The coverage of Markos and Daily Kos continues today with a profile from Newsweek and a brutal takedown by David Brooks (Times Select). Brooks piece is obvious payback for a series of relentless diaries Armando posted throughout 2005 that highlighted the fatuous and asinine and lazy tendencies of Brooks’s writing. Nowhere is this more obvious when Brooks calls Markos “Tom DeLay’s moral doppelgänger”. The Newsweek article is much more interesting. What’s especially fascinating is how differently Daily Kos looks from the outside from how it looks from inside the blogging community.
By 2006, Daily Kos was drawing some 600,000 hits a day, and Moulitsas’s anger over the war—and the Dems’ failure to hold Bush accountable—had reached a fever pitch. Yet some Dems fear that Moulitsas’s popularity will pull the party so far to the left that it won’t be able to win the general election in 2008. “It’s a little bit like ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ with these guys,” said an aide to a Democratic presidential candidate who asked not to be identified while the boss was angling for Moulitsas’s support. “You like what they’re saying when they’re coming in, but you don’t know what they’re going to do once you let them into your house.”
As presidential hopefuls worry that Daily Kos will pull the party to the left, the blogworld is more concerned that Daily Kos is eschewing any effort to push the party in any particular direction at all. Markos’s mantra, “I’m all about winning” doesn’t translate very well with the left-wing blogosphere’s audience, which is politically active, ideological, and decidely progressive. Even as Markos touts “people-powered politics” he ignores the implications and possibilities of a Democratic Party that is less beholden to corporate donors and traditional power brokers. If we would like universal health care we need candidates that aren’t afraid of the HMO’s, if we want more affordable prescription drugs we need candidates that are not reliant on the pharmaceutical industry’s donations. If we want a smaller, smarter, less expensive military, we need candidates that are not intimidated by the arms industry. People-powered politics makes it possible to have unapologetically progressive candidates. And just as the blogosphere can provide financing and free media to for progressive candidates, it can counter the centrist blather that the corporate media defines as the confines of respectable political discourse. In short, we can reinvogorate the left in this country, as any truly people-based revolution should attempt to do.
So, it is a bit jarring to see Newsweek suggest that the problem with Daily Kos is that it is threatening to pull the party too far to the left, and then to see David Brooks write something like this:
…the truth is that the new boss (Kos) is little different from the old boss- only smaller. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and many other Democratics bow and scrape. He has managed to spread the gospel of Kossism far and wide, which is not really about ideas and philosophy. “I’m just all about winning,” he has said…He has challenged his enemy and become it.
So, which is it? Is Markos a progressive force, looking to move politics to the left, or is a fully co-opted sell-out, with no more interest than winning a majority? And more importantly, which possibility presents a bigger threat to the Democratic Party and the progressive blogosphere?
The reality is (are you listening Newsweek?) that Markos is not going to push the party to the left, and therefore, you have no need to be uncomfortable on his account. But, the people-powered politics he has helped to unleash is going to push the party and the nation and the media to the left, whether Markos wants to come along for the ride, or not.
And when things move to the left (up to a point), it is the people that benefit.
Another excellent post, BooMan, on a topic on which a lot of empty blather has been written.
There’s all the difference in the world between intense partisanship and ideological “extremism.” For a variety of reasons (including our political culture’s tendency to see two — and only two — sides to every issue, as well as the fact that the GOP often unites extremes of partisanship with extremes of ideological commitment), many people refuse to see this distinction. To give Kos credit, he absolutely understands this distinction. Kos is a non-ideological extreme partisan. He’s certainly not moving the Democratic Party to the left. Nor is he moving it to the right (it’s going there on its own, and Kos simply doesn’t care).
An interesting dynamic may emerge over the next months and years as other people — among the netroots and, perhaps, the media — begin to comprehend and take stock of the difference between ideological and partisan commitments. I’d like to think that actual progressives — even those deeply committed to the Democratic Party — will demand more from their would-be leaders than mere partisanship. And if those covering the blogosphere from outside it can put away their petty grievances and put on their thinking caps for the first time in a couple decades, they might find that our political life is more peculiar than it’s usually taken to be. I think there’s a good chance that historians will ultimately look back at the early 21st century much as we today look back at the late 19th, as a period in which partisan passions ran high, but what actually divided the two major parties ideologically was surprisingly small.
Kos has shown real hostility to the actual left over the years — see his posts on the antiwar movement, for example. But the actual left is so far off the radar screen of the actual Democratic Party that Kos’s hostility makes little real difference. Within the mainstream of the party — say Boxer to Nelson (take your pick which one) — Kos is indifferent.
Well, according to “thereisnospoon”, the Democrats “get plenty of votes from Communists” and from “authoritarian lefties” (who, it turns out, are another form of Commies–Stalinists!). I never did find out where “thereisnospoon” garnered this information on the substantial influence of the “authoritarian left” and “Communists” in today’s Democratic Party, but perhaps you ought to reconsider your analysis. Dirty hippies and the sanctimonious women’s studies groups, gay rights activists, as well as those folk who “visualize peace”, are also ruining the Democratic Party, which would be triumphant if not for the meddling of women, gays, enviromentalists, anti-war activists, and Communists.
As a loyal Kossack, GreenSooner, I therefore cannot agree with anything you’ve written and–
Oh wait a minute, I’m not a loyal Kossack! I keep forgetting! Good job, once again!
But there really is no spoon. I’m a spork man myself.
This conversation reminds me how I used to feel in my pre-blog days. I’d hear folks touting the conventional wisdom about our country becoming more polarized with each side of the political spectrum moving away from the center and I’d scream, “NO, NO, NO, WE’RE ALL JUST MOVING TO THE RIGHT AND THE CENTER HAS SHIFTED AWAY FROM THE MIDDLE.” Now I still react that way, but I know that folks like Booman and GreenSooner are saying the same thing. Its such a relief not to feel so alone.
I laugh at people who laugh at people who think they can ‘visualize peace’. Because it’s that asshole smug attitude about peace that helps keep alive the human race’s endless tragic race to build the stack of corpses higher. The “war pragmatists” are key enablers of the war profiteers and the imperialists and (often) of the ambitious dictators of this world. And there is way more shame in being that, than in being “touchy-feeling” and “hippy”.
Yet another Sistah Souljah moment from Markos.
