Kos Is Getting His Wish- Let The Guy Have His Echo Chamber

Hey friends n' neighbors. I think we all know why we're here now. We, or at least most of us, I gather, are/were the progressive set of the Great Orange Satan. Until a few days ago when Kos dropped his ill-phrased shit biscuit on our plate. Even though he's tried to walk it back some today, it's worth noting that he really has done an effective job of getting progressives to drop the site and leave faster than Ted Cruz when confronted with the truth. Maybe that was the plan all along. I dunno. I'm not big into conspiracy theories.

The biggest gripe I've had with that site over the years is that the content provided by progressives never shows up on the front page- with the exception being Meteor Blades. Mostly at night. No correlation, I'm sure. Unless it's primary season, progressive content dominates the rec list, however, and that has been given zero fucking consideration. So it's occurred to me, to many, that giving Markos his echo chamber is a better idea than arguing with the DNC shills day in and day out. We're not leaving the battle- we're changing the landscape of the overall fight.

Here's the fun bit- everyone ready for the fun bit? By allowing that site to become nothing other than a parody of David Brock's Blue Nation Review, we get to build up not only progressive voices and candidates, but provide an alternative to the endless stream of cheerleading from the Debbie Wasserman-Kos wing of the party. There's natural evolution, and there's Clintonian evolution. C99 is natural. We didn't wait until the dinosaur was dead to say out loud that the fucking dinosaur was dead. We're not following the orders of some focus group or consultant. With the quality of writers that I've seen so far, they'll be asking us for advice soon.

Let Kos have his way. In fact, let the entire propaganda arm of the DNC have their way. They'll still make money, and they'll still be able to clutch onto what's left of their base. But they'll find themselves without the support of the progressive community that they've counted on for so many years to carry their water and cast their votes and do their bidding with nothing in return but lip service. "More and Better Democrats"? How about "More and Better Progressives"...

Here's a good spot to find a comprehensive list of Sanders Democrats

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Comments

PastorAgnostic's picture

But, Progressive works, too.

I looked over his earlier post 3 times, ergo, I went through 4 stages:

1. Shock
2. Regret
3. cold determination
4. REM

1. Shock - I was shocked at two things. At how much time I had spent there, and at how ridiculous his demands were.
Once I realized the fool impact of what he hath wrought, I expectorated that membership would dive, activity would be limited to some rabid Hillarians, and that the folks in charge of DK would begin to regret, even slightly, how much they underestimated our reactions.

2. Regret - My biggest was the loss of community, and an avenue to hone my puns. Given the small, but quite possibly disturbed group of folks who responded frequently to my snark, I felt regret about a lack of forum for our exchanges. I also regretted learning something from some really smart folks there. Luckily, it seems that my favorites have found their way here.

3. Cold determination - One, I will not put up with petty, dictatorial rules. Two, I REALLY will not put up with dictatorial rules. Three, I would seek out another place to inflict with my snark, Church of Ineffable Stupidity sermons, and Puns.

4. REM - not the music, nor live performance on stage. More of another kind of stage.

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Stephen Carll's picture

I didn't go through the shock phase. I was expecting something like that for a while. I have used the site in the past to try out new material as well, though. I might miss that part. Probably not after a week or two, but I might. Cheers.

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“I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. 'I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.' 'I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.' 'Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!'”- Bill Hicks

I thought I was in charge of snarky, punny comments! There cannot be two of us!

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Democrats, we tried to warn you. How is that guilt and shame working out?

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of Markos' shit biscuit post, to 791 members today.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

Many thanks to all.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Stephen Carll's picture

And has anyone reached out to OPOL about this? However Relevant or not, I've always been a curious Rhino...

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“I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. 'I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.' 'I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.' 'Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!'”- Bill Hicks

Raggedy Ann's picture

The all powerful Raggedy Ann has struck again!!! Fear my power!!

OPOL has been here, Stephen. He posted his diary here too, yesterday.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Stephen Carll's picture

I'm going mildly crazy. I was Relevant Rhino for a decade. Then again, it's like cutting your hair or getting a new tattoo after getting out of a bad relationship. I'm cool with it.

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“I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. 'I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.' 'I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.' 'Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!'”- Bill Hicks

Raggedy Ann's picture

Good to see you, RR!

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

whyvee's picture

Only time will tell...

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when traffic drops off naturally.
Because the best DKos writers are already here.

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joined this afternoon.

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Shahryar's picture

Hot dog! We got us a family!

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"We're putting the band back together".

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Lady Libertine's picture

whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttt?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wink

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the memberlist.

