techPresident - netroots - Comments

Thanks Micah...

junothiall — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:31:27 -0400

I couldn't find it even with a search yesterday. I wait with baited breath to see if Sen. Obama does stand firm.

Not true about MoveOn backing down

Micah L. Sifry — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:07:26 -0400

See http://pol.moveon.org/immunity/080621obama.html. I must have put up a bad link in my original post. Looks to me like this campaign is still very much kicking.

MoveOn.org has deleted its page on taking Obama to task

junothiall — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:53:14 -0400

Interesting, eh?

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?!

thegreathal — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:20:43 -0400

No, freedomfighter, you're teaching the Obamacans the wrong message here. I believe full well that if Obama didn't flee his original position on civil liberties, he would benefit in the polls, or at least not lose the election--though he will strand his supporters.

It's that Obama chose to lie about FISA anyway is the lesson on how politics works for Obamacans. While in many cases having an actual candidate that's directly inside government is infinitely useful to a group or movement, if you're going to blindly dedicate yourself to a candidate, make sure s/he halfway believes in your issue (or in Obama's case, any issue) before it's too late to withdraw your support. Their dedication becomes the selling out of their own beliefs, and while it's good that Obamacans are just now learning how to criticize, their end result will be electing a Bush Democrat with utter contempt for the Left to the White House.

Also, please fix the broken link and missing sentence in the second paragraph, please!

so the Obamanians are upset with Obama

Freedomfighter — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:04:32 -0400

Obama took positions on issues he can not deliver on. He will either abandon the positions and turn on his supporters who have no where to go, or he will be brought down by the voters. Looks like the Obamanians are beginning to understand how politics works. If you like an issue, stick with it and build a movement, not a candidate, for it.

Obama and the Netroots

Luigi Montanez — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:18:35 -0500

It's definitely true that Obama hasn't courted the Netroots, hasn't needed the Netroots, and if he wins tomorrow, won't need the Netroots moving forward. It's also true that his campaign has built a much more broad, and powerful, coalition than the Netroots can ever hope to be.

But the problem I see, as a partisan Democrat and a small-dollar donor to the Obama campaign, is that while Obama has positioned himself to take down the Clinton machine and obliterate McCain come November, he's not leaving behind any coattails behind for the hundreds, even thousands, of down-ticket Democrats that will be on the ballot with him.

True, it's still the primary season, and the Obama campaign has every right to focus on their candidate rather than the party. But at this point, they've shown no hint that they at all care about party building if they were able to finally put down Clinton. Movement building? Definitely. Party building? Not so much.

"love" and "funny"

Joshua Levy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:50:47 -0500

To be clear, I wrote that I "love that name," not that it was funny. But you're right that we shouldn't single out peoples' names based on how where they come from.

That said, I don't think I questioned Mr. Tobaccowala's achievements or made fun of him; in fact, I called him an astute observer.

funny names

Peter Pasi — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:47:15 -0500

Not to be a killjoy, but I really see nothing funny about Mr. Tobaccowala's name. If someone were named "Baker" or "Shoemaker" or "Carpenter" we wouldn't make fun of them. But wait, those are European names, and Rishad is just a South Asian who has distinguished himself as a very smart and accomplished person in his industry. So it's OK to make fun of him.

thanks Michael

MediaCzech — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:02:41 -0500

we hope this gives people the chance to take back their party in KY and move our state forward

Wikinfiltration

Michael Whitney — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:37:17 -0500

I wanted to make up that word but couldn't find a space in my post. Wikinfiltration: an uprising via wiki.

Yeah Joe Klien!

jkillian — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 20:01:37 -0400

Spot-on. The political parties are always susceptible to small, but dedicated and vocal issue-centric groups.

YEAH BARACK OBAMA! More proof that he is on the front side of the wave.

YEAH James Kotecki.

YEAH Huckabee: EDUCATION! EDUCATION! EDUCATION! EDUCATION!

I have no doubt...

David All — Sun, 13 May 2007 23:19:54 -0400

...that both the Republican and Democratic 'roots will support the candidate. Instead, I'm more interested in finding out if either party "needs" the 'roots.

I like your line of thinking with regard to who the politicians will have to answer to. That's worth an essay or a column Micah...

________________________________________
David All
The David All Group
http://davidallgroup.com
________________________________________

Netroots are growing

dlake — Sat, 12 May 2007 01:07:24 -0400

The growth of the netroots and the fact that there are many more over 40 than anyone suspects is a problem for Hillary. her low approval is coming not just from activists of the 20 something group but, from her own baby boomer group.
Some of the most vitriolic posts come from the older readers. male and female. All democrats. I think the dislike is stronger on the left than on the right.
And with so many people of all groups online and growing more and more everyday, this will cause a problem for Hillary in electability. I have posted on blogs that concidering the hate on the right, the not so excited of indies and half the democratic base refusing to vote for her, she would lose in the general.
She is riding high on the so called experience but, Clinton does not wear well. people are reminded of why they dislike after awhile. That is why she lost so much support before the debates. After them she got a bump from undecideds. This shows soft support.
The netroots dislike her for more than the war. Alot of the article was correct in the feelings towards hillary. She is concidered DLC corporate and phoney. Pandering. Republican lite. Nafta is held against her and especially with Penn as her closest advisor. Her throw back to the early 90s in her retoric and promise them whatever and outright lying. Being the ultimate insider. Her sins are very long. It's been discussed to do a Liebermann on her. Take her campaign down. Obama supporters and Edwards supporters joining forces to take her down.
She is very disliked and not trusted by the netroots and she needs them. They are the political junkies and they are the ones who actually vote in the primaries.

Maybe, maybe not

Micah L. Sifry — Fri, 11 May 2007 13:15:52 -0400

David--

Good question. My sense is that while Hillary is indeed the weakest of the leading Democratic candidates among netroots activists, the Democratic base online will mostly unify around whoever the party nominates.

As for making it through the primary...there are just too many variables at play to make a blanket statement.

By the way, I know most people who are political junkies obsess about such things as who the parties will nominate. Frankly the more interesting trend to me is in who the politicians have to answer to. That clearly is changing right now, in subtle ways yes, but in general to the detriment of old insiders and to the benefit of new networked outsiders.

Micah

Candidate ties

Joshua Levy — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:21:24 -0500

Nancy, you're right -- we should definitely be noting when a blogger has ties to a candidate. Patrick Ruffini will henceforth be prefixed with "Giuliani consultant," or something to that effect.