Good job Booman,
That they claim that Markos is pushing the party to the left is just a form of swiftboating. It’s fear and smear tactics. It’s the old liberal smear. Anyone paying even modest attention to dKos and Markos knows that he’s hardly pushing the party to the left. On the contrary, I think he’s pushing the real left to the right. Or at least he’s trying, in the pursuit of “winning”. There’s no winning in that kind of win though. Even if it can be successful at all. What we’ll get is more of the same as our most bedrock ideals are marginalized, and even thrown overboard in the pursuit of that win.
I think besides throwing the liberal label on Kos(as swiftboating)it is also partly due to the MSM’s lazy journalism. Reporters are years behind the times and still seem to believe that democrats automatically=liberal…that just ain’t so any more and hasn’t been for a long time. Rethugs have moved on and become some sort of hybrid christian/corporate far far right stance making most dems in office basically some sort of republican lite amalgam. Only a few dems can still be considered true liberal even progressive dems but they in no way define the party anymore. Actually the party doesn’t have much definition period.
Reporters continue to believe apparently that being against bush or the war makes you a flaming liberal-what a joke and what lousy reporting. I also found it pretty funny that one of the pictures in the Newsweek article on Kos showed anti-war protesters..ha ha..one of Kos’s favorite groups you moron reporters-not.
As for Kos’s ‘winning is everything’ as strategy-that’s a soulless road to go down and pretty much precludes you from having any ideals at all to stand on. Which will only leave anyone thinking of Kos as any kind of a leader disillusioned when he jettisons ‘them’ in his pursuit of winning.
Does anyone have David Brooks’ e-mail address?
I cannot seem to find a directory at the NYT
I think it’s: WhinyMcWingnut@shitforbrains.com
Um, maybe not. 🙂
dabrooks@nytimes.com
You might find this list of media people email addresses useful. I know it’s aink to the Free Republic site, but the list is handy and pretty comprehensive, though it needs to be updated.
Thanks, all, for your responses. Wish Booman Tribune or another of “our” sites could maintain such a list. Just clicking on the Free Republic give me the creeps!
I sent off my letter and cc’d it to the letters editor plus Calame, the public editor.
Aside from the Kos rantage…
The Left and Mainstream: I’m fining myself and my family more and more riding the waves of the Left/Liberal portion of the water.
Why? because I’m some meaningless marcher, whacked hippie as Mr. Kos would try to distance himself from???
No.
The damn mainSTREAM veered off to the far right.
And unless we do start to work toward healing this planet, the enviroment, stopping the slaughtering in wars… then there will be NOTHING for Kos and other “blog wars” to bitch about.
As I was heading down to the campsite, we heard a paraphrasing of Uni professor… he said basically
If you cut of my arms, I’ll still live.
If you gouge out my eyes, I’ll still live.
If you cut of my ears, legs, nose: I’ll still live.
Cut out my water and air… and I will DIE.
I’m not left or right… I just want to live. And the only way to do that is to “CARE” and that means being a Liberal and an ACTIVIST.
I read Brooks’ “commentary” in The New York Times and found it essentially substanceless. It’s the newspaper equivalent of snot-flavored cotton candy. Brooks swung at Kos several times and didn’t lay a hand on him.
I must say, Moulitsas is most fortunate in his choice of enemies. Zengerle’s attacks contained some truths but far too many reckless charges, and now Brooks tosses off this attack, which is about as effective as throwing a spitwad.
Yes, the “outside world” profoundly misunderstands Daily Kos. From the outside looking in, it’s quite easy to confuse the extreme “yellow dog Democrat” partisanship of Kos with ideological extremism.
Kos doesn’t care about abortion rights one way or the other, for example. The only question he ever asks is, Can the Democratic candidate WIN? There are no ideological litmus tests for Kos. If you register as a Democrat, all discussions are over. You are now officially One Of Us (never mind that your positions would fit you comfortably in the Republican Party).
It’s not clear to me that this is Brook’s “payback” for Armando’s attacks on him, but perhaps that is the case. The reason I question that is because I find it hard to believe that Brooks, or anybody, has taken Armando seriously.
(By the way, Armando is now blogging by proxy, sending letters to McJoan, who then posts them as a blog on DailyKos. I’m not certain why Armando bothers with this pretense of “retired from blogging”. If it’s posted on a blog with his name on it, whether he posted it or someone posted his writing for him, it’s STILL blogging.)
But I digress….
It’s quite clear that these feuds with prominent figures–David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, The New Republic, Villain of the Week–are manufactured by Kos and his merry band to gain attention for Daily Kos, and to “rally the troops” behind a common enemy.
These latest “attacks” by Brooks, Zengerle, Dowd, et al, are merely Kos’ version of 9/11: Whatever your disagreements with me, suppress them, because we are under attack from The Evil Ones. Stop thinking and follow me.
Of course it’s working, at least in most places. The diaries posted on this topic on both MyLeftWing (where one front-page diarist declared, “We’ve got your back, Kos!”) and DailyKos have hundreds of comments appended to them, all of them undying declarations of fealty to Kos personally, wherever he may lead them.
Well, “We’ve got your back, Kos!” is so much easier than thinking for oneself, but that is what I choose to do. Kos has consistently demonstrated open hostility to progressive values on environmental issues, peace issues, women’s reproductive rights…the list goes on and on, enough to convince any true progressive that declaring “We’ve got your back, Kos!” is quite foolhardy, because Kos most certainly does not have OUR back. In fact, quite frequently, Kos is the one kicking us in the ass.
Fuck David Brooks. He is becoming beside the point. That is why he writes the shit he does. He is becoming irrelevant along with his rag, the NYT.
“They showed their ass,” (the NYT) when they started Times Select for all the other old white guys like themselves.
I see these old seedy guys on T.V., getting their 15 minutes, the creme de la creme of old white guy opinion writers, from the “flagship” of the American press, the NYT.
The paper that gave us Judith Miller, the paper that acted like an adjunct to the VOA and actually promoted the Iraq war, that is the publication that gives us lame old dudes like Brooks.
Let these New York cloistered assholes try to start and publish a blog and see how many readers they will get. It is a skill set that they happen to lack and don’t have a clue on how to do.
Of all the NYT folks that I read and whom reported on Yearly Kos, MoDo was the only one that kinda gave us a snippy but honest peek at their angst. She made a little play on (I don’t have times select otherwise i’d give you a link to her) how she could become a blogger if her day job gave out etc… Anyway, I’ve often thought she was the one with the biggest set of balls at NTY.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Krugman and Herbert are excellent columnists. Kristoff can be. Who cares if they are men. And one of them isn’t white.
