Over at his weblog, Doc Searls writes about how MoveOn, Michael Moore, Soros, and others may have negatively impacted the Democrat’s chances of winning this year:
But what isn’t taken into consideration is the effect MoveOn, Soros, and Moore have on the red activists–it drives them into a 24/7 work frenzy. Take a look at the 2002 elections–what was one of the deciding factors? The funeral for Minn. Senator Wellstone that turned from a memorial into a partisan bashing session. In poll after poll AFTER the election, it was discovered that this event energized and focused the Republican Get out the Vote (GOTV) efforts in ways MILLIONS of dollars and a hyperconnected tech community could never match.
[…]
I had both Red and Blue friends working in Ohio on GOTV. One thing that came back to me was in Ohio, the forces of Red had 14,000 Ohioans working, and people who looked like Ohioans. The Blue team had a number of, well, purple-haired, pierced nosed, etc kind of folks that just did-not-play in rural Ohio. Maybe the Blue forces were better connected to their organization and what not, but the Red forces were just so pumped and energized they broke turnout numbers throughout the state.
Never understimate the effect of pissing off the other side. Hatred of Bush may have helped create MoveOn and given loads of cash to Michael Moore, but hatred of the left got Bush in office for four more years.
Doc and I do not agree politically but I believe he’s right on the money with his comments.
The Democrats need to find a way to distance themselves from the kooks and other moonbats that make up a good portion of their party before they’re going to be able to regain the White House. As I’ve said before, they have some “porch-cleaning” to do…
And the early signs are that they’re not gonna do it.