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Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Hey! Look over there!

Did you know that the Weekly Standard has a story (written by Dean Barnett) about the Daily Kos website? Nobody seems to have noticed (including Kos). That said, it isn't a particularly interesting report. Here are some excerpts to give you an idea of the general thrust of the essay:

Is the Daily Kos infiltrating the Democratic party, or remaking it in their own image?
... the Daily Kos also has many of the negative characteristics of a Ward committee: The excessive passion, the intemperate remarks, and the strange world views of people who obsess about politics.
NOT ALL of the commentary on Daily Kos is ridiculous conspiracy mongering.
But other conversations on the Daily Kos are less edifying.
MARKOS MOULITSAS'S CHALLENGE will be to keep the Daily Kos respectable enough that politicians remain eager to be seen in his company.
Moulitsas (who declined to be interviewed for this story) has not been bashful about his ambitions: He wants to first empower the Democratic grassroots and then in turn empower a more reliably liberal Democratic party.
The Kos community's energy ... produces a surfeit of unseemly commentary on a recurring basis.
... perhaps Moulitsas is trying to usher a different kind of Democratic politician to the fore--the kind of politician who is unconstrained by the traditional urge to appear civil.
... the Kos community shows the highest regard for the most passionately strident commentary and has little regard for common decorum. The Kossacks seem to believe that if they could just be heard by the entire country, the Democratic party's losing streak would come to an end.

The Weekly Standard's objections are to a few posts and many comments, which are speculative or rude. This is nothing to get excited about.

posted by Quiddity at 3/02/2005 01:11:00 PM

6 comments

Why not make a diary of it at Kos? I'm getting alittle of writing them and seeing them sink faster than the Lucitania. Not sure if it will arouse any interest, but it's a good find, nevertheless.
Sue

By Anonymous, at 3/02/2005 4:27 PM

I don't find it at all surprising that Moulitsas refused to be interviewed for this. It's crystal clear that the authors had their minds made up prior to writing a single sentence.
Kos' reaction reminds me of the Meese Commission on pornography. All the porno producers, directors and performers took one look at the commission and decided that playing any part in it would needlessly give it legitimacy.

By Rich Gardner, at 3/02/2005 9:38 PM

Let them interview Freepers! [/Marie Antoinette]

By Anonymous, at 3/03/2005 8:03 AM

The biggies posters at Kos wrote several dairies on this, and they have been on the recommended list for days. Kick me now, somebody kick me.
Sue

By Anonymous, at 3/03/2005 2:34 PM

OK, now it's on the front page at KOS. I have a gummy bear gun to my head, and you can't stop me. Don't bother calling 911......

Meta Kos
by Hunter
Thu Mar 3rd, 2005 at 16:22:01 PST

In the last day, there have been two "recommended" diaries (by frontpagers Meteor Blades and Armando) to raise the issue of civility vs. fighting tough. Meteor Blades directed us to this Weekly Standard essay, also well-tackled by Drummond and georgia10.
Now in all honestly, that's far more attention than anything written in the Weekly Standard should ever receive. The piece in question was the second of two for the Standard by Dean Barnett, whose own blog soxblog seems to obsess in equal parts on Daily Kos conversations, sports, and the fraying ghost of whatever alleged left-wing bogeyman (Chris Rock, Eason Jordan, etc) is currently being pummeled around the right wing blogs at that precise moment.

By Anonymous, at 3/03/2005 4:38 PM