The NYT has many flaws, but things would be worse without them. They need readers, and we need to let them know when they go astray.
Question from the peanut gallery regarding this:
Was this public knowledge before the Newsweek story? Not the allegations – the content of the e-mails.
Notice that Kos’ enemies are Senator Clinton, the DLC, and Senator Lieberman. Kos is such a huge threat to them that they have launched a “dirty tricks” campaign against him worthy of Richard Nixon.
The Evil Ones are attacking! Circle the wagons!
Was Kos the one complaining about Zengerle launching unsubstantiated allegations in his writings in The New Republic? “Reliable tips”, indeed.
By claiming that Kos is being attacked by the evil Clinton and even more nefarious Lieberman, he inflates his own importance and “rallies the troops” behind him.
How “evil” are Clinton and Lieberman, anyway?
Americans for Democratic Action assign the following ratings to Senators Clinton and Lieberman:
Lieberman has an ADA rating of 81, which means he’s no flaming liberal, but he’s scarcely Satan incarnate, either.
Clinton has an ADA rating of 95 for 2005, which makes her one of the most liberal senators holding office. (ADA hasn’t yet compiled a “lifetime rating” for Clinton, but that 95 rating is an accurate assessment of her Senate career thus far.)
ADA Ratings of the Senate Democrats (for comparison)
For the “important” votes that the Democratic caucus cast (only Senators serving continuously since 2001 are included):
1. J. Reed (RI): 100%
T2. Sarbanes (MD): 99%
T2. Levin (MI): 99%
T4. Kennedy (MA): 98%
T4. Stabenow (MI): 98%
T6. Durbin (IL): 96%
T6. Clinton (NY): 96%
T6. Leahy (VT): 96%
T6. Rockefeller (WV): 96%
T6. Feingold (WI): 96%
T11. Harkin (IA): 95%
T11. Mikulski (MD): 95%
T11. Schumer (NY): 95%
T14. Dodd (CT): 94%
T14. Kohl (WI): 94%
T16. Boxer (CA): 93%
T16. Dayton (MN): 93%
T16. Wyden (OR): 93%
T19. Feinstein (CA): 92%
T19. Bingaman (NM): 92%
21. Kerry (MA): 91.25% (2004 excluded)
22. Akaka (HI): 91%
T23. Biden (DE): 90%
T23. Dorgan (ND): 90%
T23. CANTWELL (WA): 90%
T23. Murray (WA): 90%
T27. Inouye (HI): 89%
T27. Reid (NV): 89%
29. Byrd (WV): 88%
T30. Conrad (ND): 87%
T30. T. Johnson (SD): 87%
T32. Carper (DE): 86%
T32. Bayh (IN): 86%
34. B. Lincoln (AR): 84%
35. Baucus (MT): 83%
T36. Lieberman (CT): 81%
T36. Bill Nelson (FL): 81%
38. Landrieu (LA): 79%
39. Ben Nelson (NE): 57%
For comparison, the “moderate Republican” Arlen Specter has a lifetime rating of 51%. “Moderate Republican” Olympia Snowe of Maine has a lifetime rating of 43%.
*Note: ADA examines senators’ and congressional representatives’ votes on 20 key issues over time, and then calculates a percentage of “yes” votes on those issues to determine its ratings.
Your input is very much appreciated.
I dont know how many times Ive heard the “Big Tent” lauded to high heaven on DKos, which, translated, means ignoring the big fat elephants smack in the middle of it. (Oh, bar Joementum, he and only he who may be criticized on the fp).
Ben Nelson is delivered hosannas on the fp, twice; a guy who rivals many Republicans in his Republican-heavy voting record. Or, more frequently, we get complete silence on other ‘Dems’ like his abysmal fem twin, Landrieu and other similarly corporatista MIC Dems (B. Lincoln, M Pryor, H Ford, et al). The excuse is that they must curry favor with their redder than red constituency back home. But truth is they are comfortable acting Republican, its who they are, or theyve sold out because nothing is who they are. Either way, the excuse doesnt cover them.
This is not about solely Dem wins, it is about standing for principles. Either these Dems are prodded to fight for those principles and actually try to explain to their constituencies why the bankruptcy bill or estate tax repeal of big pharma medicare is bad for them, and take the risk of getting voted out, or its a no-win pile of stinking elephant dung were trapped in.
Of course they should fight for those principles without being prodded, but they dont. And then they arent prodded. Or they are lauded. Id rather see Dem after Dem lose Nebraska or Louisiana while TRYING to win on principle, and the party keep fighting the good fight the next time with a better candidate and/or message, than play this game ad nauseum of WHY WE MUST LOVE AND SUPPORT BEN NELSON & CO.
And then, witness the stampede of those elephants wearing Ds, trampling right over the base on their way back to elected status quo (but not till theyve ca-chinged in on the ATM and votes), leaving us in the dust once again. (Stephanie Herseth, anyone?)
Which is it, politician who wears a D, or party principles, at the base level? (highest level, unfortunate term 😉
The choice that has been made, on DKos’ front page, either thru the rule of unstated taboo/silence or outright support for status quo candidates, is one that many of us cannot $upport.
Hay!!! Why exactly is it that these people believe that the left side of the blogosphere begins and ends with Markos/dkos? Whatever he does, that doesn’t mean we’re all going to follow along. Markos isn’t the pied piper of bloggers. He doesn’t decide how I or anyone else thinks/acts. Anyone who believes that he does determine the direction of the netroots does so at his/her own peril. He can’t necessarily deliver votes.
I’ll assume that the anonymous staffer is one of Mark Warner’s people. To him/her I would say, we are each independent and do as we please.
(To determine the true direction of the netroots, go instead to my own blog. Okay, that last line was a joke, but a really funny one, got it?)
One problem with that “Kos isn’t our leader” analysis:
Do you recall Kos’ argument for supporting anti-choice Democrats who are really Republicans in their ideology?
Kos’ argument is that by putting those DINOs in office, you are empowering a progressive majority because progressive Democrats will control key House and Senate committees and push forward a progressive agenda.
My argument is that by boosting the popularity of Daily Kos via their participation on his site, progressives are empowering Kos’ views by making him very prominent, important, and yes, a “leader” in the eyes of powerful politicians. What, you thought Mark Warner and Bill Richardson came to Yearly Kos to play the slots? No, they came to make a connection with Kos and his site. It is not a coincidence that a convention of bloggers was named after Kos.
