I feel that Jonathan Alter's book on FDR's "First Hundred Days" is a timely and useful addition to the discourse, well researched and filled with well taken points.

Which is why his Newsweek column is so disappointing. It is a poorly researched, poorly thought out, factually inaccurate. He gets basic terms wrong, such as what "Open Source" means. He didn't do his research, since he contacted no one who is an acknowledged creator of the term or the idea. He instead commits a series of intellectual dishonest catagorical blunders, in a dishonest attempt to push top down thinking. In every respect, this article is a disservice to his readers, in that it lies to them about the basic mean of terms.

he first point is the meaning of the term "Open Source". Alter instead pushes a top down viral project. There is no "open source" here - there is no core code, nor submission of code - as opposed to preference - to that center, tested beyond consensus. SEIU's "Since Sliced Bread" is partially open source, but Unity '08 is simply American Idol on the internet.

Open source is the process of opening not merely expression of preferences - which is consumerism - but basic material. Unity08 doesn't do that, the source is closed, the ideology is closed. It's not digitality - it's cheap post-modernism.

What is worse is that Alter stenos basic inaccuracies. The biggest historical howler is on how "extremes" have seized the nominating process. Looking at the Democratic Party, other than in the case of LBJ in 1964 and Clinton in 1996 each of whom had no competition - one has to go back to Adlai Stevenson to find a case where the most liberal/left viable candidate was nominated. In 2004 Dean was considered left of Kerry, in 2000 Bradley left of Gore. In 1992 Clinton was not the left most candidate, but an intentional product of a southern "Super Tuesday". In 1998 Brown and Jesse Jackson Jr. were to the left of Dukakis, neither Hart nor Mondale established themselves as left of the other, Carter beat a left challenge from Ted Kennedy in 1980, he was the centrist who beat Mo Udall in 1976. McGovern was not the farthest left Democrat in 1972, that was McCarthy. As it was in 1968 when HHH was the nominee. In 1960 Stevenson hoped for a third draft. JFK ran as being to the right of LBJ, as a "conservative" Democrat.

In short an examination of the record shows that the nomination of the Democratic Party isn't beholden to its extremes, or to its left base. And Alter's supposed to be historian - why didn't push back?

New - that's the one thing this isn't. The attempt to use fake viral is as old as marketting - hiring a crowd.

Alter writes about "New Open Source Politics" and gets three words wrong. But one thing was write - it has gone viral - to the Washington Post. The The Post and the Post have both jumped on board accepting the astro-smurfing.

What is astrosmurfing? Astrosmurfing is simply fake netroots, just like astroturfing is fake grass roots. The "Unity 08" is a bunch of washed ups who can't get in the big game, trying to use cheap hit and run and their rolodex to gin something up. There is, in fact, alot of demand for a third party run - but Unity 08 is a bunch of consultants looking for a candidate to raise money and pay them.

Viral isn't the same thing as open source, something can be viral, and still closed. Word of mouth is viral, but not everything passed by word of mouth is open source. A party can exist on a laptop, but if people are only given consumerized, bottom, preferences, it is no more open source than MS Windows is - another thing which spread virally through pirating, but is not open source in any way.

Thus what we have is cheap old politics, fascinated by the low barrier to entry of the internet, trying to get in on the game. This isn't the first time. For example, the telecos tried to create a libertarian astrosmurfing of net neutrality, begging libertarians "not to regulate" the internet. It didn't work, because the "don't get it" nature of the astrosmurfers is still out there.

How do I know that people like Alter don't get it? Where is his email address? It isn't on his site, it isn't on his piece. Any time someone can bellow at you, and you can't even email back to him, it is a clear sign of being a top downer.

Astrosmurfing - coming soon to a K Street lobbying group near you.