Beinart and the bloggers

It says something about our political climate when Peter Beinart and The New Republic are "liberals," not liberals. What constitutes a true liberal in the minds of the Kos crowd? Feverent, red-faced hatred for conservativism (all the while chastising Bush and Rove for being divisive), criticism of Israel, isolationist military policy and opposition to globalization policies. While this crowd complains every four years that there is no choice on the ballot, the rest of us can take comfort in the fact that America will never elect a leader that's acceptable to the Kos lefties. So they can have their quotation marks.

They're interested in who in the Democratic party is electable, not who they agree with philosophically, because no such Democrat exists. Not in the Senate, at least. They're so focused on a Democratic majority and winning races, yet for the most part their politics are not really in line with 90% of the party. It's odd.

In response to Mike's previous post, I find it a little bizarre that the fact Beinart attacked bloggers for something they didn't say is somehow an issue. Aren't liberals constantly talking about what the mainstream media isn't covering, or an aspect of the war they're not reporting on? It's a legitimate point for them, and of course it's a legitimate point for Beinart. Silence speaks volumes, and the liberal (I'm tempted to use the smug quotes here, but I'll refrain) blogosphere's refusal to discuss certain issues says a lot about the dialogue they want to have, I think.

To say that they are simply too busy writing about "horrific wars that are killing thousands of innocent people" is a delicious bit of hyperbole and it sounds good (how does one respond?) but it's a mere distraction. They're too busy? Is that honestly the best line in their defense? I can buy, "Well, yes, they aren't showing enough interest in these things, but what they are focusing on is important too." But busy?

Beinart actually did make the same point about the far right's vested interest in talking about the opera house from an anti-Muslim perspective. But at least they're talking about it. And alterior motives or not, I'll take that over the other side.