Kos isn’t very good at much of anything except getting attention for himself and DailyKos, which then translates into more (perceived) power for him. And the perception of power IS power.
It is true that it is about him to them. Many of those who go there may care more about some of the rightside diaries, but the pols/media are looking to him and at him. (eg, Yearly Kos — I was surprised and amused to hear it was a ‘bloggers one and all” convention after seeing it billed as Yearly Kos for weeks)
Funny, I have been noticing how much I hear people say that Kos was the ONLY one with the courage to speak out against the war. Huh??? This seems to have become a truthi-ism (FALSE) repeated by longtimers and then echoed by some newcomers who dont know how it was, to explain how he gained popularity, the idea of his antiwar oasis within a no-place-for-us world.
More accurately, I would think, his place was there, a good place to voice your views and hear from others, really quite nice, and he was simpatico on this issue. He certainly wasnt the only person willing to step forward on the NET or elsewhere to say no to the Iraq war or to call BushCo on bullshit, nor was he the first. This is the sort of mythology that makes the man larger than life in a way that shouldnt be done. And of course, people who are more willng to call out Dems as much as Republicans for the enabling, do the calling of bullshit on the war much better, much more accurately.
People who contribute, whether by allowing a convention for all bloggers to be called Yearly Kos, or by spreading this sort of netroots mythology about Kos himself, are helping to create the problems now bubbling to the surface.
I’m with you on that…
I don’t like KOS’ style, to be honest BUT that being said I think he is irrelevant here. He could be Joe Lieberman (who got named “moderates moderate” on NewsHour the night before last)and he would be considered a long haired hippy radical.
KOS enjoys the limelight as a leading figure in the democractic party (within the blogging world set) and for that reason, and that reason alone, he needs to be taken down.
As has been mentioned before here these are classic Rovian tactics. The only amazing thing here is that these guys are all still march stepping to the same tune. It can’t be coincidence that everyone decides to attack KOS at once.
I’ve said all that before, but the real point here is that we should be talking about who is behind that attacks. We shouldn’t evcen bother defending KOS 10 because the allegations are stupid 2) it’s much better tactically to keep the focus on the attacker , not the victim. If they say KOS is a hack.. we ask “hmmn why do YOU say that? what axe do YOU have to grind?”
That is what they want. Oh! you can’t pay attention to all of our little scandals and lies because your eyes are focused on some silly red herring. Hounds Ho!
Exactly. What Brooks was doing was trying to smack down and taint (swiftboat) what has become a legitimate force in politics. Kos as a person is irrelevant.
I’ve never gone to dKos because of Kos but for the discussions, some of the front pagers, what is essentially a clipping service for other web sites and the diaries
They don’t have to believe Markos and dKos are the left; they just have to say it over and over, and many will believe it.
That marginalizes all of us who are to the left of Markos/dKos, so we can be dismissed as extreme and irrelevant.
Exactly! If Kos is “far left” and I’m to the left of him, I must be…a Communist. A member of the Authoritarian Left.
I’ll notify spoon right away.
I knew it! There are commies crawlin’ all over them blogs. They speak in code too – every third word of a commie blog post contains a secret commie message. 😉
Over at Huffington:
Marty Kaplan
Kos = DeLay
Jesse Kornbluth
Brooks 1, Kos 0: Markos, speak up!
Kos needs to address this to retain any credibility. If he doesnt provide his account now, he has lost. To say he will respond in a few months time just doesnt cut it. This is the brutal world of politics.
If we would like universal health care we need candidates that aren’t afraid of the HMO’s, if we want more affordable prescription drugs we need candidates that are not reliant on the pharmaceutical industry’s donations. If we want a smaller, smarter, less expensive military, we need candidates that are not intimidated by the arms industry.
I realize you probably never bothered to look at it, but the Russ Baker piece I diaried Friday shows how it’s a much larger problem than just campaign contributions or ‘being afraid.’ Way too many of the staff these guys hire & rely on are either plugged directly into the mega-industries, or are lobbying/consulting on their behalf. It’s hard to believe in the possibility of positive change when the staff has been intimately involved in advancing the corporate agenda. A best, we might see a handful of grass-roots type candidates to join Conyers, Waters, and Lee. And a few ain’t gonna change shit . . .
Who knows? Maybe the grass-roots can pull the Center back a little leftwards, which opens up room for views like yours, which in turn opens up room for the views of People Like Me (title of a great Abbey Lincoln asong & album- nonsequiter:)
Seriously, what does it say about the state of the party that after the bitter ugliness of the 2000 election, AL Gore’s chief of staff could go set up shop with Ed Gillespie?
Well, I imagine the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals team members socialize with one another after their games, too.
is in the lobbying, consulting, legislating. Elections just determine who’s in the driver’s seat. This ain’t after the Game, it IS the game! Surely you wouldn’t equate the political work of lobbying/consulting for this countries major corporations in the halls of power with “socializing!”
IMO, the corporate media whores are piling on kos precisely because he is “all about winning” and precisely because mainstream Democratic politicians are angling for his support.
They ignore authentically progressive left bloggers because they recognize (correctly, in my view) that we pose no significant threat to the status quo. In Marcusian terms, we represent the dissent that can be tolerated because it is powerless. But kos has crossed the invisible line that requires them to respond and, if possible, repress.
They ignore authentically progressive left bloggers because they recognize (correctly, in my view) that we pose no significant threat to the status quo. In Marcusian terms, we represent the dissent that can be tolerated because it is powerless. But kos has crossed the invisible line that requires them to respond and, if possible, repress.
I pains me to read this because deep down in today’s America, I fear this is the case! I am a far left social liberal, but quite fiscally conservative as far as debt and risk is concerned. I see America’s only true way forward in the long run is to combine fair progressive taxes with safety net programs that allow everyone certain basic human needs and rights, while still allowing hard work to give one a better life although not the ability to make a family dynasty to pass on forever. My feelings seem reasonable, but in the last 20 years or so (maybe longer), America does not seem to share my vision.
I won’t change because I see our greed filled conservative experiment during this same period as on the verge of failing this country miserably, but as you say, my leftist social views are still not registering. Why is the question and how to change that is my quest! KOS’s and others maybe pragmatic attempts (as in their latent support for Bob casey) at giving in to moderate and conservative social policy to win just goes against any logic that drives me, but in todays’s America, I am up against the conundrum you mention here!
