That said, there’s this strange knee-jerk reactionary tendency on the left against embracing this sort of intellectual diversity, and I’ll admit, it confounds me. Liberals factionalize at the drop of a hat and then end up stereotyping the other factions and calcifying in their negative views of each other very quickly.

You’ve precisely pinpointed one of my deepest frustrations with liberalism in general and the liberal blogosphere in particular. I think, however, that it goes beyond fractures within the Left and manifests in the form of further internecine conflict within individual interest realms. Consider, for example, how deep the fissures between differing forms of and approaches to feminism can run, with some folks rounding on those who are insufficiently ideologically pure and labelling them as anti-feminist. (I haven’t seen you, Pam, or Jill do this - part of the reason I read y’all.) It frustrates me to no end in large part because it is so deeply counter-productive and I am nothing if not a pragmatist.

Minor correction: At least in the case of broadcast debates, imposing silence on the audience wasn’t done because of time constraints, although that was the excuse sometimes offered, but to head off the attempts by various sides to pack the audience and through their responses color the impression among viewers/listeners as to who “won” the debate.

right? [/snark referring to more recent post]

I wasn’t malicious. I was incompetent.

Amanda Marcotte - your next attorney general.

We know it can’t be that I sound like I live in Austin.

Yep. And we argue with them by pointing out that their method is not going to win elections, which is what they want. We are not talking about incommensurable differences. People who are genuinely interested in winning elections have given you the tools to persuade and engage them.

Plus, it’s completely ridiculous to suggest that everyone who thinks the electoral strategy is more interesting than the issues-based approach disagrees with us. For every election geek screaming “tone it down” I can find you one that agrees that GLBT organizers are a source to learn from. Hell, I spoke with dozens in the past few days.

Really enjoyed seeing you “in person”, as it were. For some reason, I half expected this to elide into a scene from Slackers.

I don’t see why that has to be so—they’re about winning elections, I’m about changing minds, but we’re not going to win elections unless we change minds, so we’re in this together.

The problem here is that those people focused on elections keep demanding that we “tone down,” or “postpone” our agenda in order to avoid energizing or offending the religious right. A classic example happened at the height of the last general election, when many on the Kos community responded to the New Jersey Supreme Court decision by attacking gay marriage activists for pushing their agenda (as if activists have any control over court dockets.) In addition, we were expected to exercise a circle of silence and not criticize Democratic candidates that hopped on the anti-gay bandwagon.

I for one am feeling tired of coddling the seasonal pro-gay liberal, whose verbal defense of gay rights in March fundraising, transforms into embarrassed silence or equivocation the October campaign. Working in coalitions doesn’t mean staying silent when people drop a big turd of bigotry into the punchbowl.

/yes, the word spazz aplies, but it’s cute. though be ware the finger “scare quotes”- if people do that enough, they eventually start to look like aggressive, clawing weasels.