Fight! Fight! On the Left: An Update

Last week I brought our attention to the intramural fight on the left between the relatively moderate Clintonistas and the full-froth lefties like Sen. Fauxcahontas (Lizzie Warren).  In one sentence, the intolerant left (but I repeat myself) responded to criticisms of their populist tent revivalism with threats and intimidation.

Yesterday David Weigel reported on Slate that there’s much more to this story.  Weigel explains patiently how the populist-progressive left set about carefully and deliberately to gain media attention for Warren’s point of view:

Both of the ideas at the heart of this fight—corporate influence over think tanks, expanding Social Security—had been litigated for years, well before Warren got to the Senate. This time, a small number of progressives just took advantage of the media’s bias toward big personalities, and its obsession with presidential politics, to change what the media covered. . .

Weigel goes on to detail how this deliberate strategy was rolled out to aid the attack on the gubernatorial candidacy of Allyson Schwartz in Pennsylvania; the progressive populists are backing John Hanger.

This is going to be fun to watch.

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