Kos of Death (or: How I Learned To Love The Daily Kos)

Markos Moulitsas is big. Real big.

Among Democrats.

That's a good thing for Republicans.

Dean Barnett writes in the Weekly Standard about the Kos phenomenon.

The piece explains from whence Kos came, and the sheer magnitude of his site's popularity - including his growing stature as a kingmaker in the Democratic Party.

If you're a Republican, you should be getting all tingly right about now:

Yes, Kos is definitely on a roll. This week, under the headline "They Finally Fear Us," Kos excerpted a Los Angeles Times story which reported that in spite of some unease with the idea of a Dean chairmanship, prominent Democrats were loath to speak out against
the Vermont governor, lest they enrage the increasingly powerful lobby of Internet activists personified and led by Kos. As Kos astutely summarized the situation, the Internet activists are in the process of achieving parity with special interest groups like NARAL, the unions, and the NAACP. What he doesn't point out is that those groups for the most part maxed out long ago in terms of power and influence. The Kos community is still in its infancy.

And yet, even in its' infancy, it shows a wondrous ability to get ordinarily-sensible Democrats to shuck their common sense and dive into the intellectual mosh pit.

Kos did a lot to bring you Mad How - the man who (like so much of Kos' readership) hates Republicans. As the influence of Kos along with other far-left groups radicalizes the Democratic base, look for the Dean phenomenon - much heat and money and flash, little light and traction outside the radical base and pan - to entrench itself in the Democratic party.

Maybe sooner than later:

In recent days, Kos has begun suggesting that someone challenge conservative Democrat Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary. Given Kos's recent successes, Lieberman would be wise to not take this threat lightly.

Either would Connecticut's Republicans. The "threat" of a Kos-endorsed, lavishly-financed Deaniac opponent to the responsible, useful Joe Lieberman should give hope to the beleaguered GOP in the NYC 'burbs.

Many in the conservative blogosphere have been quick to label Kos a "moon bat" because of his unforgiving left-wing politics and his strident tone. Kos in turn dismisses these critics as "wing nuts." (Who says dialogue in the blogosphere isn't edifying?) This kind of juvenile give and take, however, obscures the vital fact that Moulitsas leads an influential movement, a movement whose influence is likely to grow even larger.

Actually, the juvenile give and take shows how circumscribed the influence will be outside the radical base. The term "wingnut" itself does, indeed, show Moulitsas' influence among the radical base; many of the less-intelligent leftyblogs use "wingnut" almost exclusively as a synonym - indeed, the synonym - for Republican these days, and no doubt will until Kos coins another such trifle. And yet real America - grown-up America, the America that has to get along in the real world and play well with others - looks on that kind of moronic name-calling the same way they do little kids dashing about the lobby of the theatre, screaming and smacking into people - an irritant that does nothing to endear their parents to anyone.

Kos gets 400,000 page views a day? If it spreads his influence throughout the party, let a million pages be viewed. It's gold for us.

Posted by Mitch at February 2, 2005 08:08 PM | TrackBack