No More Dancing Bears

Jennifer Nix at FDL has a post, which the wonks among us should find interesting, in which she asserts that :

[t]he monied, "center-left" elitists, who pretty much dominate Democratic funding, treat those of us working to build a successful, progressive media infrastructure, which can rival the right's message machine, as though we were their very own dancing bears.

[...]

What about pouring some serious, long-term investment into what the netroots are doing? We can figure out exactly how to do that, if you would just stop saying that we are "taking Democrats down the path to unelectability." I think Democrats were on the unelectable path long before blogs gained any prominence. You need to recognize that while you were looking the other way, the strong infrastructure we need has started to take shape. No thanks to you, we're raising money for candidates, organizing, disseminating ideas, growing the movement and standing up effectively to the wingnuts.

Then she quotes Chris Bowers at MyDD who says:

The national media is already spinning that if Democrats win in 2006, it will be in spite of the netroots and the progressive movement, and if they lose it will be because of the progressive movement. However, the truth is that almost every major improvement Democrats have made in 2006 compared to previous election cycles was primarily driven by the netroots and the progressive movement. Fundraising, infrastructure, fifty-state strategy, media–almost all Democratic improvements in those areas were driven by the netroots in particular, and the progressive movement as a whole. We are the primary difference between 2006 and the past five election cycles (click here to see just how large that difference is right now). Even when it comes to Republican implosions, the progressive movement played a large role in making sure that those implosions were on display within the establishment media for the entire country to see.

The media narrative should not be that Democrats have a chance to win in spite of the netroots and the progressive movement. An honest appreciation of the situation reveals that most, if not all, of the significant improvements Democrats have made from 2004 to 2006 were generated primarily within the netroots and the progressive movement. If Democrats win in 2006, it will be because of the netroots and the progressive movement, not in spite of it.