Pro-Clinton Bloggers Boycott Kos

[preservanation]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/blogtalk-pro-clinton-bloggers-walk-out-of-kos/
March 15, 2008, 3:56 pm
Blogtalk: Pro-Clinton Bloggers Boycott Kos
By Sarah Wheaton

On Friday, it got to be too much for Alegre, a diarist on the flagship liberal blog DailyKos, who frequently writes in support of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“I’ve put up with the abuse and anger because I’ve always believed in what our online community has tried to accomplish in this world,” Alegre wrote Friday evening. “No more.”
Objecting to the tone of attacks against Mrs. Clinton and her supporters on the blog, the diarist called for a “writers strike.”
“This is a strike - a walkout over unfair writing conditions at DailyKos. It does not mean that if conditions get better I won’t ‘work’’ at DailyKos again,” Alegre wrote, promising to come back only “if we ever get to the point where we’re engaging each other in discussion rather than facing off in shouting matches.”

The blogosphere has never been known for its polite, gentle discourse, and while fiercely partisan, being a Democrat does not make one immune from attacks from the lefty blogs (see Lieberman, Joseph I.). But now, the major internal divisions within the Democratic Party seem to be splitting liberal bloggers. So what happens when the unity enforcement mechanism becomes disjointed?
Alegre’s post attracted a strong reaction, both negative and positive. The comment board was shut down about 5.5 hours after it was posted, with 1258 comments.
One user, Sentient, called for a “permanent succession”:
“Why should this site and Kos profit from the traffic we add to DailyKos, and the sense by outsiders that it represents the netroots as a whole?” the blogger asked, adding later, “But I just don’t see how people come back together on a daily basis after a falling out like this.”
Another poster challenged Alegre’s assertion that “DailyKos is not the site it once was thanks to the abusive nature of certain members of our community.”
From jdodsonvls:
The only difference is now we’re attacking a candidate whom YOU feel strongly about.
Sorry. It happens. But if you don’t understand why we dislike her, if you don’t understand that she stood opposed to the blogroots for years, that this community grew into what it is today despite her, not because of her, then you’re right, perhaps this isn’t the blog for you.
You see, decentralized though we are, I’ve always felt that the vast majority of bloggers share a point of view. Out with the old way of doing politics, and in with the new. To many of us, Hillary Clinton, every bit as much as Joe Lieberman, typifies a wing of the Democratic party that is anathema, a wing that is responsible for the party’s downfall, and complicit with the rise of radical conservatism.
Markos Moulitsas, the founder of DailyKos, spoke to Jake Tapper of ABC News about the so-called strike, which he said was really more like a “boycott.”
“But whatever they call it, I think it’s great,” Mr. Moulitsas said. “It’s a big Internet, so I hope they find what they’re looking for.”
Many feel that one of the other major liberal blogs, MyDD, tends to attract bloggers more favorable to Mrs. Clinton. If the rift lingers after the primaries, the organizational value of the blogs could be compromised.
Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice blog writes: “Where progressive and moderate bloggers and commenters used to get worked up arguing about George Bush, there now a real angry, scolding tone in many comments left by Clinton and Obama supporters.”
He continues: “In short, the strike/boycott is a symptom — and with so many months to go until the Democratic convention, the prognosis for true Democratic Party unity going into the election seems ‘questionable.’” Chaos?
Nah....

[Alonzo]

Hillary supporters get mocked by a lot of democrats unfairly. I remember reading reports in some african american caucus districts that people in the hillary sections where getting laughed at, insulted, denounced, and I think once incident had a few people throwing things at them.

[apdst]

I remember reading reports in some african american caucus districts that people in the hillary sections where getting laughed at, insulted, denounced, and I think once incident had a few people throwing things at them.

That's to be expected.

Just wait till the McCain vs. Obama election comes around.

There'll be Black Panthers all over the polling houses.

[preservanation]

Yeah, it's getting a little contentious...I'm still wondering how Dr. Dean and the rest of the DNC are going to resolve this by Denver without Clinton either dropping out or accepting the VP slot.

[Go Fish]

The leftists' tent is coming apart at the seams!

[preservanation]

This is music to the GOP's ears...Bush in the 30% range, unpopular war, economic downturn, congressional scandals, deficits, etc...The Dems should steamroll this election in Nov, right?
No!
They're imploding upon themselves, a disaster of their own making.
How droll.

