Learners, Complainers and Ostriches

Eugene Volokh notices two types of reactions from the "Kerry-supporter blogosphere":

Some, it seems, ask "What can people on our side learn from this?" Others just keep complaining about how bad Bush and Bush supporters are. As a purely practical matter, Republicans have much to fear from the first group, and very little to fear from the second.

Of course he neglected to notice a third type: The Ostrich. Crooked Timber's Daniel Davies, in a characteristic (mis)use of his intelligence to convince himself he was right all along, suggests it's all just a coin-flip and "we" (meaning leftist Democrats) shouldn't worry about it!

Needless to say Republicans have little to fear from the ostriches either.

Comments

[Abiola Lapite]

By all means let him keep stewing in his delusions. If he wants to keep believing that socialism-lite and liberal social policies constitute a winning platform in a country with a strong tradition of religiosity and individualism, he's free to do so, but I don't really see a way forward for the Democrats if they aren't willing to move rightwards quite a bit. Either the social liberalism must go, to attract back the white blue-collar vote, or the penchant for ambitious government programs and redistribution must be done away with - they can't have both.

[Frank McGahon]

Either the social liberalism must go, to attract back the white blue-collar vote, or the penchant for ambitious government programs and redistribution must be done away with - they can't have both

Well, I obviously would prefer they jettisoned the latter but I fear that it will prove easier for them to jettison the former.

[Peter Nolan]

'Eugene Volokh notices two types of reactions from the "Kerry-supporter blogosphere"'

I noticed another - a huge volume of posting on Blogger. I couldn't get to any blogspot hosted blogs last night and when trying to post myself I ended up publishing sixty identical posts on the Canadian draft-evader statue.

[Frank McGahon]

I saw that, I was wondering whether the "Peter Nolan" computer program was stuck in an infinite loop!

[dsquared]

In my defence, I would point out that I was, in fact, right all along; I consistently said that Bush would win and was one of only two people betting on him in Matthew Turner's sweepstake.

[Frank McGahon]

When I say "right all along", I don't mean in the sense of predicting the winner, rather in the sense of having the "right" idea of the optimum policy platform for the Democrats, as the Kinnockites used to say: One More Heave!

[J.Cassian]

I was reading all those comments at Atrios and the Daily Kos lamenting that the rednecks and hoi polloi really weren't worthy of having the Democrats' superior intellect wasted on them, and it reminded me of something. Then I read them again in the voice of Sideshow Bob* and it all made sense.

(*Yes, I know he ran unsuccessfully for the Republicans in the Springfield election, but judging by the attitude of some Democrats, he's in the wrong party.)

[Emily]

I didn't vote for Bush or Kerry, but I have to say I rather enjoyed the communal meltdowns in the comments at Atrios and Kos. It's just like Germany in 1933! The end is nigh! How can people be so stupid as to hold opinions different from my own!