What's more, the blogs take numerous positions that would strike all but the most passionate Democratic partisans as patently preposterous. For example, several of the left-wing blogs recently ran an advertisement that referred to West Virginia Senator and former Ku Klux Klan Kleagle Robert Byrd as an "American Hero."

The Drudge Retort was one of the liberal blogs that ran the ad, which was bought by the Friends of Robert C. Byrd Committee.

Running an ad is not the same thing as taking a position. On the Retort, I've yet to consider whether I agree with the viewpoint expressed in an ad before running it. Like The Nation, which catches hell every time it allows Fox News to advertise, I think you shouldn't choose or exclude advertisers based on the politics they espouse.

Politics · 2005/07/15 · 3 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

Yeah, the ad thing was kind of silly. But it's a good essay, and essentially correct. The Daily Kos ain't helping your cause.

#1 · Uncle Mikey · 2005/07/16

I'm glad we have Moultisas and his community of bloggers on Daily Kos who draw three million hits a week. I don't think he's as strident as the conservative depiction of him, but even if he was, it's not like the right-wing has ever been hurt by having Rush Limbaugh hammering his hard-right viewpoint to a daily audience of millions. I thought for years that Limbaugh's zealotry would hurt them. No such luck.

#2 · Rogers Cadenhead · 2005/07/16

While I basically agree with the concept there, I'm not sure that's an apples-to-apples comparison exactly. Limbaugh just seems ridiculous to me and the rare times I've heard his show he appears to be in on his own joke, while Kos doesn't have a sense of humor about himself or anything else. As blogs go DK is as nasty and strident as popular blogs come. When you compare the top righty blogs to Kos, there's no contest.

I just don't think Kos is helping, which isn't exactly the same as hurting but might as well be for electoral purposes. I view his blog as part of the Moveon/Michael Moore/Air America/Huffpo "deadly serious battle to save the planet from W" phenomenon that people either love or hate but don't really ignore once they've been exposed to it, while Rush is loved by some, hated by some, but ignored by most.

There's no way Bush could have won in 2004 if democrats hadn't crossed the line. Bush didn't make them do that, they were driven away from the left by something. I'm sure it wasn't you or people like you, and in fact that's the best comparison of all: you're as liberal as they come, but you're also as far from Kos as a liberal can get in tone and willingness to treat ideological opponents as human beings. And you're far more persuasive to people who aren't part of the liberal choir than Kos will ever be. The feeling I get from Kos and the others is that there's so much hurt and emotion involved that it's become personal. When that happens to someone, there's no reasoning with them, they're right and you're wrong, and furthermore you're a dick for not getting it. I don't think people like that are being part of any solution.

#3 · Uncle Mikey · 2005/07/17

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