“The reality is (are you listening Newsweek?) that Markos is not going to push the party to the left, and therefore, you have no need to be uncomfortable on his account”
I should have finished reading the post before commenting on it. Booman doesn’t seem to understand: to the corporate media and the DLC elites who suck up to it, the Democratic Party is ALREADY too far to the left. Anyone to the left of Joe Lieberman is too far to the left. As someone has already noted, their view of the proper role of the Democratic Party is to play the Washington Generals to the GOP’s Harlem Globetrotters (a highly ironic metaphor, but a true one.)
That being the case, they have every reason to be uncomfortable on Kos’s account, simply because he and the Daily Kos “community” represent an emerging power center within the party that they don’t control — what’s more, one that wants to WIN, to challenge the GOP’s death grip on power.
Add in the fact that kos has been (at least in the past) staunchly against the war in Iraq, and is not a dues paying member of the support-Israel-at-any-price caucus, and it’s easy to see why they are gunning for him.
In other words, it’s not that kos is so far to the left, but that the American political system is now so far to the right — the authoritarian right.
It’s not an ideological dispute at all.
This dispute is manufactured. Hillary Clinton hasn’t attacked Kos. Joe Lieberman hasn’t attacked Kos.
The New Republic and Kos have been in a feud for over two years now. David Brooks is a Republican tool–what did you expect?
Kos has whipped up these “controversies” with inflammatory attacks precisely to get attention. People who read The New Republic and The New York Time articles, as well as the Newsweek article, are going to visit Daily Kos (well, enough of them to boost Kos’ pageviews, which is what he wants).
If Kos is being attacked at all, it’s for these reasons:
“Kos’s inflammatory rhetoric, notorious hot temper, and growing belligerence and paranoia, make him a delectable target”
It’s extremely interesting to hear you mimicking the corporate media’s talking points so precisely, MWAC. From Newsweek:
“Already, the strain of the spotlight is beginning to show in his growing belligerence and paranoia.”
That was written by Jonathan Darman — son of former Republican operative and Reagan White House aide Dick Darman, now posing as a corporate journalist.
Are you SURE you don’t have a country, or at least a political party?
Those were my own observations. I’ve mimicked nothing. Kos IS paranoid; he spun the TNR attack on him into an attack on the entire blogosphere–nay, onto an attack on liberalism itself. Even a staunch defender like Hunter admitted in his diary on Daily Kos that Kos had gone way too far in attacking The New Republic. And Kos has wildly accused Senators Clinton and Lieberman of conspiring against him
So you’re one of Kos’ “woof dogs”, as Arthur Gilroy calls them. Good to know. I rarely bother to engage such folk nowadays. I notice that you went straight to the personal smear–Man Without A Country must be a Republican operative!!!!–without bothering with substance. Typical Kossack tactic, that, and I won’t even dignify it with a defense of my progressive credentials, etc, except to say this:
I was a registered Democrat at the age of 18. Still am. Never worked for Congressman Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) as Kos did, nor did I “admire” Ronald Reagan, as Kos did. Nor have I excoriated women for demanding that they have the right to control their bodies, nor have I sneered at anti-war activists and called them “dirty hippies”.
I’m sorry, your point about my politics v. Kos’ was what, again?
He’s not paranoid, and you’re dead wrong about what is going on. This is an attack on the entire blogosphere, however, it is an attack that is operating along several false impressions (or just doesn’t care that they are false).
Define Markos as far left and where does that leave the rest of us? Get it? Let his whole community be defined as whacko, and all simlar communities get tarred in the process. Get it?
TNR and Lieberman and Hillary are not looking to screw Daily Kos? How naive can you be?
“Define Markos as far left and where does that leave the rest of us? Get it? Let his whole community be defined as whacko, and all simlar communities get tarred in the process. Get it?”
Bingo
Let his whole community be defined as whacko, and all simlar communities get tarred in the process. Get it?
You think the establishment Dems in DC and political arm of the MSM haven’t defined the blogs as ‘wacko’ already? They have from the beginning.
You guys have been allowing Kos to define a good many of us as ‘wackos’ right along. You still allow it. Did y’all experience a brief hiatus in a lifetime of being defined as ‘wacko’ by people who can’t tell their asses from a hole in the ground? I personally don’t care if it’s the DLC or the NDN telling me I’m a wacko.
When Pat Robertson was running for President, and Ronnie Raygun for that matter, the theofascists were derided as “wackos”. They were written off. Guys like Spector worried that they were going to drag the whole party down with them. Now Spector is one of the few old-fashioned Republicans left in office, and wingers OWN the punditry.
Cowardice and selling out progressive values will get us nowhere. Progressivism got much of its start in some of the “reddest” parts of the country, and bringing that back around isn’t going to happen by continuing to back the Webbs, Caseys and Nelsons of the world (let alone the Liebermans).
Agree. And when I wrote Brooks I said he was so misinformed he made a fool of himself, unless his goal was simply to smear and swiftboat, in which case he was accomplished at that.
The good news, is that we’re now perceived to have some power, enough to warrant smears.
So you’re one of Kos’ “woof dogs”, as Arthur Gilroy calls them.
I don’t think so, not if this is the original Billmon. He’s not anyone’s ‘woof dog’ although I must say that I do feel he appears to have leapt to a conclusion here with remarkable little evidence.
Booman, I don’t agree that an attack on Daily Kos is an attack on the entire blogosphere. People keep telling me that Kos, and Daily Kos, are NOT the entire blogosphere–and then they turn around tell me that yes, it is. Which is it?
Billmon knows nothing about me, and suddenly I’m a Republican operative secretly infiltrating Booman Tribune?
And according to “thereisnospoon”, I’m a Communist.
Ok, I give up. I will report back to Republican Party Headquarters and Communisty Party Headquarters and report on my activities to Karl Rove and whoever is in charge of the vast Communist Party at present.
Booman, people ARE becoming paranoid. Jesus, this is politics–did Kos really expect to hit at people and not get hit back? And what of Kos’ charge that Senator Clinton, for example, is part of a secret campaign to bring him down?
I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall, here.
Colleen, “remarkable little evidence” is definitely a very polite way to phrase it. But notice how the attention is now shifted away from Kos and towards me. Good tactic, that, and one that’s being advised on Daily Kos right now as a way of handling critics: Don’t defend, attack them–question the motives of Kos’ critics without answering the criticisms.
It’s a no-win for me. I’m the one who’s expected to answer questions, now, while my attacker (Billmon) answers none.
Well, I’m done. Y’all talk amongst yourselves.
