June 27, 2006

6/27: Where's The Old Kos?

As a long time fan of sports talk radio (KNBR 68, THE Sports Leader), the Blogometer loved DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas the first time we read his over the top rhetoric and unapologetic anti-war stance. Markos is a bright and strategic thinker and the Blogometer truly wishes him well on his quest to help reshape the party. But as Markos becomes a polished operative he may be losing the impish truth-teller qualities that drove him to fame. For example, Markos attributes his absence from a Time magazine piece on CT SEN to his refusal to play along with the reporter's "anti-war frame." Markos says he told Time he was targeting Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) due to his stance on Social Security.

No doubt Markos did not like Lieberman's Social Security posturing, but Markos hated Lieberman long before that debate. DailyKos' popularity is built on the coherence of its anti-war stance, not Social Security or any other progressive issue. But Markos has bigger plans past Iraq and Pres. Bush. He is working on a new book focussing on his "Libertarian Dem" philosophy and Ex-Navy sec. Jim Webb (D) is perhaps Markos' ideal embodiment of his ideal Dem candidate. Markos' realizes the MSM currently keeps him in an anti-war only cage and he is desperate to expand his portfolio. Markos's will do much better getting his case across if he maintains the honesty that made him so powerful to begin with.

DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas took Newsweek to task for inaccuracies in their 6/25 profile: "So Newsweek says in their title, "The Daily Kos thinks the politics of Iraq will help him shape the Democratic Party." Now read the story and tell me where I or anyone else says that "the politics of Iraq will help us shape the Democratic Party". Talk about making [stuff] up. Also notice unsourced assertions that I talk to the party leadership "several times a week" and that I have "brainstormed with Democratic operatives about the fall campaign". Utter fabrication. Again, yet another piece makes up stuff to make me look more powerful than I am."

Jane Hamsher at firedoglake also objects to Newsweeks' Iraq focus and explains that her Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) hate stems from his Justice Sam Alito cave-in: "Objecting to Holy Joe's warmongering is a perfectly good reason to oppose him, but it does not appear to be the unifying factor that many would have it. ...As I've written many, many times before, my rabid lambiness took root during the Alito cloture vote, when Lieberman sided with the Gang of 14 to put a sexist, elitist, fundamentalist Dobson-loving bigot like Strip Search Sammy on the Supreme Court."

Eric Boehlert at MyDD has a lengthy take-down of the article as well. Highlights include: "Newsweek announces "Democrats lost the week in the war over the war." In order to make that GOP-pleasing political calculation, Newsweek conveniently avoids any reference to a string of national polls that show a majority of Americans actually support the Democratic initiative of troop reduction timetable. ...Again, busy pushing the nervous narrative that "some Dems" fear bloggers like Markos might drive the Democratic Party too far left, who does Newsweek turn to for a confirmation quote about what "some Dems" are thinking? A partisan Republican, of course. (Newt Gingrich.)"

Lefty bloggers continue to rally around DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas. Under the header 'The Swiftboating of Kos' The Whiskey Bar has a lengthy analysis on the TNR/Kos/Armstrong dust-up including some Kos criticism:

Actually, the real reason I haven't posted anything about this idiotic affair is up until now it's that it's been just that: idiotic. At times, scanning the feeble slurs over at the The New Republic's "blog," the Plank, really has been like reading a bad Monty Python parody I mean, the idea that Kos could use his influence, such as it is, to intimidate Left Blogistan into a quivering reign of fear is simply laughable -- a paranoid fantasy that wandered away from Free Republic.com and was adopted by some silly little Ivy League boys who've decided they like how Karl Rove plays the game and want to get in on the fun.

But there's no question Kos made a dumb mistake when he asked his blogging buddies to pipe down about the "story." ...The truth is that while I admire Kos's energy and enthusiasm, and am impressed by the online community he's nurtured, his politics are hardly mine. He's a Democratic Party activist and loyalist; I'm not.
To be perfectly honest, my impression is that Kos the blogger has long since been swallowed up by Kos the aspiring politician. I would say he's sold out, but Kos has never, to my knowledge, claimed to be anything other than a Democratic (big and little d) political activist.

Fellow lefty This Modern World is no fan of the "Ken Starr of the blogosphere" TNR's Jason Zengerle but also feels that Markos isn't the real target: "It's not just Markos and Jerome Armstrong being dragged through the mud, it's every liberal blogger (especially those in the Advertising Liberally network). ...Every liberal blogger has been besmirched by these unsupported insinuations and we've got every right to be p****d. And if that makes me just another lowbrow, potty-mouthed blogger, so be it. I'd rather be an immature fool than an immoral elitist. ...We're all getting Swift-Boated now."

