Blogs And Politics

Jon Henke weighs in on blogs and politics, Left versus Right here, as does Dean Barnett here. I'd encourage you to read them both to flesh out the discussion. But there's an issue I haven't seen raised I'd mention.

The Democrat Party is and for a long time has been more ground up than the Republican Party. They are actually in process of changing that, at the same time they are growing stronger on the ground due to the Netroots. I'd refer you back to my posts on the Phoenix Group. Liberal Democrat donors are putting a great deal of money into, not only the Netroots, but a top down communications strategy to take advantage of such things as Think Tanks, professional societies and the like.

That is an effort designed to catch up with the Republicans who have long benefited from such things as The Heritage Foundation, The Federalist Society, among many others. Republicans have long relied upon such top down driven organizations to fix the conventional wisdom in their favor.

It's that void that enabled the Netroots to play a more powerful role for the Democrats and it was a welcome addition. But in the end, it is a comprehensive approach that will eventually emerge as the most powerful one. A top down and bottom up message machine with appropriate feedback loops.

On the Republican side, they haven't needed the blogs as much. They have ample groups to bring attention to their positions and give weight to their arguments. So, they formed GOP dot com - but what was it, really? It wasn't about blogs, it was about the establishment of the Republican Party attempting to exploit bloggers by making them a sub group of their established media machine. And I doubt it did nearly as well as the Netroots.

What's unclear to me is if the Republicans, top down driven by big business and big money, is going to be as interested in actually aligning with bloggers on the bloggers own terms. They may not. The most recent example of that is the way they ignored the blogosphere in the House Leadership races. Before that, it was the way many of them dismissed the blogs when it came to pork spending.

That is happening by the majority of the Republican establishment, though would be newer players within the power structure like Shadegg and Pence seem to be a little more on board.

I think the Republicans could go either way with it. But if they fail to engage while the Netroots grows and the Democrats also firm up their top down messaging with efforts like the Phoenix Group, the Republicans may well end up with the short end of the stick. If they end up as the party of big business and only big business - witness what is happening on immigration just now, they will likely turn into a minority party with conservatives and libertarians eventually looking for a third way as a result of their continuing dialog in new media.

That could shave votes from the Republicans for a decade or two, resulting in Democrat government, until some new party begins to supplant the Republicans and gain a truly national presence.

It needn't happen if the R's actually open up and start listening to grass roots conservatives and libertarians. But until now they have put all their eggs in one basket with the already organized religious right, allowing it to be defined as the conservative movement in total, when that isn't the case.

They received less support from that group in this election that any previous election due to competition from some conservative Democrats. If the Republicans want to develop and hold onto a true majority for the foreseeable future, they will have to make room for new voices through new media. If they don't, they will lose more and more ground to the Left and from the Center and Right in the years ahead as more and more people gravitate to the interactive new media for their political expression.

Again, Jon Henke weighs in on blogs and politics, Left versus Right here, as does Dean Barnett here. I'd encourage you to read them both.

Comments

[Former Republican]

The proper adjective is "Democratic," not "Democrat." It's rude to mangle someone's name.

[Steel]

The proper adjective for Democrat is clueless.

[Cindi]

Scatter brained is also fitting.

[Phoenix]

Time for a contest! PICK A POLITICAL TUNE!

Sponsored (without his permission) by DANDERTHAL & THE RIEHLISTS

[Phoenix]

Secularists:

"Monkey Man" - by Richard Dawkins, E.O.Wilson & the Selfish Genes

[Phoenix]

Libertarians:

"Get Off of My Cloud" - by H.L. Mencken & Sid Vicious

[Phoenix]

Independents:

"96 Beers" - by ? & the Moderate Mysterians

[Phoenix]

Democrats:

"You Can't Always Get What You Want - Sometimes You Just Get What You Need" - by Johnny Rotten & the Liberals

[Phoenix]

Conservatives:

"Collide" - by Coldplay & the CEO's

[Phoenix]

Far Right Wing:

"Born Free Again" - by Jerry Feltbetter & the Serengetis

[Phoenix]

Far Left Wing:

"Simple Twist of Hate" - by The All-Night Girls on the D Train

[Phoenix]

Out-of-Touch Activists:

"Tie Police Tape on the Old Oak Tree" - by The Friends of Trees

[Phoenix]

The Pat Robertson Rally Wing

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" - by Jesus Christ and The Holy Shits

[Phoenix]

The Pot Heads:

"Funtwo's Pachelbel's Canon in D" - by Pass & The Bongs

[Phoenix]

Neo-Cons:

"WAR! What is It Good For?" - by Dick Cheney & the Pacemakers

[Phoenix]

The Southern Voters:

"The Devil Went Down to Mississippi" - by The Charlie Rangel Band

[Phoenix]

For the Mentally Exhausted Party:

"I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night" - by Phoenix & the Electric Prudes

[yyy]

Libertarians aligning with the Republicans?

Fat chance.

I am a libertarian which is exactly why I fear and despise the 'new' Republican Party of profligate deficit spending, massive government expansion, morality policing, and that whole 'only terrorists and terrorist sympathizers value their privacy and their civil liberties' mind set.

Forget it, if I am forced to choose between the Democratic Mommy State and the Republican Big Brother State, though its a bad choice all around, I would have to take the mommy state and hope it can be curbed in some of its excess.

[Phoenix]

For the Truly Narrow-Minded:

"Easy to Be a Retard" - by Three Dog Y and the Blockheads

[Phoenix]

For the Hollow Men:

"Still in Saigon" - by J. Kerry & the Swinging Swifties

[Phoenix]

For Greedy Politicians of all Stripes:

"Sell and Tell" - by Al Wilson & the Abramoffs (Choral back-up singers - The Freezers)

[Dan Riehl]

The proper adjective is "Democratic,"

I prefer using Democrat - and individual blogs aren't democracies.

[Phoenix]

For the poverty stricken in Africa (And how it was almost cured by a Bling Aid concert except the Democrat Party party refused to attend because they couldn't find their guilt.)

"The Wind Beneath my Bling" - by You Too?

[Phoenix]

For those with displaced genital energies and a yen for a hot environment.

"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" - by Al B. Hornee

[Phoenix]

Heh

"Not Ready to Make Nice" - by The Dixie Chicks - with 43 on drums

[Phoenix]

For the dispossessed:

"A Man Needs a Maid" - by Neil Young & Crazy Illegals

[Phoenix]

For displaced legislators:

"Stuck Inside of Congress With The Memphis Blues Again" - by Harold Ford & the Wannabees

[Phoenix]

Trenchant wailing by would-have-been First Lady:

"You're So Vain" - by Tee Rayza

[Phoenix]

Phony wailing by wannabe president:

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" - by Can I Get a Witness & The Hippie Doo-Dah Band

[Phoenix]

Consolation ballad to Hilary by her husband when she loses in '08

"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" - by Meat Oaf