Colleen, “remarkable little evidence” is definitely a very polite way to phrase it.
Yes and and, of course, I meant to say ‘remarkably little evidence’. I try to be polite online and at reasonably literate and sometimes fail at both. I don’t believe you to be a Republican operative and I don’t believe Billmon to be one of Kos’s apologists (or Booman either, for that matter) I also agree that this isn’t an ‘attack on the entire liberal blogosphere’. I think it’s more like a fight between the NDN and the DLC and would love to see both organizations dissolve so that the Democratic party could move to the left. For me it’s something like a battle between the SBC and the Catholic heirarchy.
Don’t defend, attack them–question the motives of Kos’ critics without answering the criticisms.
One does not have to read DK to realise that.
Sorry, as of 6/25/2006 I am no longer an active member of Booman Tribune.
I am sincerely sorry to hear that. If you’ve the time and are so inclined please drop me an email at colleen (at) blarg.net
very well put.
the interesting stuff that will come out of blogs is going to happen locally. WI has a vital and active network of liberal and progressive blogs that are working on several issues and campaigns, for example. I understand that several other states are seeing the same kind of developments.
The national blogs can only really serve as clearing houses of information, pundits (like Billmon, Digby etc) or experts in a chosen area. Oh, and as money making/fundraising operations.
Kos is fully inside the party, for all intents and purposes. I think it IS best looked at as a pissing match between the DLC and NDN. After the way he and his minions have treated truly liberal posters on dkos for months now, I can only admit that I’m fully enjoying watching him get back what he, DHinMI and Armando so gleefully dished out. For those who think this is bad b/c it’s an attack on us all … I think you’re diminishing the writing and activism of a lot of people who’re trying to affect the political conversation WITHOUT all of the self-indulgent self promotion that kos so enjoys pursuing.
And he (or the site) could barely ask for a better marketing/ PR campaigns. Think about it:
~ pre-buzz re: the book, out on tour, the courting of RW non-progressives, etc.
~ right before the convention Armando is ‘outed’ and all the news on all the lefty blogs is about dkos while the ‘Libertarian Democrat’ manifesto is all but ignored
~ the convention and the heavy-hitter Warner throwing his support behind the ‘netroots’
~ post convention the ‘attacks on the netroots’ start and the claims of Hilary’s operatives on the prowl
End result?
Everyone a) talking about Markos and b) everyone talking about Markos and how he really must be ‘crashing the gates’ if all the big bad MSM and Dem party establishment is attacking him. Which is why I think threads like this are pretty ridiculous, this is exactly the type of publicity a PR person would LOVE.
Net, net: dkos site traffic and import grows while continuing to move the party to the centre
as an aside though, it is interesting the RSS subs have dropped 10k since the convention.
There are others who agree with you, and in general anyone on the left who questions Kos over this is being fairly harshly treated.
In truth independent and different voices are needed to keep a community strong. The majority are not always right.
“I was a registered Democrat at the age of 18, etc. etc.”
No, MWAC, you’re just an anonymous handle on a web comment, as of course am I. The difference between us is that you seem to be carefully repeating the Swiftboat talking points du jour, while I’m pointing to the obvious fact that the corporate media — running the ideological spectrum (such as it is)from the National Review to Newsweek — are going after Kos in a coordinated way. There’s a reason for that, and it ain’t because he’s too far to the RIGHT.
If that makes me a “woof dog,” so be it. Better that than a tool (witting or unwitting) of the people who are currently going after kos.
Ok, Booman, so now I’m going to be the object of personal attacks?
I’m done with Booman Tribune. This is too much.
I apologize for having the temerity to attack Kos, and humbly withdraw my small contributions to this site.
You win, Billmon–those kind of smear tactics are VERY effective.
I see. So calling someone a “woof dog” — that’s reasoned, thoughtful debate. But saying someone is acting like a tool (witting or unwitting) because they use the exactly same derogatory phrase as an obvious coporate media hit job, well, that’s a personal attack and a smear tactic.
Glad we could clear that up.
Well, to be fair, you did attack him as a Republican operative first because he has a strongly different view than you (as do others here, I’m personally staying out of this one, we’ve been talking about kos WAAAY too much lately).
And considering that MWAC has been participating here with reasoned comments (as was his response to you, you just didn’t like his point of view and therefore decided to accuse him of being the enemy), it seems a bit presumptious of you to call him a tool of the right wing. So yeah, he’s ‘woof dog’ was probably inaccurate, but you opened up the door to attacks billmon.
MWAC, don’t let Billmon turn you off to bootrib, his is just one voice, as is mine and as is yours.
Yo. What Spiderleaf said.
Please, you sound like a small, whiny child. Grow up and remain in the fray.
The difference between us is that you seem to be carefully repeating the Swiftboat talking points du jour
No offense Bill but it’s rude and irresponsible to be implying that he’s a rw tool with as little proof as you’ve managed to produce.
They’re not going after Kos because he’s too far to the left either.
you are giving me hope to come back to BT. I hope to see more of you around here with your wisdom, smarts and good writing.
What? You badmouth BT and everyone who posts here regularly at the big orange, call BooMan a liar there as well, and now you’re threatening to grace us with your whiny ass suck up titty baby presence more frequently?
Puh-lease.
Stop beating around the bush CG.
Oh, you should hear the parts I DIDN’T post…
Ouch CG,
I think that left a mark.
But thank you for saying what I wanted to say.
Anytime, super. 🙂
Damm I like bluntness 🙂
Do you really believe that sig of yours? My comments are all out in the open for anyone to see at Dkos. As far as me badmouthing everyone who posts here regularly, tribbers can feel free to decide if that statement is true, unless there are only 5 or 6 people that post here regularly. If you continue to run people off Boomans site, you will never grow and Booman will not have to means to continue to support his blog. I would think that the idea would be to make other progressives/liberals welcome. But that might just be me. The anger here towards Kossacks is totally out of control. My comments to Booman were in a couple of diaries posted recently and yes I did write some harsh things, as we all do some times. It is sad for me to see that some things have still not changed over here because it really used to be one of the best places in the blogworld. Perhaps instead of the Kos/Dkos/Kossack bashing you should look inward and have some serious discussions to see what you as a community can do to help solve the problem, if you collectively agree that a problem exists. Because of what might be deep rooted hatred or angry feelings for past flame wars or bannings things may never be able to change. I know we are all fighting for a better America, to rid our govt of the crooks and cronies and most importantly a better place to leave for our children and future generations.
of course, enough of us remember your thread bullying to question whether you will engage in the same behavior here, not to mention if “progressive” or “liberal” is a label you should adopt for yourself.
explain please. I don’t know what you mean. I am definately a liberal and progressive. Probably a lot newer than a lot of people but yup that would describe me. Are you talking about a thread last year with Parker and or Brianne? I’m going to get an ice cream it is really hot here in LA, but I will come back.