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Lady Libertine's picture

how do I...

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Lisa Lockwood's picture

wOOt WOOT! Ponies for all! Wink

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"When the powerless are shut out of the media, we will make the media irrelevant" ~Anonymous~

TomP is expected to join soon also!

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He gave this to me many moons ago at dkos. OMG, how nice to have all of the old-timers here too.

Nitro20Begging_0.jpg

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

detroitmechworks's picture

That he doesn't care about clicks, he only cares about Winning...

Oh, that always ends well

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pipTwjwrQYQ]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Especially because he posted another diary today to "explain" what he meant by his prior diary, and it even included, "I'm sorry," which I've never seen him write.

Also, he usually does a straw poll every two weeks on a Tuesday, but he has missed some of those Tuesdays, yet here it is today.

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riverlover's picture

but wondered if he was doing a demographic check on how many Sanders supporters he and Kossacks had chased off.

I am only in for Community stuff, otherwise it reminds me of my first year at a new girl's school in 7th grade.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Thanks gjohnsit, keep up us on the user numbers.

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SnappleBC's picture

I get it quite clearly that populist views are not welcome there. I'm quite content to "change the landscape" and in fact I think that's necessary. Bernie's movement needs a place to coalesce beyond the Democratic party and beyond Bernie himself. I'm hoping C99 will become that place.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

mouselander's picture

I suppose I'll continue to visit the site occasionally, though I hate to give it any clicks, but one thing I've come to realize is that on most of the issues I care about, there isn't a hell of a lot of distance between Hillary Clinton and any of the mainstream corporate Republicans like Romney or Jeb Bush. Whether the issue is mid-east wars, blank check support for Israeli Likudniks, outsourcing good paying jobs via "free trade" agreements, fracking, coddling of Wall Street fraudsters, embrace of the for profit healthcare model -- well, you get the idea. On all but a handful of social issues (which happily don't impact the bottom line of the corporatariat), there is not much practical difference between neo-liberal and neo-conservative. No wonder so many of the Orange State posters are sounding more and more like their Red State counterparts.

In a way, the whole thing strikes me as deja vu all over again. I well remember back in 1992 an online acquaintance of mine attended the Democratic Convention in New York as a delegate for Jerry Brown. He told me that when members of the Brown delegation attempted to stage some kind of floor demonstration in support of their candidate, they were cursed, spit upon, and pelted with garbage by the Clinton-ites. The message then, as today, is that if you're a progressive, small-d democrat, the dominant corporate wing of the party wants your vote, but other than that -- shut up, sit down, and get with the program. They just don't want to hear about it, or deal with it. As George Carlin said, it's an exclusive club, and you ain't in it.

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inactive account

Saturday night I introduced a Canadian songwriter to "Mouseland" and suggested that speech/story might be the basis of a good song for him (although he may have heard it and just forgot the title). Then, two days later, I discovered "Shut Up & Sit Down" (a site). And I found about caucus99percent (yet another site - this one, in fact). And then today I read your posting under "mouselander" and in the next-to-last, next-to-last sentence there were the words, "shut up, sit down."

Interesting? Not really, at least as far as coincidences go. But "mouselander" is a cool name. So if you notice any esoteric board game (that you already play) at "Shut Up & Sit Down;" well, do you have any lucky numbers?

best, john

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Strange that a harp of thousand strings should keep in tune so long

Shahryar's picture

sometime back around 1980 there was this thing going around Southern California. It was literally a pyramid scheme. You put in $500 to enter at the bottom and you had to get a couple of people to ante in that much in order for you to move up a row. When you got to the top you ended up with $64,000! (or something like that) And then, if you wanted to, you could put in another $500 and be on the bottom of a different pyramid so you could get another big payday.

Well, obviously it doesn't work. You run out of people well before you cash in. Some folks, the ones who started the scheme, made some money. Everybody else got stuck somewhere below the top, out their $500.

A good friend of ours was in on this and took us to a meeting where we were given the talk. I'd already run the math past our friend to show him why it didn't work so I knew we weren't going to put any money into it. We just went because....

there was this woman who sort of ran the meeting who was dreadful, giving everyone who was already in a very hard time because they weren't bringing in new people. Yeah, we went as a favor to our pal so this lady wouldn't yell at him.

I think of that woman sometimes when I read Markos' work. I'm not really interested in being any place where I'm getting yelled at for not bringing in other suckers or, in this case, supporting something I don't believe in. If Hillary should win the nomination and then lose the election it won't be Hillary's fault, according to the blamers. We all know "they" will all come after us. Funny if it weren't so sad.

