Not to be a cynic or anything – okay, I am, but shouldn’t we call him a prophet AFTER one of the chosen candidates wins? Dean, Hackett, Ciro/Cuellar…right now, he seems more like a fast-talking, no substance venture capitalist type.
I’m sure eventually the Kossacks will get behind a winner. But the revolution has to happen before it gets called, right?

Posted by: Rowan | Apr 5 2006 6:57 utc | 3

I’ve nothing but contempt for Kos and what he has “done” for the blogosphere. Kos’ specialty is dishonesty and authoritarianism – well that and building false dichotomies. His only buy-in is himself and how far we can all take him, and there is a very conscious effort going on at the Dailykos to squelch anything which does not conform to the echo chamber. And yes, I’ve paid plenty in blood, sweat, and tears for over 3 years to find all of this out for myself. He’s as false a prophet as one can hope to find…that’s not (just) anger speaking, it’s my own honest assessment.
I realizing that in the self-based, non-populist movement at Dailykos, combined with utter Republican ineptitude, a momentum has been created which has not seen it’s peak. Mark my words though – after the initial euphoria of all the dem victories which will be obtained in November has worn off (through default of no better choice) – people will begin to realize how vacuous the “revolution” was.
Fuck the Dailykos.

Posted by: Caleb | Apr 5 2006 17:38 utc | 5

Hi Annie,
Your’s is a reasonable reply for someone who isn’t more intimately connected to the site.
The problem there, as I see it, basically boils down to – the site is not an open exchange of ideas, whereby arguments rise or fall on their merits alone. It takes as little as two users to get another user’s comment “hidden”, and bannings happen without explanation for those who tread into any one of a bevy of taboo subjects (which are legion, given the site’s loyalty to the democratic party). If one gives as little as two users the power to “disappear” people, it would seem that a thinking person must realize that little deathsquads will be popping up all over the place. Coincidentally (or not), the death squads which protect/match Markos’ or dem party interests/opinions ‘are not a problem’. This is obviously not a good situation from the perspective of facilitating open, honest, and productive long-term communications…
If the Dailykos had been operating when Galileo was trying to convince everyone the earth was not flat, I’ve no doubt he would not have been able to keep his comments from being hidden and/or banned (not that I’m Galileo by a longshot, but I stand by the analogy). The way that site is set up is only useful for maintaining a status quo, but it does not seem to encourage talk of paradigm changes, whatsoever. Whether this is an errant structural issue or a conscious effort to control and manipulate things by a few is what is most open to conjecture, imho.

Posted by: Caleb | Apr 5 2006 18:28 utc | 7

wow, color me clueless, i had no idea. thanks for the summary.

Posted by: annie | Apr 5 2006 19:18 utc | 9

The great thing that Markos has done for the blogosphere is to introduce some really fine software that makes blogging and posting comments easy and inviting. And some of the early versions (better, probably, and surely faster than what he currently uses) have made it onto other blogs. This is just fine.
However, any site which allows people to post has to deal with trolls, and generally encourage civil conversation while discouraging mere insults and various forms of bullying. This is where Markos falls down: He occasionally engages in bullying himself, and allows more of it by his main-pagers, so the overall tone tends to be aggressive and abusive. In the rah! rah! atmosphere, thinking suffers. Sometimes it seems like he is trying to create a Dem version of the right-wing blogosphere’s mindless propaganda disemination. Still, one can have a good flame war, if one is clever about it.
Daily.kos has done some excellent work, unmasking “Gannon”/Guckart & Talon News being the best known, but I fear the best lies in the past.
Taboo subjects–of which there are many–can be amusing or annoying. Markos understanding of women’s issues is zip: This is one whole area of taboo. Sometimes Daily.kos just seems as clueless as right-wing sheeple. But the one that has me shaking my head and laughing is the voting-machine scandal. How the Dems hope to win a single election where Diebold is counting the votes is beyond me, but raise any of the pertinent facts–let alone an opinion–and the best you can hope for (yes, you might be deleted) is to be shouted down.
Just pathetic.
Other blogs are now doing the fine work that Daily.kos used to do. And good things still get posted over there, on occasion. Daily.kos is a great blog to be “from.”

Posted by: Gaianne | Apr 6 2006 3:07 utc | 11