The New Consultants

Happy to see that my friend thereisnospoon is teaming up with bonddad and Chris Bowers to create a fully netroots-based political consulting firm. Politicians might need consultation, they just don't need it coming from the Washington bubble where it's self-sustaining and consequence-free.

This is just the latest in the ways in which the netroots community is changing the political dynamic by coming up with their own ideas. I haven't weighed in on this bizarre pie fight with Jason Zengerle of The New Republic, who basically claimed that there's some giant backroom conspiracy by Kos to shut up liberal bloggers (and he cites a non-existent email to prove it). Clearly what's going on is that the Establishment is scared out of their minds that the people might actually aggrandize some power, and they're demonizing like crazy to push the people back to the margins where they think we all belong.

The conservosphere, delighted as they are in this turn of events, would do well not to side with the traditional sclerotic Establishment on this one. Sooner or later they'll feel the smear brush too. DC does not want a people-powered movement. They view it as a threat. I imagine the dinosaurs didn't want an asteroid to crash into the planet either.