The right's missing organizational machinery

It starts with the reporting. What’s significant about organizations like Media Matters for America and the news site Talking Points Memo is that they are effectively able to render what I’ve described in the past as “the optics of objectivity.” In other words, without close examination they appear to be making factual arguments and a solid rational case against policy positions. They provide the grist for the mill that goes out to DailyKos diarists, left-wing bloggers and ultimately the mainstream media.

This is quickly followed up by some sort of action – the petition, boycott, letter writing campaign, protest, houseparty, meet-up, caller banks or other method of getting people involved. The purpose of this section is twofold. First, there’s the practical benefit of a congressman getting 1000 emails in his inbox, for instance. But beyond that, this sort of involvement has a psychological effect of making the participant feel like they’re involved in something bigger which in turn makes it easier to get other actions from them in the future, such as voting..

When I began talking to and working with people on the right, I was really surprised to find out that there was no equivalent of these groups group like MoveOn.org, for example.