Akademik

n.

A grassroots movement that uses the Internet to communicate, organize, and raise money. Also: Netroots.

Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner ... followed her husband to Washington state in 1998 when he was hired at Microsoft; she landed a job there in 2000, working as a marketing manager dealing in network architecture for software developers. ...

What has made Burner different from other political newcomers is her ability to attract campaign contributions (she's outraised her opponent, a rarity for congressional challengers). And she owes a good part of her fundraising success to her links to the netroots.

"She's one of us," Seattle blogger David Goldstein, who has solicited contributions to Burner on his Web site, horsesass.org, said earlier this year. "Down deep, she's a geek."

—Gregory Roberts, " Darcy Burner's interest in service started early: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/385434_burner29.html," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer," October 29, 2008

And yet the liberal love song continues. The posts at the liberal Daily Kos and Huffington Post websites remain laudatory.

"Excuse Me, Waiter? There are Smart People in My Government Again!" Brett Ashley McKenzie posted yesterday. Mr. Obama and the Netroots continue to gaze at each other with honeymoon eyes.

—John Ibbitson, " Not letting promises get in the way of policy: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20081125/IBBITSON25/," The Globe and Mail, November 25, 2008

The underlying policy decision leading to reorganization and termination had to have been deliberated by the same people who find other people expendable. Makes you wonder about the underlying policy itself and what effects it might have that such folks would also find "acceptable." Too bad there's no netroots organization that can demand more than keyboard accountability from those who claim to be acting on behalf of the "greater good" when they do things like this.

—Robert McDonell, " Reply to Cliff Figallo: http://groups.google.com/group/bit.listserv.words-l/browse_thread/thread/5b72ec89c416ee0b?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=netroots&pli=1," bit.listserv.words-l, January 15, 1993