Webb should hose down his angry bloggers

Writing for The Daily Progress blog Bob Gibson makes some good points about much of the political blogging that has gone on in Virginia to do with the Democratic senatorial primary next month.

“Not only are they pushing Webb with enthusiasm as the challenger more likely to defeat U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Fairfax County, a number are trashing Miller with some gusto. The D blogosphere is yellow-dog certain that Webb is about to kick Miller’s nether regions and then give Allen the boot. As a political blogger with all the edgy certainty I can muster, I’m thinking ‘horse hockey.’”

Gibson's piece should be read by Jim Webb's blogging activists.

Why?

It seems the strategy of Webb’s inner ring of bloggers is to force-feed their strident propaganda down some goodly number of voters’ throats and Pavlov-dog them into voting for Webb on June 13. But their rhetoric has been so hammering, so much the same day after day, my guess is the only people who are getting brainwashed are those same determined bloggers.

Who else would continue to read all that humorless guff day after day?

They all seem to employ the same writing style, with various degrees of success, depending on their writing facility. Facility or not, to me it's an off-putting style that mostly reminds me of Newt Gingrich-trained Republicans in the mid-1990s.

Of course, their angry opponents are doing roughly the same hammering thing for Harris Miller. All of which must be tickling George Allen’s supporters pink.

Please note that I’m for Webb, too. I probably agree with most of his relentless bloggers on many political issues. Like them, I see a great deal of potential in Webb. Yet, while he’s an unusual man, he’s also an unproven candidate and hardly a lock to win anything at this point. It’s silly to pretend otherwise; to do so makes his supporters seem naive and undermines their credibility. In fact, strategy-wise it could even backfire.

Instead of trying to convince their readers of the inevitability of Jim Webb defeating Harris Miller, they should be doing everything they can to sound the alarm that longtime party insiders are trying install a man whose only credential seems to be that he is one of their own.

Miller’s team seems to think it can convince some goodly number of voters that nominations should go as rewards to loyalists -- especially if they're rich -- who’ve worked their way up through the party’s machinery. How viable that insider’s candidacy might be in the real world seems of little concern. Could it be that Miller’s backers would rather lose in November than support a candidate who owes them no favors.

Webb’s well-meaning bloggers should be writing that they are trying to save America's oldest political party from nominating a good man, who, unfortunately, has about as much charisma as a pocketful of sand. Miller seems much more like a player who has the candidate's ear than a candidate himself. Hey, most people are not cut out to be candidates in statewide elections.

Moreover, Webb's bloggers should be calling for Democrats and Independents who can’t stand the idea of six more years of Allen to do the unusual -- vote in a primary. Anyone who has followed politics in Virginia knows primary turnouts are usually quite low. Conventional thinking would say a low turnout favors Miller.

Instead, every time anyone with a heartbeat endorses Webb, we read on certain blogs that the race is over, OVER, SO OVER!!!

Phooey!

Someone in Webb’s camp -- maybe the candidate? -- should tell his blogging forces to quit being such angry copycats and gear themselves for a long run. Accordingly, the first thing they should do toward that long run is try being a little more engaging to an undecided reader who is just starting to pay much attention to the primary race. Try being persuasive.

Try trumpeting to the bored undecideds there’s a fresh face in the Democratic Party, a man who thinks for himself, who has the potential to win over disillusioned Republicans in November. They should change their tone for the last three weeks because if anyone judges the candidate by his followers -- and we know they sometimes do -- Webb’s lathered up bloggers have not exactly been putting their man’s best foot forward.

Maybe Webb himself needs to show some leadership and hose them down.