Don't know how many of you have been following these debates this week. Last night on our local PBS affiliate station, the weekly local version of Washington Week, had some footage that exemplified the problems the nation faces, as long as the Democratic party loyalists remain so hostile to the progressive left.

The "angle" the program took was to send a correspondent to Democratic party HQ & Republican party HQ on election night, to cover the reactions of two women who had never participated in party politics before. The Republican woman described herself as a suburban soccer/security mom, who claimed she had never been political at all before 9/11. About what you would expect.

The Democrat was a biologist, and an environmental activist. She said she had never participated in electoral party politics, but was politically active outside the political system as an environmentalist.

So, while they are filming the Democrat, the big screen TVs are showing in the background. Suddenly, an image of Nader being interviewed by the national media comes on the TVs, and the crowd starts booing. The environmentalist woman--new to the party--says she thinks that is TERRIBLE, and that Nader is in no way deserving of such a response. Asked if she had supported Nader in 2000, she said no, but she considered him and his organizations great allies in the environmental movement, and she was disgusted with the party folk in the room for responding to him as if he was the equivalent of Bush. She said that made her really angry and left her disappointed with her new experience.

So while the Republican suburban soccer/security mom looked like an airhead, the obviously intelligent woman who had experience working outside the political system as an environmental activist, showing her disgust with the booing of Nader, was the picture being presented to the public, in this tightly orchestrated "media spin" of election night.

And actually, for once, I think the local pundits actually portrayed the reality of the Minnesota election dynamic quite accurately in this regard.

I said in another thread this week that the question will become whether or not the Democratic party will reach out to the progressive left, or continue demonizing the progressive left, and keep losing elections like they did this year with the presidential & congressional offices.

Also, did anyone catch the program NOW with Bill Moyers last night? I thought the guy they brought on to dissect the Democrats was really bad. A Clinton Democrat, obviously. But I just thought the guy sounded clueless. Also, Moyers was in rare form, I thought, when interviewing conservative Grover Norquist. Brilliant!