Quote Of The Day

Lambert Strether of Corrente and Naked Capitalism, wrote this as a postscript to the Netroots Nation 2012 "trade show":

I started out by saying that Democrats subtract value from the political work that ordinary citizens do; what the Democrats did to the people who stood in the snow in the Wisconsin recall is a clear example. An even more clear example is the betrayal of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of first- and second-time voters with the “hope and change” con in 2008 (though fortunately not all of them are disillusioned, and some of them moved on to Occupy). In both cases, the apparatus of the Democratic Party turned into a roach motel for progressive energy; a “process decoy” as some would say. In Ohio, SB5 worked exactly because the election was not personalized in the form of a party candidate, and the message stayed crisp because the Democrats were not there to blur it.

Trip Report: Netroots Nation (part II)

I'd add most of the captive progressive organizations like MoveOn.org and Media Matters to that list of time and energy sucks, but it's the lesson of these last few years. If you want something screwed up, at least from a progressive perspective, let the Democrats get involved in it.