Markos Moulitsas apparently wishes to lead the movers of garbage out on strike for better working conditions*.
In a remarkable post [link removed**] yesterday, Moulitsas, founder and publisher of the progressive community site DailyKos, celebrates the departure from the Senate of 10 moderate Democrats over the last decade, and makes clear his hope that Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) lose their tough reelection battles this year. He doesn’t name some other moderates in tight races, like Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), but his logic suggests that he’d be only too happy to say goodbye to them as well.
It is odd when I and… what passes for a ‘leading light’ among online progressives… agree on something, but here goes: I’m happy to see all those moderate Democrats go, too. Largely because they – as Politico*** ruefully, and I gleefully, note – mostly got replaced by more conservative Republicans. I’ll make that trade every day and twice on Sundays.
So, um… thanks?
Moe Lane
PS: Markos Moulitsas’ perennial problem has always been that he envies the ability of conservatives to dig in our heels and get what we want, while refusing to recognize that the reason that we can do that and progressives cannot is that there are a heck of a lot more conservatives than there are progressives. I’m not seeing here where he’s learned any better.
*Seriously, if you do not recognize that literary allusion on sight then I heartily suggest that you go buy The Mote in God’s Eye RIGHT NOW and read it. You will almost certainly find it a better use of your time this morning than reading my site would be, frankly.
**I will link to David Nir, because he’s a solid election researcher who has unaccountably decided to remain under the dKos umbrella; David is, in fact, too solid to ignore. But Markos generally… eh.
***Well, the Politico writers were rueful. It’s highly entertaining to read somebody who has to pretend that economic/policy disasters like the stimulus, Obamacare, and – this is a good one! – Dodd-Frank**** were just jim-dandy. Especially since the GOP happens to be campaigning successfully on all of those.
****Notice how both of those guys aren’t in Congress anymore? I assume that Dodd-Frank was really some sort of ornate practical joke that went tragically, epically wrong.
Worth noting that Sarbanes and Oxley are also both out, although that doesn’t appear to be related to their legislative hijinks.
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Mew
Oxley would be out, Sarbanes not so much. As far as Dodd-Frank, yeah it hurt Frank really bad against Bielat in 2010 ( not enough to lose of course) and Dodd was cruising to lose to Tom Foley before he 1) retired and 2) Foley opted to run for the newly open Governor’s race.
Foley was/is a heck of a better candidate then McMahon, and will likely beat Malloy in a rematch this November.
“I assume that Dodd-Frank was really some sort of ornate practical joke that went tragically, epically wrong.”
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Dodd-Frank happens when you have one-party rule in DC. And by one-party, I just mean Democrats.
Out of curiosity, how do you explain SarbOx?
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Mew
A supermajority of the populace being Progressives of one stripe or another. Dewey has had his way with our children for nearly five generations now. That leaves a mark.
…And by Democrats, I actually mean Progessives.
We shouldn’t call them “Progressives” — not without sneer quotes, at least.
Why are we giving any ground to them by using their own preferred terminology for themselves? That’s like the Bolsheviks (“majority”) labeling both themselves and the Mensheviks (“minority”) when their numbers were roughly equal. Or the Republicans agreeing to temporarily being labeled “red” …
How about “far-left” or “extreme left” or “crypto-socialists” or “statists” or “power freaks” or “******* *******s”?
I call ’em leftists, personally.
I call ’em as I see ’em…. which means not calling them at all here in Moe’s kitchen….
I think Markos is about in the same place mentally as Hitler was during the final days in the bunker. “Once those Senators not totally committed to our Leader are eliminated our invincible armies will totally crush the enemies of the Reich.”
There’s also more than a touch of Stalin in the 1930s, who liquidated all the generals he suspected might possibly challenge any of his half-baked ideas …
This just shows to the party infrastructure ( both Dem and GOP) that Redstate ( and others on the Right) are far more mature when it comes to activism. We do not gloat when moderates lose ( with the possible exception of Lincoln Chafee, but I was not around in 06 so I’m not sure)