Not true. The people you've mentioned are simply filling a market niche, in much the way that Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity fill a market niche.
Limbaugh didn't create an audience of conservatives -- they were already there, and Rush simply found a way to tap into that energy. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the loonies in Seattle were already there, too, and they've been angry like this for decades.
"I can tell you from first-hand experience that the loonies in Seattle were already there, too, and they've been angry like this for decades."
Of course that's true. But it is only in recent years that these people were taken seriously by the mainstream media and by the Democratic party and given a seat at the table. Prior to that these people were marginalized at best and looked on as just being a fringe element. Now they are the loudest voice being heard in Democratic politics and in determining the direction of the Democratic party.
Do you really think 22 Democratic Senators voted against John Roberts because they really found him unqualified or was it out of fear of what this extremist wing would do to them when they ran for president or for re-election? Clearly Moveon.org and other extremist groups had their warnings heard and heeded. Ten years ago John Roberts would have been confirmed with 97 or 98 votes, not just 77.
Even Bill Clinton, though I will always believe he was a liberal at heart as we can see about the left lurching direction his administration took when first elected, had the sense to keep these extremists at a far distant arms length and moved the party to something closer to the middle ground.
But today's Democrats would never dare do that, instead feeling only secure enough to run left, far left. Even the moderate likes of Evan Bayh has read the political winds in the Democratic party and moved well left. And Hillary Clinton has all but given up any pretense of needing to be a moderate.
No, while these loonies have always been around they've not had the power and voice they have now. And they've been enabled and emboldened by the likes of Moore, Sheehan, Soros, Kerry, Kennedy, Gore, etc.