Waning support and lip service extraordinnaire

They were a force to be reckoned with in 2004. Today, they're merely being handed lip service and mild attention by the candidates. The Politico highlights the fall of the once, great nutroots:

The second YearlyKos convention is a show of strength for the new blogging establishment: A parade of Democratic politicians, and almost every presidential candidate, will troop to Chicago today to show their respect for 1,500 bloggers and activists. And yet the influence of the liberal blogs on the Democratic presidential primary is a shadow of what it was in 2004.

Then, a united blogosphere propelled Vermont Gov. Howard Dean to prominence and struck fear into the hearts of cautious, establishment Democrats. Now, the blogosphere is divided on which candidate to support, and the two leaders -- Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) -- have ignored pressure from online activists to move left on important issues, including the speed of withdrawal from Iraq.

The change: Democratic presidential candidates have started treating the blogosphere like any other special interest. They’ve reached the conclusion that the liberal bloggers are more a community than an ideological movement, more like, say, the Armenian-American community than NARAL.

And so candidates have reacted the way politicians always have to co-opt troublesome communities: They have put leading bloggers on payroll, showed up at blogger events and come out strong for narrow causes of interest solely to members of that community. Gone, at least for now, are the days when the Netroots seem poised to push the party to accept a unified view of the nation’s future.

“They’re so painfully craving any type of mainstream acceptance that they’re prone to the crassest kind of flattery and pandering, which weakens them,” said a senior aide to a Democratic campaign of the bloggers. Recalling a lavish party then-candidate Mark Warner threw at the 2006 YearlyKos convention in Last Vegas, the aide noted: “Mark Warner bought them off with a fountain and some chocolate strawberries.”

And therein lies the difference in both sides of the online media world. On the Left, they demand the attention from candidates and politician, and woe to them if it's not given. On the right, we pipe up when the fancy strikes us, a la immigration reform, and we speak with a resounding thunder. The GOP candidates know we are out here, and that they're already under our microscopes. A serious gaffe, an unforgivable mistake, or simply ignoring or demeaning right side bloggers could unleash a swarm they're not prepared to handle.

On the Left, they'll attack with every weapon in their arsenal against candidates that don't pander to their whims. Our side could care less if we're cited, especially by name, but we do want them to know that we are sitting here, awaiting their next move. There are no threats. there is no nuttiness on our side amongst the serious pundits (which we do classify ourselves as) because it serves nor eal purpose other than to turn off candidates.

The election cycle is currently going through an evolutionary step, where those most frequently on the 'Net and amidst the debate can be a candidates best friend, or their worst enemy. On the Left, they're always the worst enemy of any candidate on their side. We only need to look at Kos's nasty behavior in regard to Senator Clinton. While she's no friend of ours, just because she has a slight difference in opinion, compared to the nutroots, doesn't mean that she should be shunned by all of those on the Left. Plenty of people still support her even if Kos doesn't. But givemn the fact that the nutroots has yet to grow up, it shouldn't come as any surprise when their candidates do photo-ops with them just to satisfy their rabid musings.

Publius II