Garance Franke-Ruta at TAPPED is just happy that lefty blogosphere laundry is being aired now instead of later: "All I can say is: Far better for this kind of stuff to break mid-'06, when nothing electoral is at stake and no one is really paying that much attention, than during election season '08, when the story could have mushroomed into 527-funded television attack ads that could have been devastating to a Mark Warner candidacy (imagine the impact of using Armstrong's analysis of the causes of 9-11 to tarnish Warner on national security, for example). Markos has been complaining for some time that he believes Hillary Rodham Clinton's people have been doing research on him. All I can say after the revelations of the past week is: I certainly hope so." GFR also thinks ex-VA Gov. Mark Warner's (D) organizational skills come out badly from the episode: "If Warner didn't know, when he hired Armstrong, that this kind of stuff was in his background -- the SEC settlement, the political astrology -- it's a sign his PAC failed to do its own due diligence. Warner's nascent campaign, meanwhile, has seen a staffer become the main story, which is never good, and which is even worse at a time when most of the public doesn't know anything else about the former Virginia governor."

Also at TAPPEDBen Adler offers an explanation for TNR's blogosphere unpopularity: "TNR, on the other hand, indulges Bush crony Greg Mankiw with a non-sensical cover story in favor of social security privatization, and indulges neo-con Lawrence Kaplan (and Peretz) in contemptuous anti-left diatribes. ...The blogosphere is pragmatic, non-ideological, and very tolerant of moderates (see their recent embrace of Mark Warner). What they do not tolerate is the public flagellation of their party's left-wing that gives aid and comfort to the enemy."

The News Blog is still demanding more action from TNR in response to Zengerle's posting of a fictitious email attributed to TNB author Steve Gilliard: "I have just received an e-mail from TNR editor Frank Foer which said they thought the apology is adequate and "they had nothing more to add". It was bad enough they tacked on Gilliard-gate to their mistake on their reporting. But now, they're defending a dishonest source, who sends e-mails without any proof of their accuracy. My question is simple: why are they protecting a dishonest source on a story?" Fellow lefty travelers wanted the leaker punished. Atrios: "Burning sources who mislead you just seems like a no brainer to me. Aside from punishing someone who aided and abetted your screw up, it also sends a signal to other would-be bulls***ters that their attempts may not be consequence free."

Conservative Protein Wisdom also wants emailers burned, but not just the leaker: "How do you feel about revealing the names of those on the Townhouse email list? Because it sure would be groovy to see how many of them mentioned the story after Kos suggested you bury it like so many Hussein-era Iraqi swamp Arabs." Libertarian Instapundit thinks the list is a matter of "public interest!"

Over at Slate, after a bloggingheads TV session with Bob Wright Kausfiles believes David Brooks owes Kos an apology for botching the Brown-Hackett-endorsement-Armstrong-hiring-timeline.

For the best rundown of the entire Kos/Armstrong/Hackett/Brown kerfuffle lefty BuckeyState Blog pens a lengthy history and concludes:

To date kos has failed to directly address the central issues. Does Armstrong barter his services with clients to include the editorial influence of kos, if so is kos party to this ? Instead he has diverted attention from this question by attacking those asking these questions. Kos at the end of the day I think has poor judgement and is naive - Hackett flip flop, the DLC attack that never came, Warner and Yearlykos- all leave many wondering. While Armstrong and kos have a symbiotic relationship, and some business ties (in the past, and with their recent book) I don't believe there is any transfer of money for editorial influence - I think Jerome simply gets some of that for free, that at least is my impression. I personally don't care how this story turns out, the netroots in the Ohio Senate race are now poisoned beyond recovery thanks to these bozo's - I just hope I don't have to witness them screw up any more races in the state I live.

CLINTON: If You Can't Beat 'Em, Hire 'Em

Lefty blogger stalwart and Kerry-Edwards blog outreach director Peter Daou announced at his Daou Report that he had been hired by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as a "blog advisor." Daou explains: "Since launching the Daou Report in December 2004, I have written extensively about a 'triangle' comprised of the traditional media, the political establishment, and the blogosphere. I have argued that "closing the triangle" (i.e. enhancing the connection between the three entities) is imperative for the Democratic Party and the progressive netroots. ...I have been offered, and accepted, what I believe is a unique opportunity to help close the triangle: joining Senator Clinton's team as a blog advisor to facilitate and expand her relationship with the netroots. There are endless possibilities for Clinton-netroots collaborations, from Net Neutrality to the Privacy Bill of Rights to voting reform to so many other critical issues."

