Why Are We Back In Iraq?

(Via Chris Nolan)

"It seems that The Great and Powerful Progressive Blogger Markos Moulitsas – Daily Kos to you, "media" to himself and, a bona fide jerk as far as I can tell – is threatening Carol Darr and George Washington University's Institute for Politics Democracy and the Internet. Why? Because Darr made some typical D.C-generated "middle of the road" comments to the Federal Elections Commission about its proposed rules on campaigns, campaign finance and the Internet."

"Moulitsas didn't like what Darr said. So, of course he mocked her on his site. Then, in an email to IPDI's annual conference director, The Great and Powerful Progressive Blogger got ugly."

The email:

Matthew,

Carol Darr and you guys fucked up with your FEC comments. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure you don’t get a single netroots individual at your conference next year. Just thought I’d let you know.

"You've been following the man you should see as your true political opponent – Mike Krempasky and the guys at RedState - from the get-go and you're either too lazy or too stupid to see the real problem and agenda here. You're being played, oh Great One. Like a cheap accordion."

"As a Great and Powerful Progressive, you should be in favor of campaign finance laws: at a minimum you should support full and open disclosure for all campaigns and campaign consultants. But you don't. Why? Because you think on-line fundraising will make it easy for you and your buddies to raise enough money to take over the Democratic Party."

Back in February, when I interviewed Mike Krempasky about his ties to Bruce Eberle and Bobby Eberle (link), we had an interesting exchange:

Me - "i believe in freedom of speech very strongly...but I don't like propaganda or shilling for the government or anything like that...hence part of my beef with markos, jerome armstrong and matt stoller...i don't think bloggers or journalists should be involved with political groups."

Mike - "I highly disagree with you about bloggers and politics - I think it's a great thing to have people actively involved and publicly adding to the fray of politics, but that's probably a longer discussion."

A blogger that from now on I'll refer to as A-list put out the tip cup for Howard Dean the other day because he was criticized for calling the GOP the "white Christian party."

Is that what blogs are for?

Are they all about raising money and more money and more money for political candidates?

Would it be alright if Fox News did the same?

Whoops. My bad. The A-listers don't consider themselves journalists. They're activists who happen to also earn a living by writing about current affairs.

I guess I'm out in the cold on this issue but I think that bloggers should keep a distance from the politicans and I don't think they should be collecting money for politicians.

I've asked my readers to donate money to a few worthy causes, over the last few months, but never for a politician or a political party.

I don't know what estate that bloggers belong to: the fourth or the fifth or the hundred millionth. But I do believe that there should be some sort of barrier between us and the pols.

I don't think Howard Dean needs any of our money, right now. But just think of what else that money could have been collected for: funds for groups that are fighting for election reform or for families of wrongfully arrested detainees or for armor plating for the troops in Iraq.

Some lefties might disagree with that last one...but as much as I'm against the war I'm also very concerned about the safety of our men and women who are sacrificing their lives because of a bunch of lying fucks who won't even give them the protection they need.

Imagine if the left got behind something like that. Then the right would look pretty silly the next time they called us anti-troops.

Now, I'm being silly.

The right often looks silly and I'm even sillier to think that would ever stop them from being as silly as they can be.

The silliest thing about me must be that I agree with Chris Nolan:

"The idea of getting money out of politics is one that used to be endorsed by Democrats and reformer, folks who really were progressive, not just mouthing the words to some 1970s Golden Oldie barely remembered from their first 8th Grade co-ed dance. Why? Because those reformer understood that big money – corporate money, union money, rich people's money – didn't always go to their side or the aisle. And regardless of where it goes, it can be corrupting. They understood that money will never leave politics; that's why it has to be watched very, very carefully, as publicly as possible, as openly as possible."

(Note to my readers: I apologize but I refuse to hold back anymore against the bloggers on our side whom I believe are holding us back. I'm not gonna bother emailing them or posting comments at their blogs anymore but I will use this blog from time-to-time to address these issues. If my readership plummets, that sucks. If it prevents my other stories from getting linked, that also sucks. But I know when I look in the mirror that I'm not a delusional, paranoiac, wingnutty troll. I'm a liberal. And I stand up for what I think is right. This blog grew out of a play that I wrote about the dangers of propaganda. And shilling by the media or by blogs is what helps propaganda flourish.)

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 6/10/2005 03:51:00 AM