Bad Bloggers, Naughty Bloggers, bad, Bad, BAD!

(Ed. note: This is written for Dkos, you guys are all great….and my, those shoes are attractive! Are they new?)



I would roll up a newspaper and smack your nose…..but newspapers are dead!

So instead I will write this spur of the moment badly thought out impulsive rant.

!!! Ha, THAT will teach you!

You are being BAD! You are being naughty! And if you don’t straighten up and fly right, you WILL go to bed with no snark tonight!

Ok Ok, As a Dad, and a past owner of many pets, and a semi-Skinnerist, I know that just yelling at you and threatening you without spelling out exactly what you have done wrong will only confuse you and cause resentment….and perhaps lead you in later years into a life of sex, drugs, and depravity.

Ooops, looks like I was too late!

But I will still explain…( …I give and give and give to you people…)

…YOU are squandering an opportunity. You are giving up an advantage. You are missing a key fact. You have not adjusted to the new reality.

(Whereas I, as per usual for people doing the scolding, am perfectly perfect in every way! Bask in my brilliance and perfectitude! Hork!)

What is this new reality, you ask? What opportunity are you giving up? This one:

You are now being listened to. And not only are you now being listened to, you are being listened to by People In Power.

Now I am by no means saying that you will now get everything you want….just because PIP (People In Power) are listening…I am saying that the game has changed and we need to acknowledge that and act accordingly. As I and others have observed, Left Blogistan was basically founded to oppose Bush. We were the opposition and we could yell and scream and rant all we want because….we new that no one was REALLY listening….and of course we knew that it was the proper thing to do in response to the outrageously wrong bullshit coming from Bush. We knew then that NOTHING we wanted would happen, that the deck was stacked against us. We knew that ANY effort we made had a VERY thin chance if any of penetrating the Fog of Bushco, the seemingly magic spell that they had cast over the Corporate Media and the Dem politicians in the, hahahahaha, opposition party.

We were rebels, and we acted like rebels, secure in the knowledge that the best we could do was raise a fuss and perhaps influence a few people who could influence people. Don’t get me wrong…The alarms and outrage we raised were incredibly important and DID change things. We were able, on occasion, able to penetrate the fog, and we DID move the old Overton Window. And as more and more we were proven right….the big names in the blogosphere started to be listened to…invited on TV, influencing folks like Olbermann etc.

But we were still out in the wilderness for the most part….howling, because George Bush and his merry band of Villains and Villagers just plain weren’t listening to the Fringe Lefty Bloggers. And CERTAINLY weren’t going to take what we said seriously.

Then things changed. When the Dems (partially thanks to us, go ahead puff out your chest) took Congress they were forced to respond to their constituents. They STILL never did what we wanted of course….nut they were forced to respond, forced to listen and THEN knife us in the back. Because they didn’t believe that they were in power. And so they weren’t.

Now as we see them start flexing their muscles as they come out of the Fog of Bush (hello Harry, ya spineless bastid, ya you are right, you don’t work for Obama…you work for US!) and as Obama inches closer day by day to taking the reins…..WE need to start flexing our power as well.

Because they no longer have an excuse.

They no longer have the cover of Bush to explain away their “actions.” And at the same time, due to the Blogospheres ‘political capital’ from the election, and due to Obama stance (as narrow as it may be, haha) of listening to The People. WE HAVE MORE POWER.

Power to shape the conversation, power to move the Overton Window even farther to the Left, we have the power to be heard!

Sure, we will still be ignored…..

But it is MUCH harder for them to pretend they don’t hear us, much harder for them to ignore us. Because we, the few, the proud, the bloggers… are now part of ‘the Establishment.” We have a place at the table we are part of the national political discussion.

We, like the Dems, have not yet fully absorbed the implications of this, this massive change of scenery, this new reality, our new power to be heard.

Here is the punchline: (without me telling you WHAT to do)  DO SOMETHING!

Stop acting like a ragtag band of rebels and start acting like what we are….a legitimate part of the political….and moral….conversation.

Focus, organize, and ACT.

They ARE listening, now….what do you want to say to them? What do you want them to do? TELL THEM. Loudly and in no uncertain terms.

But mostly, change your attitude. You are NOT the fringe, now. The Right Wing is the fringe. WE are a legitimate part of the Party in Power.

Start acting like it!

Oh, and while I have your attention….

Go join the nearly 15,000 people who have signed The Petition for a Special Prosecutor for Bush War Crimes

And if you are skeptical that we can NOW have an effect….read this essay by Edger. Yes it takes hard work, focus and persistence….but now we CAN really make a difference. The deck is no longer stacked completely against us, and we need to acknowledge that and act accordingly!

Things have changed, we need to change too. Now get to work, or I WILL find a newspaper to roll up!