it’s just plain stupid, to boot…

13 Responses to “Nutroots® Rule The Democratic Roost”

1 DBrooks Says:
March 14th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
In the spirit of helping out my friends on the other side of the aisle, BY ALL MEANS, please keep listening to these people. They are your ticket to electoral success. Don’t have any reasonable doubts about the long reach of their influence and political acumen. These people are the future of politics in this country. Get behind them and their goals. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
2 Dennis Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 9:58 am
The scary thing about this is this episode didn’t even represent a serious policy issue that the Netroots are concerned with. It was just a temper tantrum and a declaration that Fox has the cooties. It was an exercise in showing who pulled the strings, and it worked brilliantly for wannabe power brokers like Kos.

The only good thing about this is the further Kos climbs up the ladder, the more I’m going to enjoy it when some new upstart comes along and starts screaming about how Kos and the rest of the establishment has to be torn down.
3 Fargus Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
FOX News is essentially an arm of the Republican Party. Would the GOP Presidential nominees agree to a debate sponsored by MoveOn.org?
4 a Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Even assuming that Fargus’ assumption is correct… national television coverage that we don’t have to pay for? SCORE!

Sheesh.
5 Dennis Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Exactly. Fox is no doubt a media organization with a conservative slant. The worst I can say about them is they’re slightly more focused about their slant than most other media outfits, where the liberal bias is more a natural result of decades of hiring people who think alike.

But in any event, why not take the TV exposure? What would Fox do to them, put little Groucho mustaches on their TV images? At worst, this debate might get a few conservative voters to actually hear out Democractic canidates. This is a childish, self-defeating, foot-stomping fit on the part of Fox’s opponents. The fact that the Democrats gave in to this tantrum is pathetic.
6 Fargus Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
It would legitimize their overtly slanted coverage. I say again, if MoveOn.org or Air America offered to co-sponsor a GOP Primary debate and the GOP candidates refused (as they no doubt would), my opinion wouldn’t change. I wouldn’t expect either side to cop to a debate held by the propaganda wing of the other side.
7 Dennis Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Oh, please. It “legitimizes” nothing, other than the idea that unless you obey the Netroots party line, they’re going to hold their breath until they turn blue. Fox is a popular news channel. It reports the news, something which groups like MoveOn and Air America do not.

Fox has a bias, no doubt. So do any number of other media organizations. If Republican candidates can be interviewed by newspaper reporters with liberal biases and appear on TV networks that have liberal biases, surely a few Democrats won’t fall to pieces just by appearing on a program with a Fox logo. What’s next? Should all Democrats refuse to be interviewed by anyone from Fox? Should Republicans consider anyone from the New York Times persona non grata?

This kind of attitude may be swell for someone who likes cocooning, but I don’t think it’s good for the republic at large.
8 Aaron Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
So, should the GOP decline to have MSNBC cover their debates? That network is at least as biased (in the opposite direction) as FNC.
9 Fargus Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough might beg to differ, Aaron. But whatever lets you sleep at night.

Yeah, FOX reports the news like “Scooter Libby found NOT GUILTY,” “Mark Foley (D-FL) resigns,” stuff like that. You know, real-deal news.
10 WAL Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Tucker Carlson is a somewhat conservative leaning moderate. While Joe Scarborough was definitely a conservative once, he’s been consistently moving leftward the last of years. For every one of them, I’ll toss in an Alan Colmes and Greta van Susteren.

I was watching Fox News on the day of the Libby decision and I don’t remember seeing “Scooter Libby found NOT GUILTY.” The Foley thing is funny, but it was a one-time blip and a typo, not a consistent thing.

As far as showing the debate on Fox News, they might want to do it…say…if they want to try and convert people on the other side of the aisle and not just preach to themselves. You could talk all you want about granting legitimacy, but given that candidates like Edwards who were opposing it had previously appeared on Fox many times, I say it’s pandering. To us “not granting legitimacy to the other side” just looks like you guys being scared of the forum. The average conservative college student has stuck their necks out in far more unfriendly atmospheres than this…at some point we lose respect for people on the other side who aren’t willing to do the same.
11 Fargus Says:
March 16th, 2007 at 9:32 am
It’s too bad the average conservative college student can’t tell GWB or Rudy how to stick their necks into venues where people might disagree with them.
12 WAL Says:
March 16th, 2007 at 9:47 am
“It’s too bad the average conservative college student can’t tell GWB or Rudy how to stick their necks into venues where people might disagree with them.”

Yeah, because neither GWB nor Rudy have engaged in political debates with their opponents on left-leaning networks…
13 WAL Says:
March 16th, 2007 at 9:54 am
P.S. I am being sarcastic (I assumed that would be obvious, but I also assumed it would be obvious every Republican candidate has previously done what you accused them of not doing, so who knows . . .)