[Buck Laser]

I remember reading reports in some african american caucus districts that people in the hillary sections where getting laughed at, insulted, denounced, and I think once incident had a few people throwing things at them.

That's to be expected.

Just wait till the McCain vs. Obama election comes around.

There'll be Black Panthers all over the polling houses.

Why do I keep wanting to call you a scaredy cat, apdst? Honestly, I've really been kind of enjoying a few of you right wingers throw up one piece of shit after another in this fruitless attempt to scare people away from supporting Obama. If I didn't know you were all true-blue egalitarians, I could get the idea that there might even be a teeny, teeny tiny bit of racism there.

If the Black Panthers do come, maybe they can run the Klansmen off. Us Gray Panthers will just be there for the show.

By the way, apsdt, did you know that Obama has not one, but TWO black children? Scary stuff!! :scared:

[cronic]

That Alegre and the blog site he works for sounds alot like this place in a way.. haha

[lily]

I gotta get over and read Daily Kos one of these days, that and Democratic Undergound.....but anyways, this is history in the making, folks. First Black man, first Woman...and it took the Dmeocrats to do it......yep it's a close one. Record number of voters. I don't think it's splitting the Democratic Party as much as the Republicans like to think it is.......they just don't have anything better to do, since their campaign is all over, than to make claims like this, hoping it'll turn into something.

[Troubadour]

Hillary supporters get mocked by a lot of democrats unfairly.


How is it unfair, given what her campaign has become? She has crashed headlong through every ethical barrier, every fact or rational principle, and every single moral value or behavioral boundary that sets Democrats apart from the GOP. Every state she fails to win is summarily dismissed; every voter likewise; and apparently every fact she finds inconvenient suddenly becomes invisible, until her campaign begins to resemble some hideous spawn of Karl Rove with no purpose behind it but her own bitter, contemptuous sense of entitlement - her personal craving for an office she is no more inherently qualified to seek (if not far less so) than Barack Obama, and all with a record that would embarrass anyone with a shred of honesty. She has virtually joined forces with McCain against Obama, almost to the point of coordinating attacks, and has already done incalculable damage to Democrats at a time when they could be waltzing to an unprecedented victory.

I and many Democrats have been forced to the unpleasant and unsought-for conclusion that Hillary Clinton is not a Democrat at all, let alone worthy to be its presidential candidate, and that her campaign has become little more than a kamikaze mission against Barack Obama in order to punish Democrats for taking back our party. Seeing what she has done, and knowing it unlikely that the consequences of it are beyond her knowledge, the opinion is unavoidable that she lives in Republican headspace, and that her supporters either share in this condition or "know not what they do." If she does as promised and drags this out to the convention and (as I think highly likely) uses every procedural trick and bit of demagoguery to impede or sabotage our progress while McCain prances around the country like a President-in-waiting, she will be more reviled in this Party than Ralph Nader ever was - and her antics have been so odious and nightmarish that she's already approaching that level. Some people will just never know when it's noon until it's 3 o'clock, and those people are the only reason this farce continues.

[Alonzo]

What am I to say in response when you call Hillary a Republican?

[Troubadour]

What am I to say in response when you call Hillary a Republican?


There are only two responses that would make sense:

1. "Your facts are wrong. She did not, in fact, praise John McCain in the same breath she belittled Obama. Her campaign did not put out images of him with his skin darkened and nose widened. Her campaign has not dismissed virtually every state she's lost as "unimportant." She has not engaged the services of push-polling companies. Her wealthy supporters have not illegally created 527s to attack him. And she has admitted that her vote for the Iraq war was a grievous mistake on her part, for which she has apologized. Here, read these links that correct your misunderstanding of the facts."

Or

2. "Obviously."

Which shall it be?

[preservanation]

I gotta get over and read Daily Kos one of these days, that and Democratic Undergound.....but anyways, this is history in the making, folks. First Black man, first Woman...and it took the Dmeocrats to do it......yep it's a close one. Record number of voters. I don't think it's splitting the Democratic Party as much as the Republicans like to think it is.......they just don't have anything better to do, since their campaign is all over, than to make claims like this, hoping it'll turn into something.
lily, you little fox!
Exactly!
My whole existence revolves around stirring up the other side in the ethersphere.
Chaos is my friend, and it is the best hope of defeating the Dems in Nov.
Troubadour illistrates what I think is a growing sentiment...Every state she fails to win is summarily dismissed; every voter likewise; and apparently every fact she finds inconvenient suddenly becomes invisible, until her campaign begins to resemble some hideous spawn of Karl Rove with no purpose behind it but her own bitter, contemptuous sense of entitlement -

