No to Gonzales and Stuff

It is quite comical how Republicans hate to bring up race and ethnicity until they have a couple of Black and Latinos to trot out, then you never hear the end of "Black", "African America" and "Latino". Race and ethnicity all of a sudden become badges of honor.

Well it wouldn't matter what ethinicity or race Al Gonzales is, nothing short of a "no" vote is in order for this man. Yesterday, I ranted about racism and the gradual erosion of dignity until we get an unspeakable attrocity. But the thing is that even in this case where we are aghast at the torture policies of this pro-life administration, Gonzales still will not give up on torture! And this man wants to be Attorney General?

On another note, there is a slight stir in liberal blogspher because Stu Rothenberg made the following comment:

Blogging is getting more attention in the mainstream media and from the political parties. As vehicles for fundraising, blogs can't be ignored. And some bloggers have interesting things to say. But when it comes to campaign savvy or understanding how the campaign committees operate, two of the most high-profile liberal bloggers have an exaggerated sense of their own importance and insights.

He calls them "clueless" primarily because Dkos, Chris Bowers and Jerome Armstrong have been calling to challenge every open congressional seat in play, even if it is an established incumbent Republican.

I'm a registered part of Dkos's website. Though not a big fan, and I do think Dkos and MyDD have grossly exaggerated their importance and influence. But I am extremely irritated by Rothenberg's attitude. Two good examples of challenging every seat at Musgrave, the Colorado congresswomen of hate gays ammendment fame and Tom "corruption is my middle name" Delay were as safe as you'd find in Republican land, at leat until no-name challengers, supported by liberal blogsphere kicked into high gear. Both Musgrave and Delay won, but Delay got his lowest vote percentage ever, 55% and Musgrave was not much better. Better yet, we tied them up so that they were unable to use their money elsewhere, in fact the Republican establishment had to pump money into Colorado to save Musgrave.

I agree with this approach. We have to challenge every seat and put the Republicans on notice. With the exposure that blogs can give obscure candidates, we can mount quite a fight everywhere. Granted the DCCC structure may not have been able to do this in the past, but now with netroots, it is very possible. Much money can be raised and volunteers easily mobilized. And of course, bloggers will pay to do oppo research.

This may affect who I support for the DNC. I have been leaning towards Frost or Roemer, because Dean is a disaster IMHO and we need a good spokesperson who does not reek of leftie. I am strongly leaning towards Rosenberg who seems to appreciate that the online community can exponentially increase the power of existing structures. If somehow Frost or Roemer can show that they are willing to go nuclear and challenge ever seat and use existing and new technologies, then I'll go with them.