I do not think that having the "netroots" visibly on your side is doing any favors to the electability of Dems. I have several reasons: 1. Hate rarely produces good outcomes, 2. I haven't seen what they stand for other than hatred of those who think differently - or, more accurately - feel differently, and, 3. They always sound paranoid and nutty.
Ace discusses David Brooks' piece on the subject.
Freud's concept of "the narcissism of small differences" helps explain how the Dems can be in a hot fight against one of their own most visible leaders, Joe Lieberman who, in fact, is a very liberal if not Leftist politician. In politics, you aren't supposed to eat your own. It is counterproductive, unless you are caught up in something wierd.
But what if something wierd is going on? After contemplating all of the above, and recent news on the blogs, etc., one must consider all of the rumors going around that The Daily Kos blog is a Bush-CIA-RNC Nixonian construct designed to discredit the Democratic Party. Since all of the Rovian hallmarks are there, I suspect that it is likely, but I can't prove it.
Just think about it: you set up a couple of websites to get a million angry amateurs and mentally unstable kooks (many of them probably CIA junior staff guys and RNC junior staff folks having great fun posting and cheerleading, plus thousands of Christian right-wing extremist volunteers) to dig into the core of your opposition, and weaken it from within. What could be more Rovian? More devilishly ingenious and convoluted? And to hire a haute-nurdy ex-Army guy for cover... too clever to be an accident. Don't ya think?
And, just consider - how many blogs could rent a place in Vegas for a meeting of their readers? Could your blog do that? Hmmmm. I suspect half of the attendees were plants, collecting personal info, and half looked like homeless brought in for free food and tee-shirts to set the stage for the sting, and the third half, if my math is right, was true believers. What better way to get names and ID but to gather people at hotels voluntarily? Only an evil genius could create a trap that people would take out loans to get into, while easily harvesting their credit card data, addresses, gambling and other private personal habits (I have heard a story from an anonymous source that all Vegas hotel rooms are bugged and videoed for "security" purposes), etc.
Now this Affaire Frisch - definitely a suspicious effort to discredit the Dems: she provokes, takes a fake fall, and gets her checks and reappears with another alias and a fresh outrage in a few weeks. Don't tell me she didn't intend to get "caught," because every good sting has people getting "caught" to add verisimilitude. A pro only gets caught on purpose.
And the selection of Lieberman as a target - highly suspicious to pick the one guy the Repubs would like to keep on board - it's perfect cover, while it turns the netroots against the Dems, and distracts them from the Repubs - and Lieberman will win anyway. Ned Lamont? A useful idiot in the game - a pawn, utterly unaware of his role, targeted for the multi-millions of his own he could spend to complete the charade....after all, if half of the netroots are agent-provocateur posters with CIA-generated aliases and locations, and half are pot-addled hippies stuck in the 60s and paying off their PCs with Disability checks, where else would the money for a campaign come from?
Think about it. And this is happening shortly after Rove left his White House berth for "other operations." Could all of this be pure coincidence? Didn't Rove openly say "We have a plan, and we will win"? And, to date, Markos Mole-itsas has yet to deny the rumor.
I have heard some even speculate that the rumor itself is CIA-generated, so as to appear to discredit Kos, thus adding an additional layer of cover for Markos as his visibility increases. That would be classic CIA.
As soon as Rove-Bushitler-Nixon-CIA tracks all the names they want under the guise of "anti-terror," watch out!
