TNR v. Kos
The progressive blogosphere has broken out into a mini-spat between Markos of Daily Kos and The New Republic. These two have been at it for a while now with TNR accusing Kos and the leftist bloggers of dragging down the Democratic Party with their wackiness. Kos, in return, notes how TNR's circulation numbers have been on the decline and that much of their charges against Dailykos derive from TNR's inability to influence Democratic politics anymore (after all, they did back that Iraq fiasco).
Things had quieted down for a while, but TNR re-ignited the battle by accusing Kos of basically taking money (by extension of another liberal blogger named Jerome Armstrong) to pump up and talk up certain candidates. Though usually I agree with TNR on anything they say vs. DailyKos, this time I think they went too far and, more importantly, I think they are wrong.
The evidence of Kos's wrongdoing is a supposedly "damning" email from Kos advising other liberal bloggers to "keep quiet" about this alleged payola from campaigns. You can read the email and accusations here. To say that this email list is akin to a "smoke-filled backroom" is just silly and to say that Kos is some sort of evil mastermind or godfather of liberal blogging is even more ridiculous. I read DailyKos and the Kos kids on a regular basis and I've never seen Kos "pump up" candidates that I wouldn't expect him to "pump up." Further, Kos just isn't the "Boss Tweed" type that TNR is trying to make him out to be.
They accuse Kos of "pumping up" Dean, but in reading DailyKos, everyone knows Kos jumped off the Dean bandwagon pretty early and was a pretty big supporter of Wes Clark. Any payment he did get from Dean was fully disclosed, and truth be told, Dean didn't get his money's worth at all out of Kos. They also accuse Kos of backing Sherrod Brown. Huh? The netroots and Kos LOVED Sherrod's biggest opponent, Paul Hackett. In fact, Kos attacked Sherrod Brown for entering the Ohio Senate Primary after Hackett had already announced. TNR should at least Dailykos before making up alot of these accusations.
TNR was on strong ground to attack the liberal bloggers on the merits (that their brand of angry liberalism and isolationism isn't going to win any votes and isn't in line with traditional Democratic principles), but this is a personal attack and when attacking someone this personally, TNR should have damn good evidence (this email isn't it).
I stopped reading TNR after their support for the Iraq debacle, but I still respected their willingness to admit their mistakes and their correct argument that we cannot abandon Iraq and that liberals cannot become isolationists. However, this episode has turned a once seemingly good debate about the future of the Democratic party into a ridiculous shouting match among progressives that distracts us from the real issues at hand. And while I think Kos's most recent attack against TNR is especially harsh (comparing them to the National Review and News Max), I do understand his frustration with them. Sad as it is for me to say, but this time, TNR is to blame and not the Koskids.
Things had quieted down for a while, but TNR re-ignited the battle by accusing Kos of basically taking money (by extension of another liberal blogger named Jerome Armstrong) to pump up and talk up certain candidates. Though usually I agree with TNR on anything they say vs. DailyKos, this time I think they went too far and, more importantly, I think they are wrong.
The evidence of Kos's wrongdoing is a supposedly "damning" email from Kos advising other liberal bloggers to "keep quiet" about this alleged payola from campaigns. You can read the email and accusations here. To say that this email list is akin to a "smoke-filled backroom" is just silly and to say that Kos is some sort of evil mastermind or godfather of liberal blogging is even more ridiculous. I read DailyKos and the Kos kids on a regular basis and I've never seen Kos "pump up" candidates that I wouldn't expect him to "pump up." Further, Kos just isn't the "Boss Tweed" type that TNR is trying to make him out to be.
They accuse Kos of "pumping up" Dean, but in reading DailyKos, everyone knows Kos jumped off the Dean bandwagon pretty early and was a pretty big supporter of Wes Clark. Any payment he did get from Dean was fully disclosed, and truth be told, Dean didn't get his money's worth at all out of Kos. They also accuse Kos of backing Sherrod Brown. Huh? The netroots and Kos LOVED Sherrod's biggest opponent, Paul Hackett. In fact, Kos attacked Sherrod Brown for entering the Ohio Senate Primary after Hackett had already announced. TNR should at least Dailykos before making up alot of these accusations.
TNR was on strong ground to attack the liberal bloggers on the merits (that their brand of angry liberalism and isolationism isn't going to win any votes and isn't in line with traditional Democratic principles), but this is a personal attack and when attacking someone this personally, TNR should have damn good evidence (this email isn't it).
I stopped reading TNR after their support for the Iraq debacle, but I still respected their willingness to admit their mistakes and their correct argument that we cannot abandon Iraq and that liberals cannot become isolationists. However, this episode has turned a once seemingly good debate about the future of the Democratic party into a ridiculous shouting match among progressives that distracts us from the real issues at hand. And while I think Kos's most recent attack against TNR is especially harsh (comparing them to the National Review and News Max), I do understand his frustration with them. Sad as it is for me to say, but this time, TNR is to blame and not the Koskids.
posted by Chris at 9:53 AM
2 Comments:
The U.S. certainly can withdraw from Iraq, remember, Mission Accomplished! If civil war results, the Iraqis can duke it out themselves until they get tired of hostilities and deprivation, and agree to either: peace, or, U.N. peace keepers.
I certainly cannot speak for anyone else on this blog, but I must respectfully disagree.
My arguments against pulling out of Iraq are here:
http://outsidereport.blogspot.com/2005/08/troop-pullout.html
and here:
http://outsidereport.blogspot.com/2005/01/why-we-cannot-abandon-iraq.html
Essentially, I think people who want to pullout of Iraq want to punish Bush by punishing Iraqis.
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