Chamonix1, Chamonix, MattC, whatever you go by:
I can count the nuber of comments of the above nature that I have made in the last 15 months on one hand. You totally deserve what I said up there, and I stand by it.
You, on the other hand, would run out of fingers and toes trying to count up the bitter, angry, whiny, petty, bullshit anti-BT comments that you have made in even a single diary at dKos recently. Not to mention your drive-by troll rating here recently. So knock the phony “Maybe I’ll come back if you’re nicer to me” crap off.
you love making stuff up don’t you. Putting something in quotes that I didn’t even say. As I wrote above, if you cannot look into yourselves and some of the anger towards Kos/Dkos and some of it’s members, booman trib will never have the chance to be what it’s owner hoped it would be. If you continue to chase people, who have terrific voices (TINS,SusanHu, and many others) and are interested in progressive politics, off this site how do you expect it to grow and make a difference, and hopefully become profitable for Booman. You will not get anywhere chasing people off this site.
I would have been Chamonix here when I joined the first day or two after being asked by Martin, but my Chamonix account wouldn’t accept my password. Over at MLW, (the 3rd and only other blog I am a member of) I felt comfortable enough at that point to go by my name, not to mention MSOC lives about 1 mile from my house here in LA. How much longer do you want the list of people to be that leave this site? Christ, Billmon comes over and it practically run off. Another to add to the list. I don’t believe it can be all of these people that are the problem. With or without me here, your problem with Kos/Dkos and it’s memebers will still exist. Anyway, I will ask Booman again to delete my account here but I will always have many fond memories of my early days (helping name the frog, the Cafe, being part of alot of the history of Booman Tribune.
I do hope I am wrong and the Trib has a chance to flourish and make a difference in the ultimate cause of getting more Progressives/Dems elected and getting rid of the corruption in Politics. Good luck.
how many more times are you going to pretend to know why Susan quit blogging? That’s getting to be really annoying.
And, let me worry about my paltry profits.
I sent you an email. Do you honestly know who might email who on the blogs? And I was around during many of the flame wars that she was also involved in, not to mention she was also treated like shit. Here is one of her comments……
Thanks, Joe! I’ve been way busy taking care of my various health issues, including many herniated discs … things I’d been not attending to because I was overly committed to blogging, and for very insufficient reward.
I spontaneously decided to take a sabbatical and was astonished how much I loved the free time and the release from such intense pressure. I can always start writing again and — surprise — the world goes on with or without me posting a lot.
Been reading books too, including Cobra II, etc. Great fun.
Hope you’re well!
Boy, I’m so RILED about this. I can’t believe HBO blew $100 million on Rome (which was alright, but …). I wrote them another note, and hope you will write HBO too:
See this Daily Kos diary, and all the comments:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I knew I’d get this reaction when I wrote the diary. I posted a Sunday evening diary for every episode in the 2nd season, and people just loved the show…. and I also posted diaries every Sunday night at BoomanTribune.com, another popular political blog.
Deadwood is the kind of drama that bright, well-read people love. I can’t believe you’re destroying it, especially when you don’t have to.
Susan in Port Angeles (my cat)
I hope the profits pick up Booman.
Are you posting private emails from Susan to you?
Sometimes I am astonished by people’s stupidity.
You presume to know things you know nothing about. Then you blame people for doing things that have nothing to do with what you are talking about.
You have no idea why catnip stopped posting here and I know you have no idea what goes on in Susan’s life beyond whatever she tells her fanclub. Don’t pretend otherwise. It’s obnoxious.
First off, I am not stupid. I would never post a private email. That was a comment she posted on a blog. Public forum. I also guess Susan gives her phone number out to all members of her “fanclub”. Boy, she must be getting calls at all hours. You clearly encourage this behaviour. Calling people stupid. Thanks in advance for my request. I’m done.
Promise?
If so, real class there Chammy.
You are wrong. Simple as that. Now will you finally stop with your incessant bleating? You look so much more like what you accuse us of being.
ps
a little pearl of truth for you. This blog isn’t the only one that has a segment of it’s population that doesn’t care for dKos. That fact says more about what’s wrong with dKos than it does about us or any other blog with differences.
you’re so well-known and loved for.
What stuff are you claiming that I’ve made up? I invite anyone to look up your comment history at DK and verify what I’ve said. A quick glance through should make it obvious to anyone just who the bile-filled poster is. Here’s a taste of your recent offerings.
However, it sounds like maybe you’re the one who makes stuff up about knowing why some folks are no longer posting here.
So, did you get sprinkles on your ice cream?
It’s extremely interesting to hear you mimicking the corporate media’s talking points so precisely, MWAC. From Newsweek:
I assure you I am no repub operative, but I also agree with this belief about KOS and many of his buddies. Their course of action is changing from open discussion being allowed to hard pressed cheerleading only of theri views being allowed. It smells and stinks!
I also believe you are out of line with this technique and line of comment here, and see no reason for it, again IMO!
even the “corporate medias talking points” also turn out to be true. I hope it is not the case in this matter.
And what would we talk about if we didn’t have Kos to complain about, eh? Aren’t we lucky he’s so evil?
You quote me, but drop the second part of my point.
If you want to say we can be safely ignored, you may be correct, but I would argue, not for long, and not if I can do anything about it.
As for the rest of your comment, I agree with it.
Let’s not overlook that the original TNR piece wasn’t just an attack on Kos but an attack on us all. That’s what pissed me off, the suggestion that we’re buyable at a very low price, that we’re intimidated by Kos or any other big dawg blogger, etc.
Kos’ value to candidates is in building name recognition, which he does quite well, since he has such a huge audience.
That we disagree with his policy prescriptions and campaign strategies is obvious to anyone paying attention. But I don’t expect MSM folks who’ve been bruised by blogosphere attacks to overcome their pissy attitudes and learn how to journimalism. So they deserve our attacks on that basis alone.
Let’s not overlook that the original TNR piece wasn’t just an attack on Kos but an attack on us all.
You know, this is starting to piss me off because y’all were pounding on this theme when Armando was forced to give up blogging for all of 15 minutes. An ‘attack’ on Kos is good publicity for him. It is not an attack on us all.
