From A Democrat: Some Liberal Bloggers Are Immature

Really? One need only read the posts and comments of the Daily Kos to see that this is an accurate claim. Those of us that have been in the political blogosphere for any length of time have known this. But until now, a person that dared to state anything like this brought about immature accusations of being a neo-con and a right-wingnut, regardless of that person's political affiliation or personal ideology. Disagreeing with any Democrat that is dearly admired by the far-left, must automatically put a person into the GOP camp.

The man making this claim is Daniel Gerstein from the Politico and is a Democrat, himself. Here is the essay where he makes his case.

It uses the Edwards bloggers affair as the backdrop. But this kind of thing has been prevalent for a long time. Yes, I know that there are some right wing blogs that do the same thing. And I will say that I am not a fan of those, either. Criticizing ideas and arguing against open stances on specific issues is what politics are all about, and such is certainly fair game. But, when we look at the grand scheme of things, I have found very few liberal sites that I would care to visit on a regular basis, due to this level of immaturity displayed throughout.

Some exceptions to this rule are The Politico, Super Frenchie, The Daou Report, and The Carpetbagger Report, all of which are on the PYY blogroll. If there are any others that do not display this kind of sophomoric behavior, please leave a link and I will give them a look. If they are truly a mature and intelligent group, I may even blogroll them.

This article by Gerstein is worth a look, in its entirety. But one thing I would like to highlight, is this part:

The blogger bomb-throwing may be good for inflaming the activist base, and, as they demonstrated in the 2006 Lieberman-Lamont Senate primary race in Connecticut, for occasionally blowing up the opposition. It’s not bad for bullying your friends, either, as the liberal blogosphere did last week in pressuring Edwards to not fire the two bloggers who penned the offensive anti-religious posts.

But the typical blog mix of insults and incitements is just not an effective strategy for persuading people outside of your circle of belief – be they moderate Democrats, moderate Republicans, or the swelling number of independents – to join your cause. In fact, it’s far more likely to alienate than propagate them.

Something else most liberal bloggers fail to appreciate – we as Democrats can’t afford to repel those middle of the road, largely non-partisan voters.

Bingo. I have been saying this for five years now, much to the chagrin of many.

But now, it comes from a liberal Democrat that understands this principle. And although I may disagree with Mr. Gerstein at various points in future posts, allow me to say that he has earned my respect by communicating this. PYY salutes him for his courage to say what many know to be true, but are afraid to state for fear of being shouted down by the angry and immature.