RISE OF THE 'NETROOTS': Upset hints at impact of online activists

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/9/6 | Joe Garofoli

[SmithL]

LIEBERMAN LOSES:
Connecticut's 3-term senator concedes in Democratic primary -- wealthy political newcomer seized on his support for Bush and Iraq war -

Ned Lamont's upset victory over incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic primary Tuesday is an electoral lesson about the power -- and potential liabilities -- of bloggers and online organizers, a growing liberal political force collectively known as the "netroots."

From the initial support of Lamont by influential bloggers like Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos to the cash and volunteers supplied by the online progressive hub MoveOn.org to the 11th-hour accusations on Tuesday that vandals had hacked into Lieberman's campaign Web site, the netroots have been a driving force in the campaign.

The netroots pushed voters to challenge Lieberman's support for the Iraq war and raised the national profile of Lamont, a previously unknown candidate.

While some observers say the election's outcome should be seen as a milestone for how the new media is reshaping politics, few suggest that online liberal activists were entirely responsible for Lamont's victory. Rather, the netroots amplified the political debate already rumbling in liberal Connecticut: Lieberman was a vulnerable incumbent with ties to an unpopular war in Iraq and to President Bush; Lamont is a multimillionaire cable television executive with an anti-war stance and next to no political record other than serving on local boards.

"Connecticut is a true blue state, and Lieberman is a little bit purplish, and that angered people here," said Andy Sauer, executive director of Connecticut Common Cause, a nonprofit organization that does not endorse candidates. He has worked with operatives on both campaign staffs. The netroots, Sauer said, "facilitated that emotion that was out there."

[traditional1]

"a growing liberal political force collectively known as the "netroots." "

I see a typo in this text; "netroots" should have been "nutroots", as in "DU NUTROOTS" of the liberal voter base...

[lumber1]

Naaaaah...
They're DU "rootkits" - forcibly installing pervasive stupidity on tens of thousands of unsuspecting computers.

[Uriah_lost]

They aren't getting stronger, their targets are getting easier. Joe was really a sitting duck in that state. So, they can hit the broad side of a barn, let's see them hit an "actual person" sized target.

[martin_fierro]

What does Moonbat McKinney's loss signify?

That only Fringe Left wins are significant to the MSM.

[Seaplaner]

The term "netroots" is a perfect example of leftist sophistry, oddly implying that the "roots" of the (once great) Democratic Party somehow lie within the hyperbolic mythology that reaches an hysterical crescendo within such net sites as DU.

The opposite is, of course, the case.

The "roots" of the Dem party are being pried away from traditional Democrats, and those that don't blithely follow along the shining path might just find themselves abandoned on the doorstep of the Republican Party.

.

[SmithL]

What does Moonbat McKinney's loss signify?

Johnson is as much a leftist as anyone in the party and stands a much better chance of actually getting into the Capitol without being arrested.

[listenhillary]

Wouldn't it be rich if they found Lamont held tons of Halliburton stock?

[IronJack]

The stunning 1994 takeover of the House of Representatives in an off-cycle election with a sitting Democrat president was insignificant.

The history-making 2002 GOP gains in the House and Senate with a Republican incumbent president did not indicate any kind of public groundswell.

The election of a Republican to the Georgia Senate delegation in 2004, for the first time since Reconstruction, in no way indicated disfavor with Democrats in the Deep South.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's victory over Gray Davis in bellwether California was not a rejection of business-as-usual policies in that state, or an endorsement of fiscal responsibility by its voters.

...

But Joe Lieberman's razor-thin loss in a Connecticut primary means the end of the GOP in America. It signifies a tidal wave of liberal activism, a tsunami of progressive sentiment that no apathy can contain. The entire roadmap of American politics was redrawn this week, and GOPville is nowhere on it.

Uh huh.

[siunevada]

The netroots, Sauer said, "facilitated that emotion that was out there."

Yeeeeeaghhhhh!

[denydenydeny]

While some observers say the election's outcome should be seen as a milestone for how the new media is reshaping politics, few suggest that online liberal activists were entirely responsible for Lamont's victory. Rather, the netroots amplified the political debate already rumbling in liberal Connecticut:

Contrast this with how the MSM describes grassroots conservative activism of the Rathergate and Swift Boat variety, which is always cast as something unsavory and dangerous.

[dsc]

"Contrast this with how the MSM describes grassroots conservative activism of the Rathergate and Swift Boat variety, which is always cast as something unsavory and dangerous."

I can see why they feel that way. The thought of the Internet empowering leftist sleazebuckets scares me.