Negative Washington Post article on liberal blogs

From The Washington Post:

Democrats are getting an early glimpse of an intraparty rift that could complicate efforts to win back the White House: fiery liberals raising their voices on Web sites and in interest groups vs. elected officials trying to appeal to a much broader audience.

These activists -- spearheaded by battle-ready bloggers and making their influence felt through relentless e-mail campaigns -- have denounced what they regard as a flaccid Democratic response to the Supreme Court fight, President Bush's upcoming State of the Union address and the Iraq war. In every case, they have portrayed party leaders as gutless sellouts.

First, liberal Web logs went after Democrats for selecting Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to deliver the response to Bush's speech next Tuesday. Kaine's political sins: He was too willing to drape his candidacy in references to religion and too unwilling to speak out aggressively against Bush on the Iraq war. Kaine has been lauded by party officials for finding a victory formula in Bush country by running on faith, values and fiscal discipline.

Many Web commentators wanted Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a leading critic of the Iraq war who advocates a speedy withdrawal, to be the opposition voice on the State of the Union night. Most Democratic lawmakers have distanced themselves from the Murtha position. "What the hell are they thinking?" was the title of liberal blogger Arianna Huffington's column blasting the Kaine selection.

"Blogs can take up a lot of time if you're on them," Kaine said to reporters Thursday. "You can get a lot done if you're not bitterly partisan."

I just love how they portray liberal bloggers as angry activists and as people out of the main stream. I guess they haven't seen the polls. A majority of americans are now opposed to the Iraq war. There is also a majority who feel Bush is doing a poor job as President. Most americans agree with the liberal bloggers. I'll say it again, if the Democrats continue to play nice with Republicans they're never going to win elections. If they learned anything from John Kerry, it should be that Republicans are ruthless and that you can't expect them to play fair. The Democrats need to show that they're different from President Bush. Why should americans vote for Democrats if they agree with Bush and his failed policies? They never learn from their mistakes.