I firmly believe that the story of the 2008 election will be the story of two worlds; on one side of the political arena is The Legacy World - the land where things used to be and still are - a land of people who worry about stuff like cash-on-hand and actually listen to speeches not with their ears but with eyes trained to a dial-o-meter - a land of consultants and strategists and pollsters holding onto power inside a failed system, rarely venturing outside the beltway except maybe to visit the mainstream media.
On the other side is The Real World, a place of communication advances and technological breakthroughs, a place where people like you and I live, a passionate universe of emerging political power where we think that strength and conviction matter, where focus groups are not the political equivalent of scripture lessons - ours is a world that has always existed - people have been frustrated with Washington DC and politicians since the government first moved there from New York City but while that frustration that has always existed, it has never been a cohesive force and power base until the Internet gave us the structure and the capacity to join together.
I also firmly believe that a Democrat cannot get elected without expertise and talent and support in both worlds and personally, I am enthusiastically endorsing all efforts of those in The Legacy World to understand our world and I encourage those in The Real World to respect and understand and become more involved in The Legacy World.
However, on both sides of the fence, I'm going to have to call them like I see them.
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet David Finkel, political reporter for The Washington Post and our first member in The Legacy World Hall Of Shame. What did David do to deserve such an honor? Well, David wrote an article about a blogger, Maryscott O'Connor, who he believes symbolizes the Angry Left. This is not the problem.
But during the interviews he did with Maryscott, David admitted that before he started the article, he had NEVER VISITED A BLOG.
Let me repeat that: a Pulitzer Prize nominated political writer for The Washington Post had never visited a blog before he wrote this story, published this past weekend.
Not once. Not curious. Not wondering what the buzz was about. Never. There's nothing more to say - end of post with a final word to David.
David my friend, there's real world outside the beltline, with real people and real ideas and real passions - come visit, we'd love to have you. I think you'll like it here.