Lefty The American Street still is no HRC fan but still supports Daou's decision: "I have and will retain, enormous respect for Peter Daou. But his work will not convince me to support Hillary. There'll be Nader or some Independent, or maybe I'll have to consider a real Green (which I never felt Nader was). I wish we could have a woman president. But I require a qualified one."

Left of center Michael Crowley at The Plank was impressed with the move: "I'm not flagging this to make any larger point about certain recent blog fights, but it does seem noteworthy that Hillary Clinton, that bane of the liberal blogosphere, has hired a prominent liberal blogger. (Presumably just for her Senate re-election, of course--because we know how badly she needs the netroots for that battle royale...)

On the right Riehl World View sees conspiracy: "Perfect, absolutely perfect - what a move. Hillary Clinton has hired Peter Daou. Here is Daou's announcement. Congratulations are in order before I put on my partisan hat. Let's look at what just happened - The New Republic, Newsweek and others just finished softening up the preeminent Liberal blog, DailyKos. Perhaps Markos Moulitsas wasn't so far wrong when he suggested that Hillary's camp was at least partly behind some of the current hits he's been taking. What better way to enter hostile territory then by opening up a wedge, or at least a soft spot to land. If people become disaffected with DailyKos over any controversy, no doubt Hillary and company will be happy to provide them with a place to land.

Jason Zengerle at The Plank picks up on TPMmuckraker reports that Grover Norquist is firing back at Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in the wake of McCain's report on the Abramoff scandal and wonders: "Is Norquist still strong enough to derail a McCain presidential bid? Or has the Abramoff scandal left Norquist in such a weakened position that his opposition won't mean much in the 2008 GOP primary? It looks like McCain's betting on the latter."

Also at The PlankJonathan Chait tries to singlehandedly sink McCain chances in a GOP primary by praising his views on the role of government: "I think McCain is (or was) a liberal because a liberal today is anybody who rejects conservative assumptions about the role of government (and isn't a socialist.) By today's standards Eisenhower and Nixon were liberals, a fact conservatives make themselves.

Margaret Nagel at lefty hangout The Huffington Post sees parallels between FDR's pre-presidential career and Al Gore's journey through the wilderness:

Polio had taken Roosevelt out of the 1920 and 1924 presidential elections where he would have surely lost -- as those were Republican years. Polio asked him to develop patience and a maturity he hadn't before possessed. Leaving Washington and the world of politics behind allowed him to expand his vision and learn to listen. When he ran for President in 1932 he was ready. He understood the Great Depression on an emotional level. He had already seen it up close in Georgia. He knew how to talk to the country in a direct and honest way. He was the right President at the right time. The New Deal could only have sprung from him. On its most basic level the New Deal put people to work and gave them hope. It didn't fix the economy. But it kept people going while the economy fixed itself. It was sort of like Roosevelt swimming in the waters at Warm Springs.

Al Gore has been cast out into the wilderness so to speak. His political career sidelined by an election that political scientists will be analyzing forever. His humiliation and pain have been channeled into his work on the environment. Global warming is his Polio. He has been out into the real world. He has had to lick his wounds and revalue his values. And that has visibly changed him. There has been an internal upheaval inside Mr. Gore that is tangible. And he seems the better for it.

CT SEN: Joenertia

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas likes ultra Beltway insider Dick Morris' latest take on Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D-CT) chances indy chances. From Morris reported by Political Wire:

"I think Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) will lose the primary and will be so crippled by the defeat and Ned Lamont (D) so empowered, that he will lose the general election as an independent. Sen. Jacob Javits (R-NY), in 1980, could have avoided defeat by not fighting the Republican Primary against Sen. Al D'Amato (R-NY) and running as an independent. But D'Amato was so empowered by the primary win and Javits so disempowered that he won the general election with Javits running a poor third.
"Lieberman's correct course of action is to withdraw from the primary and run as an independent. It is the only way he can get re-elected."

Markos reax: "If Lieberman goes indy, the [stuff] would hit the fan. He might have a better chance to win as an indy than in the Dem primary, but it's no guaranteed conclusion. Joe's Republican friends might feel emboldened to vote GOP, smelling the chance to replace Joementum with the real thing. And Democrats will suddenly be well-apprised of Lieberman's lack of loyalty and his breaking of his word to Reid and Schumer to remain a Democrat."

