Quicksand

Dean Barnett, writing for The Weekly Standard point out something that should be obvious. Netroots and Israel do not mix. And that may be a huge liability for the Democrats.

WHEN THE BOMBS began to fall in the Middle East, the Daily Kos had a problem. And the Daily Kos's problem could soon be the Democratic party's problem.

On the one hand, one of the most solid blocks of support for the Democratic party is America's Jewish community. Not only do America's Jews tend to vote for Democrats, they tend to actively campaign and raise funds for politicians on the left. But for many American Jews, even the most liberal, Israel's welfare is a going concern. Politicians who enter the Democratic party (and for that matter the Republican party) usually make a conspicuous show of the fact that they are "right on Israel."

The vast majority of American political sentiment supports Israel while it is engaged in a shooting war with Hezbollah. To date, not a single prominent American politician has issued a statement that could be construed as being less than whole-heartedly supportive of Israel.

On the other hand, there is the Daily Kos community. As proprietor Markos Moulitsas frequently notes, the Kos community is representative of the "people-powered movement." They are not led by one person; indeed, they are not led at all.

The miracle of the Kossacks is that they are tens of thousands of like-minded people who have used the site to find one another. Although they differ on many details, they tend to monolithically detest George W. Bush and American conservatives. They also tend to distrust or loathe anything or anyone that winds up in Bush's literal or metaphorical embrace. Like Joe Lieberman. Or Israel.

Barnett goes on to describe that while Kos personally has distanced himself from any coverage whatsoever on the situation in the Middle East, the various diarists on the site have not. And it has become a veritable cesspool of anti-Israeli sentiment in a number of the diaries and the comment threads:

One diarist labeled Israel "a destabilizing force in the region" and saw "no difference between Iran's support of Hezbollah and Hamas in the form of finances and even arms and The United States' financial support of Israel." Before modifying this diary into a more moderate form, the author opened his essay with the declaration, "Israel is showing the entire world why the Iranian President was absolutely right to suggest that Israel cease being a sovereign state as is."

Echoing the themes of moral equivalence and hostility towards the Jewish state, another diarist observed that, "War is nothing but terrorist attacks. Call it what you will, whatever rhetoric you want to use . . . when it comes down to it, that's all it is. Israel committed terrorism today. And we helped to fund that terrorism." [Ellipsis in original.]

It's important to note that hundreds of comments following these and other diaries hostile to Israel voice similar sentiments. In one diary, the author labeled Israel's actions as a "pogrom by bomb." A concurring commenter offered the following thoughts:

My Lebanese friend, in addition to a number of less temporate [sic] sentiments, says the only thing she can say as her country is smashed to bits is something she learned from an orthodox rabbi:

"Pray for the Speedy Peaceful Dismantlement of the State of Israel."

I second the suggestion. Unhappily Israel has not served as a Jewish refuge; it has become a spreading plague.

THESE DIARIES AND COMMENTS come from the people who power the people-powered movement. It is worth remembering that less than a month ago a Who's Who of elite Democratic politicians trundled off to Las Vegas for the Yearly Kos convention, desperately seeking the community's imprimatur. Among those groveling before the Kossacks were such luminaries as Wesley Clark, Mark Warner and Bill Richardson.

This is indeed a problem. The all out assault on Joe Lieberman has been a very bad thing for the Democratic party as a whole. If Lieberman does lose, the message to Jewish voters is that there is no place for hawkish Jews in the party. The fact that the netroots are very unsupportive at best and outright hostile to Israel at worst is sending another message altogether. And that message is that there is no place for Jews in the party at all. This is a disaster waiting to happen for the Democrats. They are in quicksand up to their waist right now.

Are you really sure you want netroot support now, Democrats? If a significant number of Jewish voters either switch parties or just stay home on election day, the Democrats will be looking at a complete debacle. And a shattered party.

UPDATE: And speaking of deranged. Gateway Pundit has an example from The Washington Monthly that will flabbergast you. Unless you missed you meds.