Personal Politics

I know this is the no politics zone, but since I'm more or less obsessed with politics, I have a hard time staying away from the discussion at a personal level when blogging here is basically about being personal. I'm not talking about trashing Bush, but about some of the things I see going on in the political sphere. What is spurring me to talk about it is some of the outfall from that Lieberman-Lamont race we discussed a bit before. So much of the news media is casting it as an anti-war backlash. I suppose that has some to do with it, but I really think there is something a lot more fundamental going on, and it will be really fascinating to see how it washes out in that far, far off time: November.

I pretty religiously read online The Washington Monthly, Carpetbagger Report, and Talking Points Memo. Links are, as usual, down on the lower right of the page under Liberal. All of these guys are at least self-described moderates. In the great blog tradition, I like reading things written by people I feel like I could have a rational discussion with, and I mostly find myself agreeing with these guys more than I do some of their more strident lefty readership. For fire-breathing partisanship, I read Kos and Atrios. The interesting thing has been to hear these bloggers discuss their transformation from moderates seeking to find a middle ground with others (here for Washington Monthly, and here for Talking Points Memo, here for Carpetbagger), into a more partisan in-your-face opposition type of approach. It's also interesting to see the rabid partisans' responses (for example, here) to the moderates' ruminating. This trend of the "irate moderate" was reasonably well captured in a NYTimes editorial (originally here). Certainly I find myself to be irate, and having talked with those Democrat caucus-goers in CT back at graduation time, I can tell you they were irate. The anger wasn't really focused on the war, although that is clearly part of it. Their anger was quite generalized, and it is a mistake to think that Lieberman's many supposedly middle-ground positions that were basically supporting Bush didn't play just as heavily into it. For all the attention bloggers are getting in the mixup (certainly the "angry liberal bloggers" are the boogeymen being set up by Lieberman and his, er, supporters), they really aren't that big an influence. When it comes right down to it, there is just a huge bunch of really pissed off regular people who have figured out that, under the rules of the current environment, the middle ground is a killing ground when it comes to changing things.

I distinctly remember being with Mom in 1994, watching TV as the returns came in when Newt Gingrich and company rode their way into majorities in both houses. How depressing it was for me! In fact, I am pretty sure I told Mom, "That man is evil." In hindsight, perhaps that comment established the basis for the no-politics blog. Well, we shall see if the worm has turned. Even George Will is squirming in his seat, and that must give Mom pause. Read the links if you want to see what is sloshing around in my head; don't if you're scared or don't care. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled blog entries.