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Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

that pyramid scheme because some people I worked with got into it and then were haranguing the rest of us to go in as well. Of course they never made it to the top and were out their $500. I have always lived by the words a very wise accountant once said to me regarding stock tips, get-rich-quick schemes, etc. - "Phoebe, if you know about it, it's too late".
I didn't take any offense, because I got his drift - once the dumb money is in the loop, the smart money has already come and gone.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

detroitmechworks's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_516ml5ImGU]

Especially since I found a better clip. Smile

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

stevej's picture

has been a net negative regarding progressive politics since around January 2008 (a more generous estimate would be 2010).

Basically I agree with everything that you write. The best thing for the progressive movement is to not add any content to DKos - that site's primary function is to dilute and dissipate progressivism. It is where good political and policy ideas go to die.

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

Bisbonian's picture

Except for two. To prove a point...the point made in the comment above, in fact. What a coincidence.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

WaterLily's picture

So glad to have an alternative place to gather.

In somewhat related news, is there a way to see who "agrees with" posts and comments? I enjoy seeing that but haven't figured it out here yet. Thanks, all. Welcome to the un-televised revolution.

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detroitmechworks's picture

Helps avoid cliques, and I personally REALLY like it. Once you get used to just getting a feel for it, it is more of an indication of the general feel of how your point came across. Which works for me.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

WaterLily's picture

I totally get what you're saying, and am on board. I'm still in early transition mode but will eventually adapt. Smile

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that that was one of the ways that folks were manipulated into click-bait tribalism, fashioned to generate advertising revenue. Down votes aren't really needed either as the members will let you know their disagreement by the lack of up votes.

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wanderindiana's picture

Checked out of dKos in 2010, deleting my work after saving copies and resetting my email and password to random keyboard clicks...

Claimed my username here and on Reddit!

Somebody oughta write a tell-all book about that operation someday... Staffed by credit-grabbers, glory hounds, wannabe masters of the universe, and spooks of the intelligence kind, I strongly believe...

There is a joy in joining and building online movements... And there is despair in knowing one's every word is watched and judged by those who might use them against you and your movement...

Daily Kos has always been a political tool, backed by party regulars and big money, in the guise of a supportive environment for changing the world for the better.

The agenda set there was never created in the open light of day. It never belonged to you and me, it just used us to triangulate against us.

And many might think I'm a kook for saying that, but through four presidential election cycles, Mr. M always fell on the side of the status quo establishment.

It is good to be open and proud of what you are doing here. You will be watched, very carefully. Be bold. Think Big. Speak truth to power. Vote for change, first for the best kind; consider though, if you will, doing whatever you need to do to displace the establishment two-party political system. Stop voting for the lesser of two evils. The last time I did that, we stepped closer to a total surveillance state than ever before -- but that was Hope, and Change! Don't fall for false hope and invisible change, ever again.

Thanks for letting me say so. Hope my words hit their intended mark.

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lotlizard's picture

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

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mimi's picture

... and be in oppostion? I don't want more and "Better Progressives". I want more and "Better Democratic Socialists (or Social Democrats) for Equality and Justice". Yes, SDEJ, that's my new American dream party and movement, so far a party of one garden gnome. But it's a start!

Nobody can ever tell me what a progressive is. It's as malleable as liberals and democrats are. So, I want precision.
You throw around with words when you are all happy til you are not and detect that those progressives are anything and just something you didn't want them to be.

Meteor Blades thinks that this is a very stupid thing to say. Progressives that's the word, I remember he said. Just I don't trust progressives either. Sorry. You can progress, but where to and in which direction, that is not defined. In my mind a progressive can progress into the abyss or into authoritarianism or into corporatism.

I guess my mind doesn't work that well. Garden gnomes have just too tiny brains...

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gulfgal98's picture

I have a problem with labels because those labels are always being compromised.

I want more and better policies that benefit we the people. Smile

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

SnappleBC's picture

That's why I go with "populist" now but I'll abandon that as soon as it's coopted by TPTB. What I care about is actual policies designed to help actual people. Some of the label wars on DKOS were hilarious.... like the debate over whether or not the US is a "true oligarchy" all the while ignoring the fact that the federal government is entirely unresponsive to the bottom 90% of voters. Does it really matter what label you put on that?

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

lotlizard's picture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_German_Workers_Youth

By now, 25 years after reunification, hardly anyone would know or care — it’s just an obscure bit of political trivia inside my gnome brain.

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