Infiltrating Yearly Kos: Decline and fall?
posted at 6:12 pm on June 12, 2006 by Allahpundit
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Deepest thanks to our fearless man on the inside for his outstanding coverage these past few days. After 72 hours of fear and loathing in Las Vegas, he’s ready to deliver his verdict. Call it “The god that failed.”
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According to Wonkette on GMA, Iowa governor and presidential hopeful Tom Vilsack hung out with the Kossacks in Vegas this weekend. And he’s currently polling fourth for the nomination—in his own state. John Edwards and Hillary placed first and second, respectively, in Iowa, and they’re doing so without the benefit of that supposedly all-important Kos connection.
I can’t say I’m surprised. Based on the threads I’d read on Kos’s site, I came here with the expectation that this crowd would be something out of the Zombie archives. It was not. The Kos bloggers are old enough to know better (Kos himself said the median age of the attendees was 45) and less feisty in real life than the Bay Area anarcho-hippies Zombie covers. Many of these folks are making the transition from mescaline to Metamucil (metaphorically speaking), but still trying to recapture the relevance and excitement that progressive politics held in 1977. Some were actually quite pleasant and if you were to have coffee with them, unless the topic turned to politics, you wouldn’t guess the depths of their rage against most of what you stand for. (Most of them would find a way to steer the topic to politics, though.)
There was a significant contingent of red-state liberals, isolated on suburban cul-de-sacs among happy crowds of BUSHBOT SHEEPLE who just can’t see the truth because they lack the special smart-liberal Rowdy Roddy Piper Sunglasses. I can’t see them returning home and delivering, say, Omaha for the Democrats. The only thing Kos can do, possibly, is help someone win a primary. But then, for the general election, that candidate has the albatross of a Netroots endorsement around his neck.
And an albatross it is. Imagine an entire organization made of thousands of Ann Coulters—without the wit or poise, but with twice the potential to say something embarrassing. Even if the endorsement is secured, a month down the road they’ll inevitably break into the media saying Zarqawi isn’t really dead, or wearing tinfoil hats (“but we meant it ironically!”), or wondering how to react when told our energy policy helps Chavez, or some such blunder. And then all the folks voting in the general election will hear how this bunch has endorsed their local candidate. Is a Kos endorsement worth that kind of risk? (Hint: 0 for 20.)
Why would politicians seek such an organization’s endorsement? Because they need to raise money outside their state, or because they have nothing left to lose. I think the Kos Kiss of Death meme is starting to work its way around the mainstream politicians, and it will soon be only the very secure Democrats (Boxer, Reid) who will risk direct involvement. I doubt Kos groupies will remain major players after the primaries—except perhaps as a Sister Souljah target to rebel against.
When the defeats keep rolling in, will the organization stick together? I doubt it. It depends on how well they handle disappointment, and although this is a cheap shot, they’re still together after a lot of disappointment. Their members may score some more journalistic scoops, which will keep them in the mainstream media. And a lot of these folks aren’t in it for the victory but because they simply enjoy this kind of thing, and I certainly understand that. But leftist web journalism and camaraderie can be found elsewhere.
What makes me think that Kos has peaked is that they seem united by contempt for Republicans–and very little else. You know what I didn’t hear all weekend? A single hard question for any of the speakers or panelists. Everyone there just put that vaunted critical thinking on hold, soaked in the sweet like-minded truthiness, and lobbed up “How badly does Bush really suck?”-style softballs for their panelists. That’s nice for one weekend a year, but that sort of unanimity can’t last long unless it’s completely empty and unsustaining.
There has to be some set of ideas, some principle deeper than Bush-hatred, animating a movement that will see it through the inevitable tough times ahead. (The closest thing I heard to a principle was the beginnings of a cult of privacy, built around Michael Schiavo and an opposition to NSA counterterrorist wiretapping.) If you have only policy positions, you’ll be irrelevant and stale in a year or three. But if you do have principles, not just a set of shared policies, you’ll have disagreements about them.