Christy Hardin Smith at firedoglake hammers Lieberman for his version of a Pres. Bush run in: "You want to see what panic looks like - re-read that Joe-nertia quote from above: "I don't think he kissed me, he leaned over and gave me a hug and said "thank you for being a patriotic American." Pathetic. No one is buying."

Also 6/26, Kos highlights Lamont's latest TV ad and pays tribute to its creator: "It's not surprising that this ad came from Bill Hillsman, who is the best political ad maker in the country, of any partisan stripe. And thing is, he's not a partisan. Having been shut out of the DC consultant racket by the beltway mafia, Hillsman has been the admaker of choice for independent third-party candidates. ...But smarting from the ad (and boy is it good), the Lieberman campaign issues this bizarre statement. The attacks on Hillsman are especially weird, since Lieberman supposedly is such a bi-partisan independent. ...p.s. Ironically, the Lamont campaign turned to Hillsman after no beltway media firms would take the case for fear of being blacklisted by the Beltway Mafia. Thank god, for that, huh?"

Lefty Bloggers are hammering LG Michael Steele (R) for his Willie Horton ad producer Floyd Brown hosted 6/22 fundraiser. The News Blog: "He's taking money from racists. Cardin's people will hammer him stupid about this, as they should. I mean, who is he trying to kid. They want him in office because they know he won't stand up for black people and will represent their interests. His conservative buddies can say it's no big deal, but black people aren't stupid. We learned from Clarence Thomas about how skin color doesn't equal loyalty."

Prometheus6 chimes in: "It's like visiting Bob Jones University...an undercover way of conveying the support of the racist wing of the Republican party."

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas enjoys a quick laugh at MN Publius careful tracking of Rep. Mark Kennedy's (R) recent "purge" of some references of Pres. Bush from Kennedy's official site. MN Publius notes three major Bush-washes including: a Bush/Kennedy pic that is now a Kennedy/cuddly-children pic; bills once described as "signed into law by President Bush" now simply "become law"; and Kennedy's record has changed from "Supported the President's Plan to create jobs and boost the economy" to "Successfully worked to repeal the Bush Administration's steel tariffs."

Kennedy press. sec. Heidi Frederickson: "There are several photos and stories on our campaign website referencing President Bush. We have nothing to hide, it is Amy Klobuchar who is trying to hid things in this campaign. Where are the pictures of Mark Dayton and Howard Dean? Where is the information about her 12-year career as a registered lobbyist?" (Hotline reporting, 6/27).

CORRECTION

Kennedy still has pictures of Bush on his site. Therefore we have changed the above and incorrect "all referneces" to the more accuate "some references." The Blogometer apologizes to Rep. Kennedy and his staff.

RI SEN: The Center Can Not Hold

Irish poetry lover and DailyKos diarist Republic Not Empire splices lines form William Butler Yeats' "The Second Coming" with analysis of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R) travails and concludes: "Lincoln Chafee is trapped. And it's his own party's fault. Don't get me wrong; political centrists can make our country great. Chafee is a interesting Senator; e.g., he's the only Republican Senator who voted against the Iraq war resolution. He can read Greek and Latin, and change shoes on a horse. Perhaps it is through his Classical learning that he has cultivated in political life the Horatian dictum mediocritas aurea, or Golden Mean. Indeed, he appears to be a true moderate on a number of issues."

VA SEN: Is Webb Kos' Ideal Dem?

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas love affair with Ex-Navy sec. Jim Webb (D) only grows deeper:

"I've been pleasantly surprised with Webb's politics, exhibit A of the new breed of pragmatic Libertarian Democrats that I think can win tough territory long ceded by Democrats to the Republicans. Gay marriage? He doesn't want government in your church. Abortion? He doesn't want government in your doctor's office. He doesn't want government in your bedroom. And, just as importantly, he's not too crazy about Big Business sticking their nose where it doesn't belong either. A real war hero, Webb has been clear in the need for the U.S. to get the heck out of Iraq."

But you know what excited me about this race, more than anything? The promise of becoming a template for people-powered electoral victory. ...While no one thinks television advertising and direct mail are going anywhere, the fact that Webb won the race without ANY of that stuff is shocking. (Correction: Webb did one direct mail piece.) This was people-power in action. And no, I'm not talking Daily Kos. I'm talking about the kick-ass, aggressive, and effective Virginia netroots.

