Should Progressive Bloggers Give Dems a Pass?

This should be a lively debate.

Should progressive bloggers refuse to speak ill of other Democrats? Yesterday, I spoke about blogging at the Georgia Federation of Democratic Women's Spring Meeting. (It was, by the way a very well put together, well planned event thanks to people like Tina Simms, Kathy Bird and others. Great work, ladies.) Catherine Smith from Blog for Democracy was also there and chimed in with some helpful information. Toward the end of my remarks, Gail Buckner who served in the Georgia House and then was the Democratic nominee for Secretary of State stood and, in summary, expressed her concern about some things that were written about her on blogs during the last cycle, observed that she does not see conservative bloggers bashing Republicans (must not have been reading Peach Pundit lately) and opined-I am paraphrasing-that perhaps we should not speak ill of our own, and if we do, we should be sure that what we say is true.

Well, I certainly agree with the last part of her statement-that we shouldn't write something unless we believe it's true, but what about the rest? I have taken, and will continue to take Democrats to task on issues important to me personally. I was critical of Jim Marshall for his vote on Children's Health Insurance, and I questioned John Barrow about his statements about children of illegal immigrants. I took a couple of Democrats in the Georgia General Assembly to task for co-sponsoring the "Personhood" legislation and fussed with Kevin Levitas about his position on reducing the number of jurors required to impose the death penalty. I have challenged campaign tactics and the lack there of. I could go on. But, on balance, I spend far more time challenging Republicans than Democrats.

My thought has always been that if we are unwilling to challenge our own, then how do we have any credibility when we challenge Republicans? But, my question to you is, should progressive bloggers back off other Democrats and instead adopt Regan's Rule? If there's a line, where is it?

Sphere: Related Content