From a Democratic Party POV I understand the sentiment that most of these guys are pretty good on the issues except for this one, but if we want them to respect our insistence on a free Internet then we need some kind of a stick. Sure Patrick Leahy is one of the most leftist members of the Senate but his comments during the SOPA debate were so horrible that he lost a lot of respect in my eyes:
I mean yeah it's obvious he's reading off a page of talking points that Time Warner sent to him, but just because he's an old codger who doesn't understand the Internet doesn't mean we should exculpate him from being a corporate shill. I'm sure there are plenty of politicians in Vermont who are similar to Leahy ideologically who could frame this as being out of touch with most Americans/corporate shill/etc which would play to the base. Basically if the Democrats keep pushing for horrible legislation like SOPA and PIPA primary challenges should be on the table. Yes, Democrats seem to suck at primary challenges compared to Republicans, but I had the sinking feeling reading the statements that Democrats were releasing during the day of the SOPA protests that they were taking our protests for granted and believed there were no consequences for ignoring them. And if we don't do something about that, then there's no reason that a draconian MPAA/RIAA-written bill can't pass in the future, with the core voting support being Hollywood-funded Democrats.
http://i.imgur.com/mChiW.jpg
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