SCOTUS: Far From Settled

Righty bloggers were by far the more happy campers after SCOTUS' 6/26 decision in Randall v. Sorrell striking down VT's campaign finance law. Election Law Blog sums it up: "The decision...is a monumental one, because it marks the first time that the two new Justices have considered a campaign finance case. Though the decision is a defeat for Vermont and for those who supported Vermont's campaign finance laws, this is about the best decision that (realistic) supporters of campaign finance regulation could have hoped for from the new Roberts Court.

DailyKos' Adam B has a representative lefty response: "That's three justices, including the two new members of the Court, agreeing that campaign finance reform is constitutional in general, but just not in the way Vermont attempted it. (Add the three dissenters, and you've got at least six justices stating that this is generally constitutional.)"

On the right Ross Kaminsky at RedState writes: "There is a clear indication here that further challenges to campaign finance would be met by a Court which is more interested in protecting the First Amendment than we've seen in a long time."

Fellow righty Skepticseye has a fabulous set of snarky of all six opinions. Sample: "Justices Thomas and Scalia: Hi, this is Clarence. Nino isn't writing because he can't talk about this stuff without his head exploding. We hate Buckley because it doesn't protect contributions adequately. This decision adds to the unacceptable muddle that is campaign finance constitutional jurisprudence. So we concur with the judgment, but Breyer is making a mess of stuff again."

UC Berkeley Prof. George Lakoff writing at The Huffington Post is worried that Dems may be overplaying Pres. Bush's incompetence in '06 to their detriment in '08:

Progressives have fallen into a trap. Emboldened by President Bush's plummeting approval ratings, progressives increasingly point to Bush's "failures" and label him and his administration as incompetent. For example, Nancy Pelosi recently charged "The situation in Iraq and the reckless economic policies in the United States speak to one issue for me, and that is the competence of our leader." Self-satisfying as this criticism may be, it misses the bigger point.

Bush's disasters - Katrina, the Iraq War, the budget deficit - are not so much a testament to his incompetence or a failure of execution. Rather, they are the natural, even inevitable result of his conservative governing philosophy. It is conservatism itself, carried out according to plan, that is at fault. Bush will not be running again, but other conservatives will.

The mantra of incompetence has been an unfortunate one. The incompetence frame assumes that there was a sound plan, and that the trouble has been in the execution. It turns public debate into a referendum on Bush's management capabilities, and deflects a critique of the impact of his guiding philosophy. It also leaves open the possibility that voters will opt for another radically conservative president in 2008, so long as he or she can manage better. Bush will not be running again, so thinking, talking and joking about him being incompetent offers no lessons to draw from his presidency.

LEST WE FORGET: Pay Attention To Me!!!

Bloggers on all sides hate it when others portray them as insolent children, and bloggers rightly point out that they are actually well educated, wealthy, and old. Yet some of even the best bloggers often go on rants that only hurt everyone's credibility. Chris Bowers degrades us all with this tantrum at MyDD surrounding the Kos/Zengerle/Armstrong affair:

The entire narrative is based on some of the shoddiest and most biased journalism you will ever witness. What I would like to note, in the fashion of former Springfield Mayor Sideshow Bob, is how irritating it is to work one's way up from lurker to mid-level leader in this movement over the course of four years only to have conspiracy theorists credit all of your contributions to the movement to two other people. I mean, come on--I even made two detailed posts back on Thursday describing how I control the Liberal Blog Advertising Network (see here and here), and the conspiracy nuts at TNR and the New York Times still want to credit that achievement to Markos and Jerome. What do I have to do to get some credit from the tin-foil hat crowd for being one of the main conspirators here?

I mean, if we are going to have an insane conspiracy about how a handful of people somehow control the progressive netroots, I want to be one of the people cited in that handful. It is probably connected to my long-standing desire to play a super-villain in a blockbuster movie, preferably one with several Dr. Evil-type laughs. This might have been my one chance to make that dream come true. Oh well. I thought I was making some progress when I was described as the minister of politics in the court of the blogosphere by Salon, and when the Philadelphia Democratic Party started a PAC apparently with the express purpose of doing battle with me and my friends, but I guess it is two steps forward, and one step back. I think my next move is to start purchasing some nice bling-bling with the MyDD logo on it. Then, I will start making netroots activists, political candidates, and staffers kiss said bling-bling before I grant them an audience with me. If I do that, then maybe Chapelle's Show will start doing Charlie Murphy - Rick James type sketches about me. I'm Chris Bowers, b**ch!"

Posted by at June 27, 2006 01:30 PM