http://www.schlosserforcongress.com/blog/blog.php?blog_id=73
Primary election results roundup Posted On 08-09-2006 , 9:24 AM Since election results began streaming in last night, the Internet has been alight with both passionate and reasoned analysis. The mainstream news media is most interested in a seamless narrative that will comprehensively explain all the results (and finding the exception that proves the rule). The blogosphere is most interested in thousands of individual narratives that highlight the unique circumstances of each particular race (especially the race in which a particular blog made a decisive contribution). In my opinion, the truth lies somewhere in between (see last graf for bottom line). This is not a typical cliché for me. For example, I dont believe that the truth lies somewhere between the extremes of Republican and Democratic positions. I believe the truth lies far outside the narrow spectrum of conventional wisdom promoted by those vested interests. I think that the best bet for an MSM comprehensive narrative is that voters are expressing generalized discontent that mirrors their typical pattern: all politicians are crooks except my politician. The ability of the Internet to focus a magnifying lens on a few particular races the Netroots contribution to Lamonts victory over Lieberman, the Club for Growths ability to win a couple of primaries glosses over the fact that voters decided the vast majority of contested races exactly as they usually do returning incumbents and choosing entirely pedestrian candidates who virtually guarantee that nothing in Washington, DC will change during the next Congress. I think the best bet for the blogospheres narrative is that after much hue and cry in the past few years the Internet has finally claimed its first scalp. Joe Liebermans defeat by Ned Lamont was far closer than polling suggested, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Although the Lamont backers will vigorously dispute my opinion, I think the Netroots win sets a politically dangerous precedent of driving the Democratic Party even farther out of the American political mainstream than it already is. I believe we need to end the war in Iraq as soon as possible, and commentators on all sides will make much of the war as the defining issue in the Lieberman-Lamont race; its worth remembering that Lieberman is far closer to the national mood on the war than Lamont, and that Lieberman is more likely to win that Senate seat as a thoughtful independent opponent of the war than Lamont is likely to win as a cut-and-run Democratic opponent of the war. I wholeheartedly agree with Kos and his fellow travelers that successful political movements are based on ideas. The ideas that the Netroots profess should be making Democratic leaders like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Howard Dean very nervous about their ability to cobble together a political party thats successful outside a few major coastal metropolitan areas. Bottom line: the only comprehensive or particular narrative that makes any sense is that four or five unusual results out of nearly 470 national legislative races suggest that were well on our way to more of the same. _____________________ Schlosser for Congress - Arizona's 1st <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> www.SchlosserForCongress.com 103 E Mohawk Dr | Flagstaff AZ 86001-6904 | 928-255-0195 Freedom - Responsibility - Accountability ... to balance the checkbook [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
