And, honestly, that's how most such movements start. It's how moveon came to be. It's (lets be honest here) where the bulk of the anti-war crowd came from - people who were pissed off that Al Gore lost the 2000 election. It is, ultimately, why the Dems won Congress in 2006.
MoveOn? Yeah, it was all about putting the Clinton sex scandal in the past. On the other hand, they started out presenting a solution: censure the President and move on instead of impeaching him. It's one of the reasons they've become such a big player; they were able to successfully morph into a policy-advocacy group. I'm not their biggest fan; they play fast and loose with the facts sometimes. They've been slapped down by FactCheck and have refused to take their lumps.
I'm not sure I agree that the anti-war crowd was born out of anger at Gore's loss. I think a lot of people were angered by the war; the Gore hold-outs were just more angered. Anti-war movements can actually sustain themselves as a purely negative protest movement; they don't care about providing solutions.
The Democratic landslides in Congress in the last two elections? Definitely driven by anger and dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and the "permanent majority." From what I saw, though, Democratic politicians were campaigning as much on their agenda as they were taking advantage of being not-Bush. In the 2008 election, both parties were campaigning on being not-Bush, which, for the Republicans, tied their hands and ramped up their losses.
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Date: 2009-04-17 06:27 pm (UTC)MoveOn? Yeah, it was all about putting the Clinton sex scandal in the past. On the other hand, they started out presenting a solution: censure the President and move on instead of impeaching him. It's one of the reasons they've become such a big player; they were able to successfully morph into a policy-advocacy group. I'm not their biggest fan; they play fast and loose with the facts sometimes. They've been slapped down by FactCheck and have refused to take their lumps.
I'm not sure I agree that the anti-war crowd was born out of anger at Gore's loss. I think a lot of people were angered by the war; the Gore hold-outs were just more angered. Anti-war movements can actually sustain themselves as a purely negative protest movement; they don't care about providing solutions.
The Democratic landslides in Congress in the last two elections? Definitely driven by anger and dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and the "permanent majority." From what I saw, though, Democratic politicians were campaigning as much on their agenda as they were taking advantage of being not-Bush. In the 2008 election, both parties were campaigning on being not-Bush, which, for the Republicans, tied their hands and ramped up their losses.