There is a gap between the thoughts of those in “the blogosphere” and the politicians in Washington. It seems that people who get their news and information from online sources like weblogs are much better informed, and consistently so. And this informedness appears to lead to common conclusions. It is surprising how consistent the thoughts of the bloggers are.

And it is surprising how so many Washington Democrats seem so ill-informed about so many of the issues, or so out of touch with things that every single Progressive blogger and blog-reader understands. How many of them understand that the Republican Social Security proposal phases out Social Security? But webloggers and their readers know this.

For example, we - bloggers and blog-readers - all see that the Social Security “crisis” is baloney. It’s just lies manufactured by the Republicans, designed to make the public think the program needs to be changed, so they can just slip in this privatization phase-out plan that enriches Wall Street brokers while forcing seniors into poverty. And we all see how the media is falling for the Republican line that there is this huge problem with Social Security that needs to be “fixed” and that investing in stocks is somehow a better investment than government bonds.

Another example — How many Democratic Senators say they won’t oppose Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General? But us bloggers and blog-readers ALL understand that a vote for Gonzales is a vote for torture.

Maybe the lack of solid Democratic opposition to Gonzales is because they are afraid that Rush Limbaugh is going to say bad things about you if they oppose him? Maybe they are worried that the media will portray you, maybe say you are “obstructionist?” Maybe they are afraid that they’ll be portrayed as “anti-Hispanic?” But bloggers and blog-readers understand that Rush Limbaugh IS going to say bad things about them. The Right-wing echo-chamber WILL portray them as obstructionist. They WILL portray them as anti-Hispanic. These things will happen no matter what they do, so we want them to grow spines and do the right thing.

Online Progressives understand, and Washington Democrats don’t seem to get, that the time of wishy-washy Democrats is over. If they are going to be wishy-washy or Republican Light, they might as well just BE a Republican. And if Democratic politicians wait to see how the polls go on the issue, then the only people working to MOVE the polls will be the Republicans! The Republicans are out there with their 24-7 Republican AM Radio network, and FOX, and the Republican think tanks and pundits and commentators, all saying “Do this, do this do this” while the Democrats are all waiting to see how the polls go before they say anything, so of course the polls are going to go the way the Republicans are pushing them!

The phrase “tax relief” is a good example of the gap between bloggers and their readers, and the Washington Democrats. How many Washington Democrats have you heard using the term “tax relief?” They don’t know better. They don’t k now that this is a Republican “frame.” I heard John Edwards using the words “tax relief” – I think it was during his debate with Vice President Cheney. Now, I know his wife reads blogs, so maybe she should have been debating instead of John. Because she gets her information online she would have seen this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this. or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this or this or the approx. 7500 other online references to this. Bloggers and their readers know better than to talk about “tax relief.”