Hybrid Bloggers

This is the term Mary Katherine Ham has created in her latest article to cover bloggers who are conservative but would vote for a Democrat if he were conservative enough. Presumably it would also describe those liberal bloggers who would vote for a Republican if her were liberal enough (like, oh, say that nice John McCain or Rudy Guiliani).

But on the right they are full of kindness and sweetness for their moderates or hybrids, on the left we have Deborah Fritch (who, if you don't remember, threatened to do bad things to a conservatives bloggers child) and a certain disdain for Joe Lieberman.

I can’t help but think that, as blogs continue to become a bigger part of electoral politics and the parties inevitably become more practiced at working with them, this difference in approach doesn’t bode well for Democrats. As much as the Left blogosphere likes to accuse the whole center-right of existing only to parrot the command-and-control messages of Chimpy McBushitler, it is the Left blogosphere that has seemed so intent on alienating itself and the Democratic Party from political hybrids and moderate Democrats of late, and doing so in dramatic, nasty fashion.

Why are left-wing bloggers tired of moderates like Joe Lieberman? Because Joe Lieberman has enabled the Bush administration in every one of it's schemes, and also because Lieberman has made it clear what we thinks of the people to the left of him. It's really that simple.

And of course Conservatives share the same frustrations with Republicans they feel aren't sufficiently conservative. The Ace of Spades HQ blog recently made this suggestion.

I suggest a Enemies List of certain Republicans. We keep the list small at first, just the most egregious offenders, as a warning to the rest. Pour encouragement les otres, or however that goes. ("Every once in a while you have to hang a few admirals to encourage the others.")

The Enemies List would be a full blogosphere press on an absolute, full, total boycott on all donations/volunteering to the GOP members on the list. We wouldn't necessarily hold back votes; but we damn sure would make it tougher for these guys to get re-elected.

I think it's about time.

. . . If a few of them lose elections because of this-- well, so be it. We can afford to lose a free-spending Republican here and there without losing control of Congress.

He put Trent Lott on that list; his readers also suggested Lincoln Chafee, Arlen Spector, John McCain and others. I could pull up more examples of Conservatives slamming into their moderates.

But that doesn't fit the story, I suppose. The Republicans, having little to run on, need something to run against. And Liberals Bloggers, despite their lack of power or influence, will just have to do for now.