Thanks to my elfish friend, Jane Galt, for the instalanche yesterday. Jane doubts whether anti-Bushism really translates into growing leftism in the American public. She writes,
Has revulsion over the war really brought on increased support for universal health care, a resurgent labour movement, and so forth? Not merely "People in polls say these things might be nice", but actual support . . . so that, for example, when the current crop of Democrats runs for reelection, and Republicans run campaign commercials pointing out that they voted to abolish the secret election in union campaigns, voters will not react negatively? I'm not so sure. People are certainly against the war, but even after seven years of pretty relentless negative campaigning by the Democrats, they still seem to like the Bush tax cuts, which to my eyes pretty thoroughly belies the picture of an electorate desperately chafing for a newer more left-wing politics.
Chris Lawrence adds his two cents to the Powerpoint discussion.
James Joyner and Jay Rosen talk about the role that bloggers, especially Firedoglake, played in reporting on the Scooter Libby trial.