I and many Democrats have been forced to the unpleasant and unsought-for conclusion that Hillary Clinton is not a Democrat at all, let alone worthy to be its presidential candidate, and that her campaign has become little more than a kamikaze mission against Barack Obama in order to punish Democrats for taking back our party. Seeing what she has done, and knowing it unlikely that the consequences of it are beyond her knowledge, the opinion is unavoidable that she lives in Republican headspace, and that her supporters either share in this condition or "know not what they do." If she does as promised and drags this out to the convention and (as I think highly likely) uses every procedural trick and bit of demagoguery to impede or sabotage our progress while McCain prances around the country like a President-in-waiting, she will be more reviled in this Party than Ralph Nader ever was - and her antics have been so odious and nightmarish that she's already approaching that level.
My only fear is that we might actually succeed too well and all this angst will spill over into our society as a whole.
Kinda like Micky in "The Sorcerers Apprentice"
:cool:

[Alonzo]

umm...... troub, how do any of those, true or not, show she's a republican?

[Troubadour]

umm...... troub, how do any of those, true or not, show she's a republican?


What else does her behavior describe? A Democrat is not just someone who checks "Democratic Party" on their voter registration - there are basic values involved, not to mention some minimal recognition of common purpose. Hillary Clinton has all but allied with the GOP against a common enemy in her own alleged party who has brought an unprecedented amount of new votes and money to Democrats; she has tried to turn this primary season into some kind of Waco siege where if she can't win, she'll do everything in her power to undermine the party's strength going into November.

It's sickening, and it proves definitively that she is not a Democrat. If she were a Democrat, she would bow out of the race after it became clear that winning the nomination is not possible, support the party's candidate, and work for a Democratic victory in November. Instead, she is furious with the Party for daring to reject her for a stunningly eloquent, persuasive, natural leader who has done more for the party in six months than she's done in her entire life. She is furious, and she is on the warpath against Democrats - she is going to punish us for our insolence, because if she can't have it, no one will, as far as she's concerned. No Democrat, that is.

If it were remotely possible for a woman to be nominated by the GOP, she would have never left - but because this is where they've built their little fiefdom, the Clinton machine clings to this party's establishment like the face-clinging parasite in Alien. Our party is being held hostage - Obama's a vastly superior candidate and she knows it, so she's going to hurt him as much as possible, do everything she can to hand November to McCain, and in her delusional mind, believes that we'll come back to her in 2012. The script had seemingly been written out by fate, nice and neat - she would ascend to the nomination unopposed, and then be defeated in an unloseable election by the Republican nominee (although she would be expecting the opposite): Proof that conservatism had triumphed over America, and that we have no choice but to bow to psychotic fascist barbarians. :blah:

But then...something went wrong with The Plan. The Iraq war vote, far from inoculating her, had become an albatross, and some absurdly talented phenomenon showed up out of nowhere, soaring up out of obscurity to challenge her with the longest of all odds. With no more experience than she, an absolutely terrible name, the "wrong" race, and beginning with no political machine to speak of, he...talked to people, and within months had undone decades of conniving and treachery. He convinced average Americans to give of themselves and their money, to believe again that the future is in their hands while Hillary and her Republican kindred insist that we abandon hope so they may inherit what is ours. But it is ours, and we will have it. Everyone who stands in the way of this will be brushed aside and forgotten, from both parties. By this time five years from now, Hillary Clinton won't even be in the Senate, and John McCain will be sitting around an Arizona ranch fancying himself Barry Goldwater. But in the meantime, Hillary disgraces us all.

[4Reaganomics]

umm...... troub, how do any of those, true or not, show she's a republican?


What else does her behavior describe? A Democrat is not just someone who checks "Democratic Party" on their voter registration - there are basic values involved, not to mention some minimal recognition of common purpose. Hillary Clinton has all but allied with the GOP against a common enemy in her own alleged party who has brought an unprecedented amount of new votes and money to Democrats; she has tried to turn this primary season into some kind of Waco siege where if she can't win, she'll do everything in her power to undermine the party's strength going into November.

