While race is often considered the most important factor, I do not actually think that is the case here. The most obvious parallel, where a sizeable chunk of Democrats chose to vote for an incredibly hawkish maverick style politician with an undeserved reputation for liberal politics, was the 2006 Lieberman-Lamont race. I in fact said that the 2006 Senate race at the time was a test run for John McCain’s campaign, and all campaign strategists working on the Presidential race noticed exactly what the limits were of the liberal coalition at that time.
In the primary, Lamont took 52% of the vote to Lieberman’s 48%, but in the general Lieberman got 33% of the Democratic vote. And the primary determinant of that chunk was age. That is true right now as well. And frankly, why shouldn’t it be? Old people get that that having an old President will mean that their views are better represented. Young people believe that having a young President will mean that their views are better represented. This isn’t and shouldn’t be a surprise.
You should never underestimate the role of race, but that is not the only thing going on here. Obama’s blog bullies are doing incredible damage to the party, very similar to what Webb’s cult did to the Virginia party. Every time some drama queen blogs about how they cannot vote for Clinton, they give Clinton supporters permission to walk or vote for McCain. It is not logical and not something I agree with, but it is how human nature works. Clinton’s supporters have thus far maintained discipline. They know they have to reconcile at least some of these drama queens to a Clinton candidacy. Obama’s supporters act as if there is no price to be paid for such conduct.
I remember thinking that Hamsher and other Lamont supporters were overdoing it in attacking Lieberman’s supporters on the blogs. All those snide posts about Lieber Youth. There was no sense that the Lieberman supporters who were savagely attacked on the blogs in the primary would be partners in the general election, or would have had they not been savagely attacked. Lamont’s blog bullies need to examine their own conduct if they want to understand why Lamont lost. You cannot conduct a primary the same way you would conduct a general.
It isn’t just Clinton who is savagely, and unjustly attacked, it is all of her supporters, not just the high profile ones. The Orange Frat house acts as if they can troll rate half the Democratic party. You can chase them off your blog, but then what? What about the general election? How does this help Obama? Of course Obama could stop this if he would show a little leadership, but we are talking about a man so desperate for power he would disenfranchise two entire states.
I really don’t know what to do.
0 Responses to “Blog blowhards in search of a clue”