Former Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry is now posting at The Daily Kos.
Stephen Green puts it quite simply:
Wow – from blogger to kingmaker in six short years. That’s quite a feat for Kos, and a disaster-in-the-making for the Democrats. Look at the state of the party today, as witnessed by the hypocritical-yet-hapless Alito hearings. It’s pretty obvious what the Democrats need is less condescension and more common sense – two things they’re unlikely to find from the DailyKos crowd.
The fact that Kos has become part of the Democratic mainstream – Democratic politicians post there, and Harry Reid is set to speak at Kos’ “Yearly Kos” confab – should be a sign of just how far the Democratic Party has moved to the left. The last successful Democratic politician on the national stage won precisely because he was able to co-opt traditionally Republican positions. Say what you want about Bill Clinton’s moral character (and much could be said there, little of it nice), but he signed NAFTA, cut capital gains taxes in 1996, passed welfare reform, and his biggest liberal initiatives (think HillaryCare) all failed. Clinton’s dressing-down of rapper Sister Souljah was a seminal moment in his political career.
Make no mistake, Kos is an extremist. His views are diametrically opposed to the views of the American mainstream. His “screw them” comment on the deaths of four American contractors in Fallujah rightly brought down the ire of responsible people on both sides of the aisle. Kos represents the basest instincts of the Democratic base – hateful rhetoric, extremism, and a sense of arrogance that instantly alienates anyone who isn’t a true believer. The Kossacks will gladly turn even on their own who don’t display the requisite ideological purity.
Granted, Kos has spawned a political movement, he’s raised an incredible amount of funds, and he is a visionary on the political uses of the Internet. But when it comes to representing the Democratic Party to the rest of the world, Kos and the rest of the hard-left is more likely to alienate moderate voters than it is to win elections for the Democrats. Every one of the candidates Kos endorsed in 2004 lost. You can’t win elections in the United States coming from the far left. Self-identified conservatives far outnumber self-proclaimed liberals in this country – and independent voters aren’t going to look favorably upon a group that sees the hideous murder and mutilations of four Americans by a group of terrorist thugs and thinks that “Screw them” is the proper response.
American democracy needs two sensible parties engaging in a true contest of ideals, and right now the American public is rightly disgusted by the state of American politics. Associating with ravenous partisans like Kos is not going to do anything to endear people to the Democratic Party, but is certain to provide plenty of ammunition to Republicans. As economist Anthony Downs observed nearly 50 years ago, the political spectrum in America resembles a bell curve – and the party that can best capture the center is the party that will win. The Democrats appear to be in a headlong dash to the left, which isn’t a winning position.
The Democratic Party needs to have a Sister Souljah moment if it ever wants to regain political power in this country. A party that is represented by Howard Dean, Michael Moore, Kos, and MoveOn.org is not a party that is trying to speak to the vast majority of Americans. You can only get so far by throwing red meat to your partisans. If the Democratic Party wants to be viewed as a moderate and responsible party, they need to repudiate the Kossack wing of their party. Elsewise the continued decline of the Democratic Party will only get worse as the inmates slowly but surely take over the asylum.
UPDATE: Alexandra von Maltzan has some additional observations on Kerry and Kos.
“Every one of the candidates Kos endorsed in 2004 lost.”
Such as? I’ve asked you twice before to give this long list of Democrats endorsed by Kos who lost….and you evaded it both times. Will the third time be the charm?
“Associating with ravenous partisans like Kos is not going to do anything to endear people to the Democratic Party,”
And what percent of the American voters actually knows what the Daily Kos is? 1% maybe? My guess is less.
“As economist Anthony Downs observed nearly 50 years ago, the political spectrum in America resembles a bell curve – and the party that can best capture the center is the party that will win. The Democrats appear to be in a headlong dash to the left, which isn’t a winning position.”
You’ll probably have to reassess that ridiculous outlook come November. The Democratic Party of today is arguably more conservative than the Republicans of the 1970’s. Educated moderates who called the Republican Party home 30 years ago have left the party in droves. That’s why Republican strongholds like Long Island and the Main Line region of suburban Philadelphia are rapidly turning ocean blue. It’s true that religious conservatism has taken a bigger chunk out of the Democrat’s base, but at what cost to traditional GOP orthodoxy? The Republicans have become, in the words of Tim Pawlenty, “the party of Sam’s Club rather than the country club”. In other words, the GOP base is now made up of low-income theocrats dependent upon government largesse for their survival. Kind of a hollow victory, wouldn’t you say?
