Aaron Barlow of ePluribus Media has done an outstanding review of Jerome Armostrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's new book, due out in February. The creators of MyDD and Daily Kos team up to present a view of the current state of Democratic politcs in the United States of America.

A Review of Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics by Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2006).

an ePluribus Media book review

by Aaron Barlow

While Cindy Sheehan stood outside of George Bush's `ranch' in Crawford, Texas last August waiting for him to answer to her question "What `noble cause' did my son die for?" I showed my support by attending a rally in New York City's Union Square. The crowd, though small, listened politely to an array of speakers. I tried to listen too, but anger soon got the better of me: One after another, the speakers were trotting out pet causes, from support for Palestine to environmentalism, each seeing the rally as a platform for promoting "their" issues.  I had to leave.

"This isn't the way," I'd wanted to shout.  "Stop perpetuating failure!"  My unformed thoughts, unfortunately, didn't go beyond that--and I simply went away--much as many Democratic voters have over the past few years.  I didn't have a solution for the disarray I was seeing or even a clear understanding of the extent of the problem. All I could do was depart.

When Crashing the Gate appeared in my mailbox five months later, I still had not moved beyond my feelings of frustration. And I did not expect that any contemporary political book would move me to positive feelings toward the progressive movement and certainly not back to the Democratic Party. Certainly not this book.

Armstrong and Moulitsas, after all, are savvy bloggers (Armstrong created MyDD.com and Moulitsas DailyKos.com) who seemingly have turned their online activities into lucrative careers that include consulting for progressive organizations and candidates interested in taking full advantage of web possibilities. Their high profiles led the right wing to accuse them of taking money surreptitiously to promote Howard Dean's 2004 presidential bid (see http://mediamatters.org/... for details). The right-wing`s accusation was an attempt to establish some sort of a 'moral equivalency' between the pay-offs to media personalities such as Armstrong Williams and others by the government to promote its policies. Still, given their notoriety, I was worried that Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas were simply `cashing in' at the gate, not crashing them.

Indeed, as I started reading, I began to fear that all I was seeing was another rehash of what we all know about the right-wing movement dominating American politics. The first chapter is primarily descriptive, with sections on "The Corporate Cons," "The Theocons," "The Neocons," etc.  It doesn't tell anything new or all that surprising.

As I read on, however, that sinking feeling in my stomach began to turn to interest. That interest grew stronger with each new page.  It grew, finally, to the point where I found that I had finished the entire 180 pages of  text in one sitting, unable to stop as I flew from point to point, my head nodding in constant agreement.

Read the rest of the review at ePluribus Media.