Armando? Who’s he?
Oh yeah, I think I’ve read him once or twice. But because I’m not a Kossack, that one was past me by two weeks before I even heard about it.
I’ve never shared an email with the guy and he seems to only be a celebrity on that blog.
I’m not trying to sweep anyone’s misbehavior under any rug with the point I was making. But when TNR suggests the backlash to their first piece was rooted in Kos-cult behavior or for fear of drying up a piddle of ad revenue, then I consider that an attack on me and my backlash is rooted in that…. and I suspect that’s true of the backlash of most in the Ad Network.
But when TNR suggests the backlash to their first piece was rooted in Kos-cult behavior or for fear of drying up a piddle of ad revenue, then I consider that an attack on me and my backlash is rooted in that…. and I suspect that’s true of the backlash of most in the Ad Network.
Ok, so your point is that the attack, such as it is, is an attack on everyone in the ad network or, perhaps, everyone on the ‘elite bloggers list’ except, of course, the leaker (s). Do I have that right?
I understand you don’t accept the validity of the arguments that have been made by me, by Billmon, and by any number of other bloggers. But, you shouldn’t doubt our sincerity. We are not defending Markos or Jerome per se, but identifying what we see as a tactic and a strategy to marginalize the progressive blogroots. And that plot is indeed being hatched by turncoats, moles, the TNR, and elements of the DLC, including, no doubt, representatives of Lieberman and Hillary.
Call it paranoid if you want. I am not alone, obviously, is seeing this as what is going on. And that doesn’t even bring in the curious elements that relate to what exactly happened with Leopold and Rove’s spokeman.
I understand you don’t accept the validity of the arguments that have been made by me, by Billmon, and by any number of other bloggers. But, you shouldn’t doubt our sincerity.
I’m not the person who has been doubting the sincerity of other posters in this thread and certainly do not doubt yours or Billmon’s. I feel Bill has been rude and dismissive in this thread but not insincere or paranoid.
Indeed, if part of the problem is that the business model of this blog is dependent on the success of Markos and Daily Kos I would hope that you and the other ‘elite’ bloggers would rethink that direction for any number of reasons beyond the fact that I believe that DK is doomed to eventual failure as a viable and positive force.
I don’t know what we ordinary citizens of the blogosphere could or should do about attacks on centrists by more conservative centrists and I’m not certain what to say when the expressed concern is that the MSM will invent a reality in which the blogs and those who run them are wackos. They’ve always thought we were wackos. Hell, as far as I can tell the entire slate of FP posters on DK for the past 2 years thinks we’re wackos. How is that crippling or a problem? Those with power always discount those without power.
Tell you the truth, Booman, I’ve long suspected the existence of at least one ‘elite blogger listserve’ and believe there is more than one. The thing that interests me is the identity of the leaker (s) to TNR and the DLC and to what purposes the list(s) are put.
Call it paranoid if you want.
I don’t generally throw around psychiatric labels in public forums and certainly don’t feel your concerns are irrational, just a bit exaggerated. Liberal blogs will continue to be a force with or without DK for as long as they serve an important social purpose.
why anyone would want to be on some secret townhouse elite blogger list thingy. It sounds more like something those in power do, and damages the reputation of the left blogosphere. I wonder who is on the list, and kind of hope no reps from the sites I enjoy are there.
So much for all that open source stuff.
Okay, you just lost me right here. “But you shouldn’t doubt our sincerity.” The discussion here is whose side Kos and the other DINO bloggers are on, and what exactly is being done and by whom and why (and possibly who’s paying them for it), and your answer is “we shouldn’t doubt you,” followed by a REAL tinfoil hat blast at anyone who dares to question your viewpoint or judgement…
And I gotta wonder, then… are you that stupid, or is it that you think WE are?
When a politico says “trust me,” if you’re smart you hide your wallet and load your guns, because you’ve just been painted on a targeting scope…..
There are precisely five living humans I do not doubt, and none of them blog.
Doubt you? Every single second of every single day, man… just as I question everyone here, everyone who writes for the newspapers or the radio or the TV, ANYONE who wants to make sure I see things their way or don’t ask inconvenient questions.
I won’t ask whose side you’re on, because words don’t mean a damn thing, and it’ll become clear as time goes by. Right now, though, I wouldn’t take a bet either way at ANY odds.
Look, this is your party and your community and yeah, I probably just peed in the pond, and you can do what you like about that, all same me….
but don’t insult my intelligence and expect us to be friends, okay?
but I disagree about where the country and the Dem Party are headed.
I think there is a noisy subgroup in the left-blogosphere that is progressive, but it’s a tiny minority with very little hope of taking over the party. I also think there are a lot of Democratic netroots folks who, like Markos, are simply tired of losing, and they are unleashing their anger about losing against the Democratic Party establishment. But the key is this not their anger about the nutbag “war on terror” or the insane race to simultaneously destroy the earth’s environment and screw as many workers as possible out of a livable future. If John Kerry was commanding the Iraq War Brigades many of these people would simply shut the f-ck up. As they did during Clinton time, about the same economic trends like inequality that were raging onward even then [that certain writers here and at dailyKos have well documented, catching up the blogosphere to the excellent work that Doug Henwood was doing at the Left Business Observer back in about 1994].
To me, this explains why Lakoff’s writing about how to sell Democratic Party politics (and all of the many Lakoff-wannabe copycats) is INFINITELY more popular in much of the left blogosphere than a diary about Universal Health Insurance and how we could get some by “purging” the party of anyone who doesn’t yet endorse HR676. Lakoff style “framing” discussions usually spark many more comments than pesky discussions about how the US military budget is more than all other countries combined, and how that’s an entirely f-cked up set of priorities for any self-respecting decent country.
To me, much of dailyKos daily activity consists of yetanudder yetanudder diary on how it is that the Dems can ‘frame’ and ‘sell’ their politics in such a way as to convince the American sheeple to stop voting for their own ongoing decline into being citizens of a very heavily armed bankrupt Banana Republic situated in the center of a toxic waste dump. How different is that, exactly, from the mindless corporate blowhards over at ndol.org, and their “idea of the week”? Really?
I don’t see much evidence that America is waking up that the solution to the ruinous path that 70% of us do realize we are on is to expand the list of 60 or 70 something actual progressive Democrats in Congress to 200-something. And if I’m wrong about that, I’ll eat my hat in November.