“If the Democratic Party wants to be viewed as a moderate and responsible party, they need to repudiate the Kossack wing of their party. Elsewise the continued decline of the Democratic Party will only get worse as the inmates slowly but surely take over the asylum.”
Yet once again showing how out-of-touch you are, your formula for remedying the party includes the very thing that destroyed it in 1993….embracing free trade. You cluelessly list “signing NAFTA” as an attribute for Bill Clinton, rather than the stake through the heart that it was. If you seriously believe that blind faith in corporate trade agreements is the way Democrats endear themselves back to voters, you have about as much understanding of the American electorate as Pat Buchanan does.
Have you heard of a little thing called Google? Apparently not, or you would have found this quite some time ago.
Until the ads start running linking Kos’ daily idiotic comments with the Democrats who are sucking up to him…
Wait, I though we were still the party of the evil, filthy rich? Or was that last week’s straw man?
Yup, keep calling the average American “low-income theocrats” – and then wonder why you keep losing election after election.
Yeah, because all those protectionist Democrats keep winning elections… oh, wait, they don’t. What was your point again?
Mark:
Last I checked, Kos recieved 3.7 million unique visitors a week and runs the fourth most popular blog on the internet. If we assume that all of them vote (a liberal estimate) and that at least twice that number actually know who he is but don’t read his blog (a conservative estimate; I definitely know who he is, but I can count the number of times I’ve visted DailyKos on one hand- Jay reads him more than I do, I’d wager)… I’d say that a solid 3% of the general population has heard of him at one time or another, and at least 10% of actual voters know who he is; a level of popularity on par with many major pundits but less than that of, say, a Michael Moore.
I’d wager that Kos is now a populist powerbroker of considerable influence, perhaps on the level of a Howard Dean, even without the official title, if only for being master of the Democrat’s most popular online forum.
If as all say, the overall reach of the DailyKOS is at a minimum 1% and maximum 3% then why are the dem leadership going in herd like fashion to his site ? With all the negatives from just showing up on such a blog, why make someone a kingmaker that doesn’t benefit the party ? Al Gore showing up at MoveOn.org events (as well as Senator Byrd) why is the leadership going out of its way to reestablish its liberal bonafides ? Conservative Democrats is becoming an oxymoron.
“For the year just passed, the RNC brought in nearly $102 million — give or take a few hundred thousand — and had $34 million in the bank. The Democratic National Committee raised $51 million in 2005 but showed $5.5 million on hand at the end of the year”
WaPo
Not looking good for Dr. Dean !!
Jay, thanks for finally providing a link to that list of Kos-endorsed candidates…and validating what a manipulative partisan stooge you are. Most of those endorsed candidates were in deep-red districts and many (like Brad Carson and Tony Knowles) were very conservative Democrats not at all ascribing to Daily Kos orthodoxy. Are you really such a stark raving idiot that you’re blaming the come-from-way-behind near-misses of Dan Mongiardo in the Kentucky Senate and Stan Matsunaka of cranberry-red CO-04 on the Daily Kos’ endorsement? You’re completely out of your mind if you do.
“Until the ads start running linking Kos’ daily idiotic comments with the Democrats who are sucking up to him…”
I invite the Republicans to produce ads condemning Democratic Party candidates guilty based on their loose or non-existent association with an Internet blogger who nobody’s ever heard of.
“Wait, I though we were still the party of the evil, filthy rich? Or was that last week’s straw man?”
Congratulations. You’ve finally recognized the long-term logistical problem of being the party of God and Mammon. The “cut my taxes now!…and now! and now! and now! and now!” crowd will demand a litany of diametrically opposed policy initiatives from the people who want to criminalize the teaching of evolution….along with free prescription drugs for their impoverished parents.
“Yeah, because all those protectionist Democrats keep winning elections… oh, wait, they don’t. What was your point again?”
The Democrats break free of the DLC noose and start aggressively and publicly attacking “free trade,” and they start winning elections again. That’s a guarantee.
Nicq, I’m not sure if I agree with your “10% know about Kos” prediction. I say no way is it more than 3% (and 2.9% of those probably live in Washington). When you say 3.7 million “unique visitors,” I assume you’re referring to different computer users rather than repeat visitors. But of those, how many would have just stumbled onto the site from a link, spent 30 seconds on the site, and never gave it a second thought?
“The Democrats break free of the DLC noose and start aggressively and publicly attacking “free trade,†and they start winning elections again. That’s a guarantee.”
Any Democrat who attacks free trade can count my vote lost.