Why we fight

We're playing rugby folks


The reason we use the B-24 as the site logo is more coincidence than anything else.

Marrying the logo and the plane seemed natural.

But there is a larger point to the logo.

We have to fight.

There is simply no other option.

This isn't tag, it's rugby.

When people attack Kos or Atrios, or Howard Dean, make no mistake, it's not just a disagreement, it's an attempt to bring them to heel. People simply want to shut them up and go back to business as usual. It's the same thing driving attacks on Michael Moore and Move On.

There are people within the Democratic Party, while having nothing but tired old bullshit to offer up, would do anything to shut down Kos or Atrios. They fear their politics and popularity and the power they have to move people.

So when Kos has a private e-mail sent to the FEC in a whining note, this is how desperate some people are. I could give a shit about Carol Darr and her opinions. But her goal is to diminish all our rights and when Kos called her on it, she was scared shitless. Scared that he had the power to fuck her over. So she did some political jujitsu on him, violated netiquette and made public a private e-mail. And instead of people seeing this, they want to debate his judgment because he used the word fuck.

Uh, people, that ain't the issue.

First of all, Darr is completely wrong, totally wrong. In both her opinon, and her actions.

Second of all, you have a problem with his judgment, send him an e-mail. Do not sit around and debate it. He's not the issue. She is. The thing which would shut her up is not debating said action, but reenforcing it. Making sure that she understand that we are behind him and his threat is not idle. This isn't about what other issues are more important or whether he should have said this or that.

It is about power. Our collective power.

I think a lot of politicians will think hard and long before attacking Howard Dean again. Looking at the quick, off year fundraising, the controversy raised. Do you think Obama, after a flood of e-mails and phone calls would speak badly about Dean again, no matter what he felt? No. It's an object lesson.

When you go after Instacracker or Goldberg, the trolls descend on your site. Now, I could give a fuck about them or their opinions, but the right sticks together to protect their own. And we have to do the same.

This doesn't mean we squash honest differences of opinions.

What people have to understand is that we're going to have a lot of fights, internally, externally and we need to make sure that it's the other side which doesn't want to take us on. We have to make sure that when they want to lie on us or attack us unfairly that the world comes down on them.. We have to be a very different kind of liberal/progressive/democrat/leftist, which is to say, we have to be the kind not only willing to stand up for ourselves, but the kind who takes the fight to the opposition effectively.

When I dismissed the Downing Street Memos out of hand, some people were pissed. Well, they missed the point. Congress doesn't care. They need Bush or think they do, and short of being caught with his dick in Jim Guckert's mouth, impeachment ain't gonna happen. People need to take this fight local. To start bringing the war home to the chickenhawk Congressmen and Senators who voted for this war then didn't support the troops. It means standing outside their local offices questioning their votes. You have to go to them at home, you have to make them squirm. Not talk about memos, but people, their constituents. You have to move from the Beltway to the home district. You have to endanger their seats, not speak nicely to them about something they don't take seriously.

It's not about being right, being right is easy. John Kerry was right. It's about being effective. It's about getting out your message and stomping the shit out of people who fuck with you. If Carol Darr wants to fuck with Kos, then her mailbox should be flooded. If they want to run their mouths about Dean, not only do they get the same treatment, they find out he's raising money hand over fist from regular folks.

If some weenie wants to start shit with you, he can be humilated on two of the most read blogs on the Internet.

This isn't about agreement. This is about power and using it. We have to bascially make people pay a price for starting in with us. Because we know their motives are not about policy. They want us to go away. So we have to show them two things, we're here to stay and we can hurt them if we have to. And people get squeamish when power is used. Anyone think Kos is making an idle threat? No? Then shit, let's back his ass up. We agree with him, so let's act like it for God's sake. Let's not play the Judean People's Front/People's Front of Judea game,. where we argue over minor differences.

And we know there are a lot of jealous people, people pissed they aren't Kos, pissed that people are taking some unknown Bay Area lawyer seriously, pissed that he's not a member of the Ivy Club, a shitload of reasons. They may have different arguments, but they don't say they're jealous, they just defend the status quo or attack his bona fides.

So the idea should be is when someone is right, and the idiot use of e-mail makes him right, we back him up. This isn't just about him, but everyone who blogs. We only have each other. We have to support people when people we know are not on our side, don't share our interests fuck with them.

Politics is a hard business and you have to impress upon some people that you can fuck up their plans before they respect you, especially when you can execute your own.

posted by Steve @ 8:10:00 PM