The left is ill-equipped to handle disagreements. As George Lakoff explained to the Kossacks, conservatives and liberals think in different ways. Liberals are complex and nuanced, conservatives are simplistic and rigid. His implication was that if you don’t think like a liberal, there’s something wrong with you. It’s hard to run an organization in an environment like that. Disagreement in the liberal world entails not just one side being wrong, but one side being dumb or evil. That leads to fights, purges, demoralization, and, ultimately, failure. (For more on this, read one of the classics of modern conservatism, Thomas Sowell’s A Conflict of Visions).
So: after the Democratic presidential primary, I see one of two things happening to the Kos organization. Either it will drift away into irrelevance, sustained only by a core of activists running on camaraderie and bile, or it will tear itself apart as it actually begins to confront some big questions (likely triggered by an endorsement fight.) Until the inevitable happens, whether by bang or whimper, they’ll continue to amuse us.
Whatever. As their illustrious leader once said of a much more serious matter, “I feel nothing… Screw them.”
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Update: Here’s the man himself exulting over the fact that nutroots superstar Ned Lamont is making headway in the polls: he “only” trails now by fifteen points.
It’ll be another “moral victory.”
Update: Byron York wraps up his own coverage at NRO by reminding us that sunshine is the best disinfectant.
Update: Slate’s John Dickerson warns Kos to prepare for the backlash.
*
Previously:
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: A response to George Lakoff
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: Harry Reid’s red meat
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: Tinfoil hats spotted
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: “Heh, indeed” edition
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: The taunting of Byron York
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: Now with photos!
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: “No, no, no, don’t call them a Nazi”
Infiltrating Yearly Kos: Post 1
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Give that guy a raise, and a loooonnngg vacation so he can clear his mind of this past weekend. A long bath probably would be nice too, with maybe a couple Jack Daniels chasers.
Hope he sneaked a tinfoil hat out for a souvenir. Use it to wrap his next baking potato in.
clyde on June 12, 2006 at 6:39 PM
Hoo boy…after reading about some of the stuff that went on at that “convention” (more of a mutual admiration society, as it were), I was reminded of why I find it difficult to bring myself to read the Kos’ website.
Someone, please remind me once again that hatred is no way to sustain a political movement? Someone? Anyone? Pretty please?
gryphon202 on June 12, 2006 at 7:17 PM
So, did they recycle the foil or just throw it in the trash with the rest of their ideas?
.
GT on June 12, 2006 at 7:20 PM
Liberman ahead by only 15 pts, a tight election but a “moral victory”. There was a lot of laughing on the video I guess the tin foil hats were taking effect.
birdman on June 12, 2006 at 7:23 PM
The liberals are starting to be as irrelant as the libertarians who are estatic when their candidates poll 10 percent of the vote.
Question: why would an adult even consider following someone like Markos who looks and acts like a teenage adolescent?
docdave on June 12, 2006 at 7:36 PM
Anyone seen what Maureen Dowd said to chap his tender hide? Ain’t no way I’m paying the Slimes to read it.
Pablo on June 12, 2006 at 7:57 PM
Question: How many people does it take to call it a “convention” for the Kos crowd?
Answer: (put it here)
Tinfoil hats? Do they get an eagle badge or what for creativity at the jamboree?
Kokonut on June 12, 2006 at 8:30 PM
Excuse me while I clean the mental illness off my screen and then go puke.
speed647 on June 12, 2006 at 9:20 PM
“conservatives are simplistic and rigid. ”
Yes siree, conservatives are simplistic and rigid!….LOL
The liberals keep on lying, distorting facts, falsifying memos and news, but the conservatives just won’t vote their way. How rigid can the conservatives be? STUPID, DUMB, SIMPLISTIC, and RIGID CONSERVATIVES we are…LOL
Conservatives are so immune to twisted logic that they cannot be swayed from their goals!
easy87us on June 12, 2006 at 10:02 PM
Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tze said “Great wisdom lies in simplistic truths.”
easy87us on June 12, 2006 at 10:04 PM
By the way, the tin hat is a great idea. Al Gore can testify to you that tin foil can block off striated radiation. Yep,they may make you think better…improve alpha waves and improves you IQ by 50%…( I am just kidding).
easy87us on June 12, 2006 at 10:30 PM
0 for 21 here we come!
The Ugly American on June 12, 2006 at 10:41 PM
Separated at birth? Kos and Peter Lorre
thegreatsatan on June 13, 2006 at 12:29 AM
Weeds are stubborn plants, as any gardener will tell you.
