Byron York links to another disgusting little screed from Kos, which illustrates precisely why the Democrats should be treating him like a dog with fleas. Kos argues:
Okay, who said:
“Who can forget your President Clinton’s immoral acts committed in the official Oval office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he ‘made a mistake’, after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?”
And who said:
“We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication [and] homosexuality…”
That’s Osama Bin Laden. And wow, he sounds just like Republicans!…
Let’s not forget that ultimately, Osama’s vision for the Arab world is far more akin to the Right’s vision of America…On homosexuality, on militarism, on women’s rights, on religion in school, on capital punishment, on free speech, on curtailment of civil liberties, and on a million different other issues Islamic fundamentalists don’t share many disagreements with the ideologues running our country.
The reason we hate Islamic fundamentalists is pretty much the same reason we’re fighting to take back this country from the Republicans. They are two peas from the same pod, and diametrically opposed to everything we liberals stand for.
Yup, according to Kos, the right is just like the Taliban. There’s no difference between the two.
Does the Democratic Party really believe this tripe?
Islamic fundamentalists kill homosexuals by collapsing walls on them. As disgusting as Jerry Falwell and his ilk are, they’ve never advocated that. Can Kos name one member of the mainstream Right in America who would advocate such a thing?
Islamic fundamentalists believe that the punishment for adultery should be death by stoning. Do the Democrats really think that’s part of the Republican Party platform?
Islamic fundamentalists believe that women should be treated as chattel. Does John Kerry wish to endorse that view of the majority party in this country? Would he like to explain that to Secretary Rice, Elaine Chao, Gov. Jodie Rell of Connecticut, and every other prominent female Republican? Because apparently they didn’t get that particular memo.
Islamic fundamentalists believe that music should be banned. Including Lee Greenwood. And I’m damn sure that they’d have a problem with “God Bless The USA”. Does Kos really think that Republicans are just like Islamic fundamentalists?
This kind of absolutely ridiculous crap is why Kos is, in all honesty, a raving partisan lunatic. Does the Democratic Party really believed this nonsense? Is this the kind of rhetoric they want to promote to the American public? Would John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and the other prominent Democratic politicians who have posted to Kos’ site like to endorse these views? Or is their silence on these matters a tacit sign of assent?
There are two ways of looking at Kos’ inane diatribe – either he’s just pandering to the most disgusting aspects of the Democratic base, throwing them loads of bloody red meat, or he really believes this shit. Either way it doesn’t look particularly good for him.
What’s even more disgusting about this is that Kos has the absolute audacity to complain whenever someone says something that just might impugn his patriotism! Yet apparently it is perfectly within bounds to accuse the other side of being no different than Osama bin Laden.
This is precisely why I say that the Democratic Party is A) profoundly unserious and B) completely unhinged from reality. Democracy is based on compromise. Yet with such an attitude, where is there room for compromise? If the GOP is no better than al-Qaeda, then why have a two-party system at all. Kos’ comments provide the rhetorical justification for the kind of partisan extremism that is antithetical to the principles of democracy itself.
There is a line between reasonable criticism and outright insanity. Kos not only crossed that line a long time ago, but has leaped it by bounds.
Never mind that fact that bin Laden also repeated some of the Left’s favorite tropes, that the US is “failing” in Iraq, that Bush “misled” the American people, and even brought in references straight out of Fahrenheit 9/11.
Again, prominent Democratic politicians have posted to Kos’ site. Harry Reid is speaking at an event hosted by Kos. The argument that Kos is part of the Democratic Underground lunatic fringe isn’t going to fly anymore.
If the Democrats can’t distance themselves from this madness, what does that say about their ability to be a reasonable political party?
“Never mind that fact that bin Laden also repeated some of the Left’s favorite tropes, that the US is “failing†in Iraq, that Bush “misled†the American people, and even brought in references straight out of Fahrenheit 9/11.”
ROTFLMAO!! So let me get this straight. You’re outraged–outraged!–that Kos would compare the Republicans to Osama bin Laden….so you compare the Democrats to Osama bin Laden. You are Kos in red. Kos is you in blue.
We still have newspapers ads that picture Tom Daschle alongside Osama bin Laden and Saddam Husseing from John Thune and his Republican supporters. We keep them so we will not forget who are the real cultivators of hatred.
The difference is I can qualitatively prove that the comparison is apt. I’m not constructing some bullshit ideological fantasy as Kos is. I’m not stating that leftists want to kill gays or enslave women. I am saying that both bin Laden and the American left believe that Bush lied, that the war in Iraq is unwinnable, and that bin Laden has been using some of the same rhetoric as the antiwar left for the same causes.
If the left finds that inconvenient, that’s unfortunate, but that doesn’t make Kos’ allegations any less idiotic and mine any less accurate.
Oh really? Care to offer any evidence of that? Surely *someone* must have scanned those ads if they ever existed.
Excellently written, but I think you take Kos too seriously. Sure, Reid will pay a little homage to the Kos inspired money-men, but the GOP does the same on its side (although I’ll enteterain the argument that our pandered to extreme isn’t as extreme as their extreme). Doesn’t make it right, though.