It's sickening, and it proves definitively that she is not a Democrat. If she were a Democrat, she would bow out of the race after it became clear that winning the nomination is not possible, support the party's candidate, and work for a Democratic victory in November. Instead, she is furious with the Party for daring to reject her for a stunningly eloquent, persuasive, natural leader who has done more for the party in six months than she's done in her entire life. She is furious, and she is on the warpath against Democrats - she is going to punish us for our insolence, because if she can't have it, no one will, as far as she's concerned. No Democrat, that is.

If it were remotely possible for a woman to be nominated by the GOP, she would have never left - but because this is where they've built their little fiefdom, the Clinton machine clings to this party's establishment like the face-clinging parasite in Alien. Our party is being held hostage - Obama's a vastly superior candidate and she knows it, so she's going to hurt him as much as possible, do everything she can to hand November to McCain, and in her delusional mind, believes that we'll come back to her in 2012. The script had seemingly been written out by fate, nice and neat - she would ascend to the nomination unopposed, and then be defeated in an unloseable election by the Republican nominee (although she would be expecting the opposite): Proof that conservatism had triumphed over America, and that we have no choice but to bow to psychotic fascist barbarians. :blah:

But then...something went wrong with The Plan. The Iraq war vote, far from inoculating her, had become an albatross, and some absurdly talented phenomenon showed up out of nowhere, soaring up out of obscurity to challenge her with the longest of all odds. With no more experience than she, an absolutely terrible name, the "wrong" race, and beginning with no political machine to speak of, he...talked to people, and within months had undone decades of conniving and treachery. He convinced average Americans to give of themselves and their money, to believe again that the future is in their hands while Hillary and her Republican kindred insist that we abandon hope so they may inherit what is ours. But it is ours, and we will have it. Everyone who stands in the way of this will be brushed aside and forgotten, from both parties. By this time five years from now, Hillary Clinton won't even be in the Senate, and John McCain will be sitting around an Arizona ranch fancying himself Barry Goldwater. But in the meantime, Hillary disgraces us all.


:madlaugh::madlaugh::madlaugh:

[Elrathin]

Troubador I have to assume you are just joking on this, you don't REALLY think She is Republican do you? Check out her voting record before making absurd comments like this lol.

[Alonzo]

Troubador I have to assume you are just joking on this, you don't REALLY think She is Republican do you? Check out her voting record before making absurd comments like this lol.


No further comment is needed, though a laugh may help

:madlaugh:

[Troubadour]

umm...... troub, how do any of those, true or not, show she's a republican?


What else does her behavior describe? A Democrat is not just someone who checks "Democratic Party" on their voter registration - there are basic values involved, not to mention some minimal recognition of common purpose.


:madlaugh::madlaugh::madlaugh:


Hmm?

[4Reaganomics]

You said there are values involved, and the funny thing is that it is a complete lack of values that qualifies someone to be part of the Democratic party

I also love how you think that the Republicans number one enemy in HRC is indeed a Republican, probably the most ridiculous claim I have heard since joining this forum

[Troubadour]

Troubador I have to assume you are just joking on this, you don't REALLY think She is Republican do you?


I gave my reasons, and have yet to hear a single word addressing them. Has she or has she not done everything I've said?


Check out her voting record before making absurd comments like this lol.


Are you referring to the Iraq War, or her numerous attempts to radically expand media censorship? You would have us believe Richard Nixon was a Democrat - just "check out his policy record." A little matter of being a war criminal and tyrant shouldn't weigh too heavily if he created the EPA, so why should Hillary's Iraq war vote, laughable social conservative pandering, rationalization of torture, and alliance with Republicans against Barack Obama and her own party matter against whatever laundry list of petty miscellany you can cite? Gee, Hill, thanks for the 15% increase in some after-school program you voted for five years ago - that will surely be a great comfort to the widows, paraplegics, and amputees, not to mention everyone else when the economy collapses because of the Iraq war and economic policies tolerated by the DLC.

She caves like a papier-mache igloo against Republicans, but by God if she isn't Winston Churchill against a Democrat who has the audacity to win. "Fight to the end!" she cries...when the opponent is a liberal member of her own party. Yes, she's full of courage against the "true enemy" - Democrats - but acts like little more than a rebellious teenager against the GOP: A lot of tough talk, and then a tearful homecoming. Most of us are sick of it - sick to our stomachs with the serial capitulators who seemingly delight in losing to Republicans, and only refuse to lose against real Democrats. You watch how Hillary deals with losing this nomination - you watch her sink to ever-lower depths of gracelessness, treachery, and indignity. Watch her increasingly reveal herself as what she is - a Republican.