Leftists In Wonderland

For those of you who weren't aware of it, there were two dueling political conventions going on in Las Vegas last week. The conservatives held one of them, but the biggie was the leftist Netroots Nation, organized by Markos Moulitsas who founded the Daily Kos. Though Kos had many friends at the convention, it was his website that caused it to gain the popular appellation "nutroots."

The attendance at the get-together was estimated at over 2,000 of the best, brightest, cleverest and techiest leftists from the internet. The group played a major part in electing Barack Obama. The conferences have been held for the past five years, and each year the strains of left-wing politics get stronger. This year, they were downright hostile to the moderates and faint-hearted liberals of the Democratic Party. Many of the participants make "progressives" look like reactionaries.

So it's not unsafe to say that the conventioneers are a trifle angry at the Blue Dog Democrats. The socialist agenda that the netroots thought was theirs for the taking has been grossly reduced by Blue Dogs and the fellow-traveling but weak-kneed President. Even the horrendous health care reform bill doesn't include a public option, let alone a complete elimination of all private health care. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid may try to slip that one past the people by stealth, but they have little support from the Blue Dogs or the Empty Suit.

The boys and girls of the radical left are not good Party people. They have made it clear that they are not going to try to save the Democratic Party from disaster this fall by lending their support to candidates who aren't Marxist enough to satisfy them. As Moulitsas said to the New York Times: "If 20 Blue Dogs lost their seats, nobody's going to care (except the Blue Dogs themselves, I'm guessing). That's their problem and I'm not going to cry about them. To me, a more cohesive caucus might be a better deal moving forward than one in which the Blue Dogs need to be appeased." Well--so much for the old saying that politics is the art of compromise.

There were plenty of fun speakers at the events--leftists, loonies and Euro-weenie socialists galore. But my favorite speaker was the one who tells us all we need to know about the nutroots. They're crazy, they're dangerous, and they think self-proclaimed communist ex-administration superstar Van Jones is just dandy for their cause.

The beauty of this is that Republicans and conservatives don't have to marginalize these loons. They're doing it to themselves, and better yet, weakening the Democratic majority needed to pass their Marxist agenda. So-called progressives are loud and visible, but they comprise a small portion of the Democratic Party. They helped liberals win election in the last round, and grudgingly assisted Blue Dogs that they weren't entirely sure of yet. But they've made it clear that they won't do it this time. Their activism was a plus for the Democrats in the past three election cycles, and their silence this time might not have had much effect. But their vocal opposition will do some serious damage in contested states where a moderate Democrat might ordinarily have a good chance of winning.

Moulitsas's largest benefactor is the Nazi-collaborator turned currency manipulator George Soros. Soros gave us a preview of what the open opposition of the far left can do to a Democratic hopeful's chances. Soros's MoveOn crowd spent $2.5 million touting their far left candidate for governor of Arkansas, Lt Gov.Bill Halter. The moderate/liberal Democrat in the race was Senator Blanche Lincoln. Lincoln won, but in the interim, she went from a draw with the future Republican candidate to being nineteen points behind. How much of that damage is due to the leftists is debatable, but there's no doubt it hurt Lincoln badly.

For Republicans and conservatives this is a consummation devoutly to be wished. Whether the nutroots stay silent or actively oppose moderate Democratic candidates, they are helping to rid Congress of some of its deadwood. The nutroots are either ignoring, denying or misunderstanding a basic political calculus. It is important to elect as many candidates who support your views as possible, but at the same time elect those who are not entirely in-sync with your views but don't outright oppose them and can put the numbers on the tally sheet necessary to pass legislation.

For the left, those candidates need to have (D) after their names. At the same time, this is a powerful piece of instruction to purist conservatives who don't understand that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Do what you can to get like-minded candidates elected, but don't hang yourself and your agenda by refusing to support those who are willing to listen and cooperate in the name of party unity. Are you listening, Republican Party?