Oliver wrote a passionate piece today on what I will call the War for America. In part he said:

The Republican party stands for nothing if they aren’t demonizing the Democratic party as anti-American. They did it when Bill Clinton was President, and they’ve done it since the moment George Bush obtained the White House. That is what they’re doing now. They’ve got nothing more than passing legislation that does nothing to actually help America, preferring instead to gin up the slack jawed folks who are their most ardent supporters with a neverending river of bigotry, hate, and bile. To date the left has become their enablers, preferring to play to some form of mythical “moderation” while these idiots defecate on our national foundations. Many Democrats (including myself in the past) have preferred the path of least resistance, trying to appeal to the mythical center while at the same time ignoring our core values.

We have to stop this now. In order to preserve this nation, we must stop giving in to the Republicans and their hatred of America’s diversity of race, thought, ideology, and values. In the early part of the 20th century, those who championed racist hatred were in the majority. For many, the “right” thing politically would have been to walk in lockstep with the klan and their ilk. But they were wrong, and the people who supported them were wrong. We have to stand up for the right things, even if you’re in the minority, even if you’re not doing the politically expedient thing, because standing up for what’s right is the moral thing to do.

And there are many things in his post I agree with. One of them is that we do need to fight. We need to refute the obscenity of statements like the one Rove made about Liberals. We need to STAY Focused on the DSM and its implications not only for the War in Iraq but for our international reputation as a company that believes in the rule of law. We need to speak loudly and in a unified voice against the abuses and arrogance of this administration. We need to present a vision for America that relies not on demagoguery but on a vision for all Americans, including those who we may disagree with on a variety of issues. We will NOT win this war by repackaging Republican Rhetoric with a Blue Spin. Our Approach needs to be more Obama and less Dean.

I have in the past and will continue to speak out against
“Whale,” Lefty Blogs who are more concerned with their TLB Rank and advertising revenue than with supporting a unified message. Despite the fact that big lefty blogs have more traffic than Right Wing ones, it is the Right Wing Whales like “Instapundit” and “Captains Quarters,” who facilitate rapid dissemination of message by creating effective Swarms.

Even though ISOU took a hit as a result of losing my archives and being offline for a month, As a top Liberal Blog I made an effort to promote smaller blogs and still do through guest blogging and Liberal Linking, (No pun intended).

Oliver is right, we do need to fight back, but we need to first unify and learn to work together, despite any differences we may have on individual issues. The fact that most of the BIG Lefty Blogs are missing from the BBA is a testament to my statement about egos in the Lefty Blogsphere. Yes I know many of them are covering the DSM, but not choosing to participate as part of a team, instead taking a KOBE (See LA Lakers) mentality. We can not fight a war when the so called ELITE of our troops choose not to join the campaign, or to fight apart from the main force.

Lastly I must add:

“Many Democrats (including myself in the past) have preferred the path of least resistance, trying to appeal to the mythical center while at the same time ignoring our core values.”

Bill Clinton won two elections appealing to the “mythical center.” And I don’t believe the answer lies in us emulating Rabbid Dog tactics. I believe that Rhetoric is counterproductive. Instead we need to get focused on WHY our solution is better.

Update: I found this trackback from Pennywit to O’s post. I find myself very much in agreement with it, especially this part:

But a couple notes of caution.

1. Willis calls the center “mythical,” but it’s really not as mythical as he thinks. While the political cognoscenti are certainly drifting toward the margins, Willis might find that when the political non-cognoscenti wake up for a quadrennial vote, they might not be so happy about parties that have drifted toward the margins, and they might make their displeasure known. The center isn’t “mythical.” It’s just not discernible in non-election season, when the only audible voices emanate from paid political pros and those who are pathologically obsessed with politics.
2. If Democrats age going to be tough, that’s fine, but Democrats (and I’m talking about Dean in particular) need to remember the line between “tough” and “psychotic,” just like the line between “passionate” and “scare the women and horses.” If Democrats cross that line often, they will go from “wimp party” to “crazy-guy-down-the-street-with-a-hundreds-of-guns-and-fifty-cats party.” It’s about threading the needle.

Crossposted to ISOU