Tensions between the White House and the far left Liberal blogosphere just got a little more tense as a Liberal blogger, Susan Madrak of Crooks and Liars, whines to David Axelrod on a teleconference call between him and bloggers.
"We're the girl you'll take under the bleachers but you won't be seen with in the light of day," the blogger, Susan Madrak of Crooks and Liars, pointedly told Axelrod on the call, which was organzied for liberal bloggers and progressive media.
The call seemed to perfectly capture the tense dynamic that exists between the White House and the online and organized left: Though White House advisers in the past have dumped on the left, anonymously and even on the record, Axelrod repeatedly pleaded with the bloggers on the call for help in pumping up the flagging enthusiasm of rank and file Dems.
"You play a great role in informing people about the stakes of elections," Axelrod told the bloggers. "One of the reasons I was eager to expend time was to enlist you."
But hovering over the call was the obvious disconnect between this plea for help and statements like those of Robert Gibbs, who recently pilloried the "professional left" for being overly critical of the White House.
That tension burst out into the open when Madrak directly asked Axelrod: "Have you ever heard of hippie punching?" That prompted a long silence from Axelrod.
More:
Madrak replied that Axelrod was missing the point -- that the criticism of the left made it tougher for bloggers like herself to motivate the base. "Don't make our jobs harder," she said.
"Right back at'cha. Right back at'cha," Axelrod replied, a bit testily, an apparent reference to blogospheric criticism of the administration.
The administration wants to pull Liberal bloggers off the shelf, dust them off again now that a big election is coming up and Liberal bloggers feel put out that they aren't getting the respect they feel they deserve for pushing the Democratic party so far to the left they fell off the cliff.
I am finding the whole thing extremely laughable.
Make sure to read The Other McCain on this, he titles his piece "Oh, My: Liberal Bloggers Getting Tired of Putting Out (Propaganda) for Obama?"
Hysterical!!!
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