We pull them up.
We mow them down.
And when we want to control them in our lawns, we use a “weed and feed” mixture.
But when we *REALLY* want to kill the “roots” of a weed and permanently eradicate it for the growing season, we use a nasty like Roundup ™.
Ever since I heard the term “netroots” I started fantasizing about some kind of analogy to Roundup (but non-lethal or non-toxic to humans — I am NOT a monster, ater all) that we could spray on these morons and make them “go away.”
I thought of “holy water” — but since many of these are non-religious (or hostile to religion), sprinkling holy water wouldn’t make them (or their attitudes) go “poof!” but would simply get them pissed (and maybe get me arrested for misdemeanor assault). So that wouldn’t work.
I thought of that old standby “JOLT” cola (do they still market it?), figuring that slipping them a massive sugar and caffine overload would overload their sensitivities to both adrenalin and the insulin, put them in shock, and give us time to place headsets on them, so we could play selected podcasts of Rush Limbaugh’s show.
But “reprogramming” is a tactic best left to experts, and I’m not sure that being a liberal qualifies as being a member of a cult anyway. Stupid, certainly. But that’s not the same thing as being a follower of Jimmy Jones. And I’d also not want to hurt any diabetics by mistake; they have enough problems as it is.
How about lithium stuffed into their toothpaste tubes? After all, these “moonbats” are paranoids who suffer BDS, says Dr. Santy (drsanity.blogspot.com) and medical doctor Charles Krauthhamer; and lithium in it’s myriad compounds is a potent treatment for mental illness.
I discovered two serious obsticles to this, however. Product tampering is a felony. Oops…. The other is that given the state of hygene that these folks aspire to, I’m wondering how many of them actually brush their teeth on a regular basis anyway — yech!
So, I was stuck. I ran out of ideas. How do we bring the liberal to the light of sanity and reason? How do we bring them back from the Moonbat Universe, to the real one we all share?
I began to despair, imagining a dark flood of liberalism soaking into the center of the country from both the east and left coasts, rushing inward with the force of the Johnston Flood after the dam burst.
I had nightmares of an irrestible tide of liberalism, seeping under my front door, or down my fireplace chimney, like in the Charleton Heston version of “Moses,” and I with no lamb’s blood on my doorjamb.
I had visions of Babs Streisand coming to our little home town as part of her FOURTH Final Farewell Tour (how many times does this ditz GET to say “bye-bye” to America, anyway?), using her sweet sounding voice to plant subversive suggestions in our minds; things like “Bush LIED!”, “IMPEACH THE CHIMP!”, and HALIBURTON!HALIBURTON!HALIBURTON!”.
And then, the YearlyKos came to my rescue, thanks to our intrepid mole, who tooks those photos of the bug-eyed, bloviating KOS himself, and his aluminium foil hat brigade.
And suddenly, I realized. “ZERO for 20″ is a strategy that works — for us. And the foil hatted “warriors” working the primaries guarantees that come November, the American public will have a CLEAR and convincing choice — moonbat paranoid leftist, who “got lucky” in the primary, versus a Republican (most of whom are incumbents) who will clean his clock in the fall election.
Everytime a “netroot” selected candidate opens their yap is an opportunity for us to ridicule them, their proposals, and their agenda. And nothing makes them sputter than ridiculing them. In fact, it makes them goofy and causes them to “let free” their ultimate nastiness, which includes calling us names and their emitting primal screams ala Howard “The Duck” Dean.
I give that bloviating, but-eyed, moron — let’s call him “Al-Kos” in honor of their late ally and campaign tactictian who was blown up in Iraq — this election cycle to make a difference. When he fails, as he surely will, to elect candidates to office, he, Soros, moveon, and the rest of the loonies will have destroyed the Democratic Party, effectively, for the next decade.
Hugh Hewitt has it right in his book, “Painting the Map Red.” This year is our chance to be the makers of American public policy for decades to come; implementing OUR visions for America and insuring that the world-wide battle against Islamofascism is not only fought, but won.
And now I can leave my jug of Roundup ™ in the garden shed where it belongs….
