Progressive Democrats and Soccer Mobs

You know how I'm always shilling for progressive politicians and sites like DailyKos.com? Well, I'm rethinking some of that after last weekend's dustup.

It's a complicated story, so I'll simplify it. On Saturday night, Mrs. Uptown and I read a David Brooks column about Kos. It was stupid—a Brooks specialty—but there was one disturbing paragraph in it. So my wife (who once blogged in my stead here) posted a diary on Kos to ask: What's this about?

She was vilified, flamed, left to die in a ditch. I thought this was pretty amazing: all this vitriol just for asking a question. So I wrote the incident up on Huffington Post. And guess what? I got blasted too.

Now my wife is a troll and a liar. I'm a secret Republican and a domineering husband. (But you knew that all along, didn't you?)

My point: "We" have to be better than "they" are. Not so "they" will respect us—Karl Rove and that ilk respect only their own power and bulging portfolios—because "they" never will. But because "we" need to show the confused people in the middle that there is a better way. That someone isn't just BSing about health care and a clean environment and all that.

So it saddens me to see one of "our" guys screw up, even on a tiny thing. It saddens me even more to see his devotees turn into foot soldiers who will turn on anyone who dares to speak up. But then, not all Nazis wear brown leather boots. We must be ever vigilant, it seems—even of our friends.