Netroots Blues
Netroots Nation, the annual left wing gathering of activists and bloggers, concluded this weekend with a lukewarm response from its attendants. To say it was lackluster would be generous. In the wake of the conservative victory in the Wisconsin Recall election, where Scott Walker, the only governor to survive a recall effort, handily beat Democratic Mayor of Milwaukee Tom Barrett, hopes ran low. According to John Fund, who wrote in National Review, “enthusiasm for Obama was decidedly absent from this year’s gathering. Administration officials weren’t invited to attend (Valerie Jarrett and others have appeared in the past), and President Obama limited his role to an unpublicized surprise video shown to delegates late on Saturday, when many people had already left. Change is hard, but we’ve seen that it’s possible, as long as you’re willing to keep up that fight, I’ll be right there with you, Obama offered. Not exactly a stirring call to arms, and the tepid applause his video garnered can’t have pleased Team Obama.”
Van Jones gave a “rousing” speech demonizing conservatives, but what was I found most amusing was the panel discussion Fund wrote about concerning DINO (Democrat In Name Only) activities. The panel called “When Democrats Aren’t Democrats: The Story of Rhode Island. Kate Brown, the executive director of the liberal group Ocean State Action, warned that progressives are in a minority on a lot of issues” they care about, including gay marriage, expanding abortion rights, raising tax rates, and even implementing Obamacare. “We cut tax rates for the wealthy,” she asserted. “So when they tell us there’s no money [for programs], they are lying! There’s lots of money.” So much that we’re $15 trillion dollars in debt, we’re nearly $60 trillion dollars in the hole with the unfunded liabilities for our entitlement programs, and soaking the rich has been consistently debunked as a viable economic policy.
It’s not the messaging that sucks, it’s the political left that sucks. Gov. Scott Walker is an exemplar of a committed leader who is pushing his state towards fiscal health and economic vitality. He is the personification of a principled conservative. As a result, he beat Barrett and garnered more votes than he did in the 2010 gubernatorial election. The recent recall saw the highest turnout ever for a gubernatorial race in Wisconsin history that ended in the repudiation of left-wing economic policies. The types of policies espoused by Ms. Brown and other progressives on the left. One must ask if liberals are taking notice to the cries of “hell no” from the American electorate concerning their socio-ecnomic agenda.
Well, if you’ve seen the post-recall footage, you have far left activists convinced they didn’t lose. In fact, the state director for the Obama campaign, Tripp Wellde stated:
While tonight’s outcome was not what we had hoped for – no one can dispute the strong message sent to Governor Walker. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites from all walks of life took a stand against the politics of division and against the flood of secret and corporate money spent on behalf of Scott Walker, which amounted to a massive spending gap of more than $31 million to $4 million…it is a testament to all of those individuals who talked to their friends, neighbors, and colleagues about the stakes in this election of how close this contest was. The power of Wisconsin’s progressive, grassroots tradition was clearly on display throughout the run up to this election and we will continue to work together to ensure a brighter future for Wisconsin’s middle class.
This would be meaningful if Barrett HAD WON!
Then, there is the inimitable Howard Dean.
(H/T Guy Benson)
Whether the liberals want to admit it or not, their entire agenda is crumbling. To combat the stinging defeat of their policies that were soundly rejected by voters of a swing state, they must be increasing their daily intake of Soma, which has to be responsible for the delusional remarks above. However, I’ve heard when your coming down from the proggie high, the sense of hopelessness can be palpable. Hence, the Netroots blues exhibited last weekend. My advice to the left is stay home and let us do the governing for a bit.