Watching the Left Blogosphere Implode

Some guy named Jesse Kornbluth who blogs at the PuffHo (I guess they'll give any looney lefty blogging rights) writes about the Kos Konspiracy and his wifes diary at Daily Kos:

My wife, Karen Collins, is a devoted Kossack and a frequent poster on the site's message boards, so I read the column aloud to her. At first, it was laughable, the typical Brooks stew of facile assumptions, partisan shilling and lazy writing. Of course he would see Kos as a sinister mirror of an Administration that he has no interest in attacking --- a "Keyboard Kingpin" with "followers, who come across like squadrons of rabid lambs... [who} unleash their venom on those who stand in the way."

Brooks is a hack, blah, blah, blah...

On the issue of the TNR article he writes:

This "stay the course" message was far from a response, especially by DailyKos standards --- if this site is about anything, it's about truth and transparency. The Administration lies? Kos diarists find the facts. "Our" side screws up? Kos will hold anyone's feet to the fire.

Daily Kos standards? Kos will hold anyones feet to the fire...(excuse me, my drink was just spit out on the keyboard at that joke...oh, it wasn't a joke). It seems the only lefties that had their feet held to the fire were those who didn't bow down to Kos and his every whim.

Kornbluth's wife wrote a post at Kos that got the Kossacks riled up:

Kos, you know the history of political scandals as well as I do. It's the COVER-UP that destroys people, not necessarily the crime.

If there is something to cop to, to disclose, do it now. Let's get this out in the open, make necessary changes, and move on. There is too much at stake to let this problem drag on for months.

I believe that the Republicans would like to destroy the crediblity of the Liberal Blogosphere, and Brooks may or may not be doing his little part. But if any of this is true, I believe you have a responsibility to this community to come clean, NOW.

We all know that if Clinton had just admitted the BJ and moved on we might have had Gore instead of Bush.

I am a loyal reader and a committed progressive who wants our community to succeed in taking back the political power from the Party Bosses. But we can't do that if we are not CLEAN.

If we are going to claim the high ground,we must always take it. I believe the community would very much welcome an explanation.

The Kossacks then proceeded to rip her with comments like these:

I won't slap the label on her yet, but the troll-o-meter is blinking red.

-9.88, -7.18This Far and No Further

by Black Max on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 08:46:41 PM PDT


Have you done any research on this besides reading what David fucking Brooks had to say?
Have you read any of the many, many diaries on this? The stories here and at other blogs?
This diary doesn't deserve the effort of a real answer, since you didn't put the work in to find the ones already posted.
And how is it your second diary? Going to your user page reveals many more than 2 diaries. What's going on there?
by MissLaura on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 08:36:59 PM PDT

Supposedly, someone hacked in and trashed her post:

Someone hacked into MY diary to trash me.
Abuse? Does that mean it's ok to hack other people's diaries?
by karenc13 on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 08:59:02 PM PDT

And a commenter inadvertantly shows that Kos may have people changing posts that he deems a threat:

some unauthorized person breaking the code to do something illegal, immoral, or otherwise against the wishes of the site owner. This was probably done by someone with proper access. Maybe it is tag abuse, but I think it fits. Sorry, Karen, but this diary is crap and should not have been posted. I haven't looked at your other material so I can't say anything about your "bonafides" or whatever else you've said on other topics, but this diary is unnecessary and wrong.
-9.88, -7.18This Far and No Further
by Black Max on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 09:28:17 PM PDT

And the beat goes on. The Kossacks are following their leader's orders and stifiling any dissent reminiscent of the old Soviet way:


a deadly combination.
karenc13, I'm going to assume you have good intentions and really want to know the answer to your questions. But think for a moment what you are doing.
You are posting and perpetuating accusations about someone who is suposedly fighting for the same things you are, in a very public diary without having done any research, as many commenters have amply demonstrated, on a blog that has been under attack by all sides of the spectrum in the past week. Do you really think that was a responsible thing to do for the "progressive" cause?
This is a petulant demand to be hand-fed by the rest of the world because you feel concerned about the future and the purity of the progressive cause. Yet you are being as unethical as Brooks and the rest of them by not being responsible for what you are writing.
You are not the Kingpin of me
by Buffalo Girl on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 09:07:33 PM PDT

Update: It gets even better:

Kos's email was suggesting a sensible strategy (4+ / 0-)
Recommended by:
highacidity, peeder, tjb22, Nightprowlkitty
Unless you think it is moral and ethical to pound the crap out of someone who can not defend himself because of legal proceedings what Markos did was absolutely proper and correct. Markos had no authority to enforce his wishes whatsoever. The people on the list were perfectly free to comment or not as they saw fit.
Your diary is way over the line in being unjustifiably insulting and defamatory. Please do the right thing and delete it. Then give Markos the apology he deserves from you.
by peraspera on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 10:18:43 PM PDT