"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Stirling Newberry

He's one smart cat, and I particularly enjoyed his latest on the Kos, Three Chances for Progressives. It's a good overview of the opportunities which exist for progressive Americans to make big gains in the next few cycles. I particularly liked this bit:

The conservative, in the sense of having a conservative outlook, needs to be appealed to by showing how progressivism values the same things that he does: thrift, hard work, maintaining continuity, tradition, community and earning one's place. Most real conservatives would be progressives if they thought it could work. By showing them that the threat isn't cheating poor people, but people being poor because they were cheated, it changes the dynamics of the equation: most conservatives feel that they have been cheated by the outside. That's why the are conservatives.

Stoller once told me, "Imagine you've been able to predict the future for the past ten years, but no one will listen to you. That's Stirling." Well, it would seem that people are starting to pay attention now. Good thing, too.

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