USA Today has discovered what they call “the most surprising political development of the year.” It seems that liberals are more active, angry, and organized than in recent years.
Not since Richard Nixon left the White House have liberals felt so free to be feisty. After decades of being shushed and shooed aside by centrist Democrats who feared the party's left-wing image was turning off voters, liberals have kicked their way out of the political closet. They are loud. They are angry. And they've got a whole new attitude."We have been too nice. We have been too polite," says Ann Lewis, a veteran strategist with the Democratic National Committee, where the official party weblog is called "Kicking Ass."
The war, the economy, Bush’s appointment of right-wing judges, environmental rollbacks, and the stolen election in Florida are a few of the reasons for the “liberal” resurgence. New technologies – including weblogs – have helped raise millions of dollars for the 2004 campaign, propelled Howard Dean to frontrunner status in the democratic race for president, and mobilized millions of people to become politically active. In just one month of operation my own little blog has attracted nearly 2500 hits. Regarding weblogs USA Today wrote:
They're Internet sites that feature daily, even hourly, commentary by writers and publicly posted responses from readers. They're becoming incubators for a new generation of political activists, most of whom have little connection to party establishments.
"This is a technology that just clicks for them somehow," says Josh Marshall, the 34-year-old author of Talkingpointsmemo.com, a left-leaning weblog. Marshall says he gets about 40,000 readers a day. His recent appeal for contributions to finance a reporting trip on the New Hampshire primary yielded $4,864 in less than 24 hours. "I never thought I'd say this, but no more contributions!" Marshall wrote on his site.Other liberal bloggers report similarly enthusiastic responses. Bill Scher, a 31-year old publicist who runs LiberalOasis.com from his Brooklyn home, says readers come to his site as an alternative to the mainstream press. "I think a lot of people felt the media was giving a pass to Bush," he says.
Let’s hope all this effort pays off. Here are some additional links to new progressive groups mentioned in the article:
