Paraphrasing the Nutroots (via Eye on 08): “We’re very happy that you were elected, which helped put us back in the majority in Congress, but if you don’t change your moderate to conservative positions, we’ll target you for defeat.”
I wonder if this is the type of thing Kos would also label as “respectful cooperation“?
When you get done reading what the far left has in mind for these ‘wayward Democrats,’ check out McQ’s suggestion for what Republicans should do in turn. His suggestion would be especially effective, considering that the far left would be working against a conservative Democrat in hopes of one day landing a ‘progressive’ Democrat as the nominee in that particular conservative district … which would almost ensure a Republican victory.
Heheh. I love it. Hey, their symbol isn’t a jackass for nothing, ya know 
Let the ‘geotargeting’ begin!
PM Update: Sigh. Since my email is filling up with “hypocrite!”-style insults, let me clarify my position for the not especially bright: Targeting a politician in and of itself is not the problem. Not being happy that you have a moderate Congressman is not the problem. No diehard R or D cares for moderates. It’s when Democrats at the time ‘cheered’ the moderate to conservative Democrats who were elected because they gave the Dems the majority, who now expect those same moderate to conservative Democrats to change their positions on the issues because they’re not far left enough. Newsflash: These Blue Dog Dems were elected in their states/districts, in part, based on their moderate to conservative positions on the issues. Why the hell should they change them because the Daily Kos, Morons.org, etc don’t like them? Those people weren’t elected by far lefties nationwide: they were elected by the people in their states/districts to represent them, not the far left.
But hey, it’s no skin off my back. As mentioned earlier, Republicans will be more than happy to help Dems ‘target’ those traitorous Democrats to the point a more ‘progressive’ (cough) Democrat will defeat them in a primary, to go on to face a conservative Republican who will have a better shot at winning. So, by all means, do your thing!
Prior/Related:
So, how many moderate Republicans (also known as RINOs) have been targeted by the Republican leadership in the primaries in the last 12 years?
I suspect that it will be about as productive a policy for the Dems as it was in the last couple of election cycles for the Repubs.
Comment by iaintbacchus @ 8/14/2007 - 3:58 pm
The angry blogging right usually portrays the democrats as a monolithic bunch of unpatriotic, tax n’ spend librul enemies of the state, so I suppose that this discovery of subtle and nuanced differences among them should be taken as a positive.
That being said, if it is indeed some smaller “far left” contingent of the dem party is responsible for all the noise against a more populist centrist faction, then it doesn’t seem like it all ought to add up to very much.
Not that I would care much if it did.
Comment by Reluctant Republican @ 8/14/2007 - 6:20 pm
Riiight. If those differences were merely ’subtle’ and ‘nuanced’ then we wouldn’t see the far left going after these people as if though they were traitors.
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/14/2007 - 6:30 pm
No kidding… just look at what those Nader voters have done to this country!
Comment by ME @ 8/14/2007 - 9:24 pm
Actually, those Blue Dog Dems are their party’s hope for the future. Giving the entire party over to the loopy leftists like Kos would destroy it everywhere except in the one-party enclaves like Massachusetts, SF, Seattle, and the like.
Comment by Great White Rat @ 8/14/2007 - 9:55 pm
I was watching Conservative Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham on Hannity and she pointed out that trying to attract moderates on either side is a pretty risky proposition. Her point was that the middle has no set of positions to advocate and it shifts depending on circumstances. So pandering to them is not a good idea politically.
The middle right now is with the left so the Dems can swing further to the far left wing base. When the pendulum comes back..like when everyone was with the Prez after 9/11, you can push further and harder to the far right wing base.
As for the OP..I think the exception is a little silly. Because they were happy with them to get elected, now they’re bastards for criticizing their views or targetting to get more liberal people into power? That’s just dumb. The right…hell, anyone…would do the same thing. Be happy your whole side generally won and then push for people closer to your line of thinking in the future.
There is hypcorisy enough on both sides but this isn’t really an example of it.
Comment by Dan @ 8/15/2007 - 11:17 am
A few things. 1) the dems elected that helped win the majority were NOT moderates…they ran on things like ending the war and environmental issues. Not really sure where this myth that all the new dems were moderates came from.
2) People would actually like all dems to be a little more liberal. 60% or more of the nation wants out of Iraq, did not want to capitulate on FISA, wants congress to stand up to Bush, so yeah, I’m guessing asking for less moderate dems isn’t going to be that bad.
3) Call me crazy, but I find it hard to believe that Sister Toldjah has a lot of concern about dems getting elected. Maybe she should focus on getting Repubs elected? Isn’t “None of the Above” the favorite in Iowa right now?
Comment by ervington @ 8/15/2007 - 11:19 am
Oh and incidentally, Jim Webb was endorsed by Daily Kos. In fact, he posted on Kos’s website several times during his campaign, as did other Blue Dogs.
He supported most of the Blue Dogs and they happily accepted his support. Daily Kos is extraordinarily partisan. Not uber left.
Comment by Dan @ 8/15/2007 - 11:19 am
LOL … you think my post implied a ‘concern’ over moderate to conservative Dems getting elected? Keep dreamin’!
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/15/2007 - 11:49 am
Dan must be thinking of some other Daily Kos site that no one’s ever seen:
Then explain why Kos is calling for a political jihad against any Dems who aren’t lurching far to the left. If the Kossacks were simply partisan, not extreme left, they’d be happily supporting people like, say, Joe Lieberman.
Comment by Great White Rat @ 8/15/2007 - 11:57 am