A Story of the People

I am by no means a good writer nor am I a good blogger. However, I have been an avid reader of the blogs since 2003. Daily Kos and Eschaton were my first introduction to big blogs. Being naive at the time, I held a lot of hope for the Democrats in 2004. I would send letter after letter to Terry McAuliffe. Of course, never receiving anything more than an automatic response, I decided to register at the DNC blog. I learned a lot there and met some pretty cool people, but it was The Heretik who came to comment there one night that introduced me to some very progressive blogs, such as Shakespeare's Sister, Agitprop, Lance Mannion, The Tattered Coat and Neil Shakespeare.

Those guys were the ones that gave me a voice and it was Jen at Donkey O.D. who tirelessly helped me set up this blog. She even introduced me to a person who did not even comment and I am grateful to Barbi, and not only because she was the one who made the header here. Why did I start this blog is the question I ask myself quite often and where is it going...who the hell knows, but people joined it and it gave them a voice, sometimes political and sometimes personal. I began to see a change in myself as I read these progressive blogs and yet what I later realized was that it was always there, I had not changed but rather I was now voicing my progressive views.

There is probably one guy who wishes I hadn't found that voice, because I hounded him day and night when he was running the DNC blog. I wanted the Political Machine of the Democratic Party to post the same things that the National Progressive Blogs were posting. I was not giving up on the Democrats even though I felt by then they had all but given up on the people.

I worked so hard on "the filibuster fiasco" and when the people failed to get their values across to the Senators I was ready to book the party. Digby's words and my dear mother kept me in it and some hopeful candidates.

Then we had the Paul Hackett disaster -- I remember being so angry I took off work, so that I could follow it. I like many were wondering where the leadership of the Democratic party was going. That poor guy at the DNC got my fury again. But he took it in stride and then he up and announced he was leaving the DNC and heading North to Connecticut. The rest is history.

The Nation has a good article about the bloggers but it was this section that struck me:

As Lieberman's concession speech was replayed to jeers and hollers in the bloggers' room, another influential national blogger parsed the netroots' influence. "For years we have been telling a story about Joe Lieberman that has not existed in the mainstream press," said Duncan Black, who writes the Eschaton blog. That advocacy provided a "central catalyst" for groups like MoveOn, he explained, "to translate people on the Internet into voters, activists and phone bankers." Tagaris struck a similar note, likening the netroots infrastructure to a tower-building "Jenga board." The national bloggers reinforce the local bloggers, who recruit the activists who contact voters; and the press follows the national bloggers, who pull stories and videos from the local bloggers. "The structure will stand because there are so many people who are a part of what made this happen," he said.

As the article states many in DC warned Tim that leaving the DNC Blog was career suicide, but after clearing up his sinus infections and meeting Dusty he took the chance. And yes, that photo haunts the ex-marine who so masterfully managed the Lamont blog but I just had to link it one last time. Excellent work Tim and thanks.

Photo by: Edward Hopper