Thank you, mole, where ever you are!
georgej on June 13, 2006 at 5:59 AM
Used to be I could drive up to
Barstow for the night
Find some crossroad trucker
To demonstrate his might
But these days it seems
Nowhere is far enough away
So I’m leaving Las Vegas today
I’m standing in the middle of the desert
Waiting for my ship to come in
But now no joker, no jack, no king
Can take this loser hand
And make it win
I’m Leaving Las Vegas
Pablo on June 13, 2006 at 8:58 AM
Sometimes I wonder whether Soros is actually working for the conservative right to create a loony left with his money so as to destroy the Democratic party.
This Kos thing is weird. it is almost like “The Twilight Zone”.
easy87us on June 13, 2006 at 9:50 AM
What we are viewing is nothing less than a political leftist version of eBay. Kos is acting as the ’site’ the Kossacks as the ’sellers’ and the press and Pols as ‘buyers’. The problem is, just like eBay, much of what is offered up for sale is never sold.
And how do we know this is actual? Well their 0-20 track record on the election front tends to tell it all.
JohnMc on June 13, 2006 at 11:15 AM
Really outstanding coverage. Thank you and kudos to all involved!
Professor Blather on June 13, 2006 at 11:52 AM
Something is going on in the liberal front. It is huge..I can sense it coming. The whole damn liberal campis falling apart suddenly!..They are going hog wild at the same time.
(1) Pelosi and the black caucas over Jefferson, yet she is getting very little open verbal support from the front runners…
(2) Hillary is in semi hibernation from the lime light
(3) Al Gore is going crazy with the support from the left front
(4) Where is Chuck Schumar and Fiengold?
(5) The Demos were very quiet after the loss by Busby in Cali.
(6) This KOS thing is really weird. No big guns even want to be connected to it to gain some free publicity. It is almost like slapping the left on the face.
I sense a growing rift…not in two, but in three sections.
Wow…this is interesting….
easy87us on June 13, 2006 at 2:10 PM
That 0-20 thing is great. Too bad it’s not true. Try googling Ben Chandler (D - KY) or Stephanie Herseth (D - SD).
The Kenosha Kid on June 13, 2006 at 8:13 PM
Dan Rather should have had one of those tinfoil hats on when he was trying to contact “Kenneth” some years ago.
clyde on June 13, 2006 at 8:53 PM
I wonder if they’re handing out tinfoil hats at Berkeley, Wisconsin, NYU, U of Georgia, et al when you register?
clyde on June 13, 2006 at 8:56 PM
> There has to be some set of ideas, some principle deeper than Bush-hatred
Just to play devil’s advocate, didn’t the Kos folks put out a whole book stating their principles? The short version is, they want Democrats who actually stand up for something and don’t change their minds every time a new poll comes out.
As far as Vilsack, the guy’s a joke, and he’s hardly a Kos favorite. Mark Warner has a much bigger Kos following, and he threw a party at the Stratosphere as part of the event, if you’re looking for a big name in attendance.
As for “the left is ill-equipped to handle disagreements”, I’d like to see you back that up with some reasoning. Liberals disagree with conservatives vehemently (and the reverse is clearly true as well). But Bush is the one who fired scores of people for disagreeing with his Iraq war rationales. The big knock on the Democrats is that they don’t have a unified message, and can’t get in lockstep like the Republicans often do. That’s because the GOP doesn’t tolerate disagreement, and the Dems are so open to it they have a tough time finding something to agree on.
schroeder on June 15, 2006 at 4:30 PM
I keep trying to check in on Dailykos once in a while just to get a feel for what they are all on about - but I can’t ever seem to get a sense of focus.
Is it just me or are at least 1/3 to 1/2 of all the posts there “Open Threads” or “Cheers and Jeers” (basically just another open thread)?
venmax on June 16, 2006 at 12:14 AM
Gathering speed in that downhill ride to oblivion. Kos is the conductor of that train, screaming “All Aboard”.
tormod on June 16, 2006 at 6:16 AM
I just read this headline: “Reid Presses to Keep Administration Honest on Iran, Unveils Intelligence Oversight Legislation at YearlyKos Convention”.
If Reid is looking to this bunch of nitwits for support of his legislative proposals then the poor, sick Democrats are even worse off than I had suspected.
rplat on June 16, 2006 at 11:38 AM
Venmax…you are in the Twilight Zone.
easy87us on June 18, 2006 at 9:17 PM