There has already been a great diary on the East Bay Express recycling stale insider dogma by calling Ellen Tauscher “moderate” instead of using the label “big business” which is far more accurate.

But that wasn’t the only major blunder by New Times Media reporter Chris Thompson. The more glaring example of his failure to understand the dynamics was his dismissing of the viability of the primary challenge to Tauscher. Thompson said that this was a “pipe dream” and declared that Democratic Party activists “won’t win” despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

That is what “they” said about Tauscher bagman Steve Filson in CA-11 who was stomped by 24 pts in last year’s primary in a more conservative district right next door. It was a landslide, he was beaten like a drum. Filson is a punchline in East Bay politics.

That is what “they” said about the primary campaign against then-Congressman Jeffery Cohelan who was again in a neighboring district to Tauscher but lost his re-nomination even with the union support Tauscher won’t enjoy.

That is what “they” said about Joe Lieberman, who had been the Democratic Party VP nominee yet also lost his primary in no small part to the netroots.

If you want to know what bands are playing, check out the East Bay Express. But don’t expect them to help you understand political dynamics they don’t get.