Yes, it was Iraq and the liberal blogisphere today on Meet The Press.

First observation: General Barry McCaffrey talks almost as fast as Markos Moulitsas does.

Here's the gist of what McCaffrey had to say;

If we, the US, had a ten year window to accomplish our goals in Iraq, we'd definitely succeed. We don't have that strategic long-term window of opportunity for three reasons; first, the American public won't buy it, second, Iraqis probably won't buy it, third, the American military will be destroyed by such a commitment.

The next six months in Iraq is crucial, McCaffrey agreed; if this unity government doesn't bring some kind of order to the lives of ordinary Iraqis, it will have lost its unity and its legitimacy. Our resources are stretched to the breaking point; the war is costing ten billion a month! [Crikey, is it really?] It’s costing a battalion a month in deaths and injuries! [See previous parenthesis]

McCaffrey has just returned from Afghanistan and had a surprisingly rosy picture to paint. Take it with grains of salt to taste.

There were more details, and you might want to catch a transcript when it's available, but the only item of real interest this Sunday was the emergence of the liberal blogisphere, or "blogtopia," as skippy, everyone’s favorite bush kangaroo, has named it, into the mainstream of the SCLM.

Here's who was there: Markos, that would be Kos himself, direct from Las Vegas, looking quite cool in a dark tee worn under a sports jacket, Byron York, who may or may not have been coming from Las Vegas, he had been there covering Yearly Kos for National Review, at the table with Russert, Jonathan Alter, whom you all know, and Amy Walter, Senior Editor of the Cook Political Report.

Russert had billed the discussion as a "hard-headed look at whether the Democrats can capture congress in November," and the role of the liberal blogisphere in any such victories.

His first question to Kos, what have you achieved in Las Vegas?

A note on Markos' rather remarkable affect, which remained constant through-out the interview; he had none of the reflexive, world-weary boredom that is usually at this particular table; instead what he offered was a regular, ordinary guy, who wasn’t so ordinary that he wasn’t also bright, quick-witted, immensely articulate, amazingly cliché-free, calmly passionate and extraordinarily even-tempered, as if he was just too busy getting stuff done to take offense.

The first achievement, Markos noted, was showing the variety and breadth of types of people who blog and read blogs, especially liberal ones. Liberal bloggers aren't anti-social, Cheetos-scarfing, basement dwellers: They crave flesh-and-blood interaction, and the gathering in Las Vegas put the lie to any notion that the liberal blogisphere isn't made up of a broad spectrum of ordinary Americans from all walks of life, many of whom are not left-wingers, but centrist progressives who want to work through the Democratic Party.

Yes, Markos thought it was fair to compare the blogisphere to right-wing talk radio, though the former's impact is still far less than that of the latter; still, its popularity and role are growing rapidly.

What do blogs add to electoral politics? They generate buzz for progressive/liberal candidates and ideas, they represent a rapid response team to counter disinformation campaigns and outright lies, they can bring focus to particular candidates, and they can raise money.

Russert then turned to Byron York, for his conservative, but, as Russert specifically reassured his viewers at one point, objective observations of the American political scene, to ask for his assessment of all this.

York, despite his mild-mannered style, was clearly intent on creating the impression that there is something extreme about this movement. He characterized its view of itself as being a secret weapon, the convention as a kind of triumphalism, look at us, we've arrived, you'd better do as we say, or else, all of which he saw as being as divisive for Democrats as helpful. How representative are the netroots after all? Where are blacks, for instance? Though its true that the blogisphere is overwhelmingly white, there is plenty of black participation on the left; York might try actually reading more than Daily Kos and Atrios--Corrente, for example.

Oddly, York seemed to think that the netroots' distrust of Washington elitism was somehow an example of extremism; a storming the gates mentality--Sorry Byron, nothing compares to the storming of the Winter Palace, if that's what you were going for--despite the reality of that same kind of thriving anti-elitism on the right; since when did Washington get any respect from the wingers or the Republican party?

Russert took over then, and demonstrated to perfection the role of the SCLM in motivating the growth of the liberal blogisphere, although questions of media corporatism, and the media's insistent antagonism to the Democratic Party and liberals in general, was never raised.

Russert managed to make the point by his bone-headed presentation of various points of view about liberal blogs. He started with Iowa Governor Vilsack's statement that Democrats shouldn't be roughing up one another, and then Russert quoted Marshall Whitman, whom he identified only as a member of the DNC, not as a former Republican who has switched parties, and brings quite a bit of his own conservatism to the table.

The quote was not only dismissive of the blogisphere, in it Witman paints bloggers as radical outsiders who would sink the Democratic Party if they are not assiduously ignored. [Not the words he said, but the gist; I was too angry to copy verbatim.]

What was so remarkable is that Russert never seemed to get that Whitman's comment was a perfect example of what Vilsack was warning against, and the roughing up wasn't coming from a liberal blog.

All this was thrown at Markos at once, since he’d been left out of the conversation since his first remarks. I'm happy to report that this impish sprite of a guy was more than equal to the task.

First, he went back to York's comment about being anti-elitist, and happily confirmed it. However, while doing so, he also defined it in a way that made it perfectly clear how false was the impression that York had been trying to give of the netroots, without ever saying a contrary or negative word to or about York.

Yes, indeed, it was the express purpose of the blogisphere to shake up business as usual in Washington, with its easy assumption that top-down decision-making is always the way to go, and to demand that candidates and the advisors who work for them listen to the voters for a change, and especially those voters who are the base of the Democratic Party.

Furthermore, Markos pointed out, it has been the task of blogs to point out and to demonstrate the amazing amounts of energy, talent, intelligence, and passion that exist outside of Washington. However, that doesn't make blogs radical. Who was the first politician to accept an invitation to Yearly Kos, asked Markos. Why that wily old radical, pro-life conservative Democrat, Harry Reid. Who was the second? Mark Warner, who is thought of as a centrist Democrat. As for Hillary Clinton, who didn’t accept an invitation, blogs don't hate her, they recognize that she has a great, liberal, voting record, except for vote on the Use of Force declaration which turned out to be a green light for the Iraq war; bloggers admire much about Senator Clinton. What they reject is the elitism that hangs about her, her distance from the netroots, and her failure to stake out a leadership position toward a more democratic, liberal, progressive Democratic Party. All that makes her possible candidacy for President in 2008 unpopular with the blogisphere. And yes, Al Gore gets much love from the that same source; were he to seek the presidential nomination, that race would be turned upside-down, Markos predicted.

One of Markos' best moments: When Russert pointed out that lots of Democrats voted for the Iraqi war, and Markos shot back that such an observation supports the very point he was making; it isn't about some kind of party-line demand on Iraq. And when Byron York tried to observe that the blogisphere's support of Ned Lamont's run against Lieberman for the Senatorial nomination in Connecticut was more important to bloggers than defeating Republicans in November, Markos quietly riddled that argument with holes, pointing out that what had drawn the ire of blogs was Lieberman's fundamental disloyality to Democrats and progressives, his concerted efforts to undercut Democratic positions on issues, and if Ned Lamont loses the primary, Kos predicted that most bloggers will support Lieberman in November.

Jonathan Alter chimed in that the blogisphere is a force to be reckoned with, especially as regards raising money, and that ability has turned the advantage that accrues from early fundraising into a myth. Amy Walters agreed, but did wonder if the blogisphere would be able to fund a whole bunch of races at the same time, a problem Republicans don't experience, still having a marked advantage over Democrats when it comes to raising large amounts of money. I'll say they do; they've been selling off this country bit by bit to the highest bidder for some time now; they ought to be flush.

Oh, and there was this; Byron York mentioning that Kos is sometimes billed as a "king-maker," to which another blogger, Mickey Kaus, yeah right, just another grassroots voice, Mickey is, asked the question, "who is the king?"

Much of the rest of the discussion was the standard one about Democratic chances in November, and you've heard it all before.

What was missing from everyone's perception of the blogisphere, except for Markos, of course, was this: Bloggers and their readers are first and foremost American citizens, who take their citizenship seriously, so that what is happening on the liberal/left is a renewal of democratic governance, and all that good stuff about government of the people, by the people and for the people. No need for Lieberman to feel aggrieved; let him take his case to the voters of Connecticut, Markos pointed out: All that is different this time around is that they are being given an alternate vision to Lieberman's to vote for.

That's the way America is supposed to work, isn't it?