The New York Times is reporting that if Barbara Lee vacates her seat as congresswoman for California's district thirteen in the San Francisco Bay Area - which just happens to be my district - Markos Moulitsas, of Daily Kos fame, has told colleagues that he may run:
It is difficult for me to know just what to make of this story.Representative Barbara Lee of California may not wind up as our woman in Havana — disputing reports that she was seeking the nomination to be ambassador — but when she does leave Congress, there may be a nationally known liberal waiting to run for her seat: Markos Moulitsas.
Mr. Moulitsas, the founder of the liberal blog Daily Kos and a Berkeley resident, has told associates that he is interested in pursuing a run for elected office.
A number of years ago there was a guy on Maryscott O'Connor's now defunct My Left Wing blog who went under the moniker Stu Piddy. Stu, who was also a Daily Kos refugee, once claimed that Markos was eventually going to run for President of the United States.
I told Stu that I had taken off my right sneaker and placed it beside my keyboard. I told him that if Markos Moulitsas ever runs for president that I would braise that sneaker in a homemade marinara and that I would eat it over penne pasta with a nice glass of Pinot Noir for my lunch.
Well, I still feel pretty safe on that bet, but slightly less safe than I was yesterday.
The main problem that Markos might get from someone such as myself is that, whatever else anyone might make of Daily Kos, there is no question that it is also a venue for anti-Semitic anti-Zionism.
This is not to say that Markos is anti-Semitic.
I have never - not once - seen any indication that Markos Moulitsas is any kind of a racist.
Nonetheless, Daily Kos is an on-line political space, more or less representative of the progressive-left, wherein the Jewish State of Israel and, implicitly, Jews in general, come in for constant defamation and ringing endorsements of contempt.
Markos has, personally, always refused to discuss the Arab-Israel conflict in the pages of his blog, because there is simply no upside to it for someone such as himself. I don't blame him for that, at all. In fact, I would say that it was a smart move. He even refuses to allow Arab-Israel "diaries" space on the front page.
For Markos the Arab-Israel conflict is a remarkable pain in the ass. That guy has probably received more email from members of his blog whining and bitching and moaning and complaining about something that someone said in the comments around the Arab-Israel conflict than anyone else in four counties.
If he runs, I wish him well... but not too well.
I've never eaten a sneaker before, after all.
{A Big Tip 'O the Kippa to JayinPhiladelpha.}
There's a shak-shoe-ka joke somewhere in there.
ReplyDeleteIf you throw in enough peppers, I'm sure they'll push themselves to the front of the dish. And, I mean... leather does come from cows, after all, right?
This would indeed be one main problem -
"Nonetheless, Daily Kos is an on-line political space, more or less representative of the progressive-left, wherein the Jewish State of Israel and, implicitly, Jews in general, come in for constant defamation and ringing endorsements of contempt."
I can't think of any other American political site which has done more to mainstream the harassment, vilification and bullying of Jews, at least to the extent that it exists online amongst certain factions of the Left.
Though if we're being honest, it'd hardly be the only (or even the most serious) problem he'd face in such an endeavor.
No need to look into wines which best bring out the earthy tones in shoelace yet.
This is a funny story.
DeleteI honestly do not know quite what to make of it.
One thing that I would say, of course, is that the odds on him even running for that seat are iffy. It all depends on whether Lee splits.
But if he does run, one would think - given the general dislike for Daily Kos around these parts - that I would be deadly opposed to a Moulitsas run for district 13, but I am not.
I would simply not, however, vote for the guy and I would encourage others not to do so.
I also think that if he does run for congress then he will need to clarify his position on the Arab-Israel conflict and will need to account for the fact that dkos is a hot-bed of Israel defamation.
This is what the guy provides a platform for.
DeleteWith the lonely exception of a few posts here and there, mostly by the indefatigable defender of good sense JNEREBEL, half the diary titles on that section of the site would not be out of place as headlines at Rense.com.
He doesn't allow them on his front page, to his credit, sure... but he does publish crazed drivel like this there.
That place is a veritable gold mine of opposition research, and if anyone ever deserved to have the tables turned on him in such a matter, it's that guy.
I place the chances of his running seriously at 0%, though the publicity would sure help boost web hits and book sales.
Yep.
DeleteIn fact, now as I chew on it - before Laurie and I take off for the day - the more entertaining the prospect becomes.
Heck, I would LOVE to see the guy run for that seat.
And, indeed, gold mine of opposition research?
If anyone wanted to cripple a Moulitsas run for Congress all they would need to do is cherry-pick some particularly egregious comments, either from him or one of his lieutenants, and he'd be done for.
In fact, I bet that Markos ultimately does not run because if he does they'll smack the holy crap out of the guy with anything that they can find on dkos and, as you know, there is plenty to be found.
If he were to win he would be ineffective as a legislator, but excel in bringing the identity politics that Bill Clinton warned is the "the biggest threat to the future of our children and grandchildren."
ReplyDeleteWhen you are an activist before all else, you can be trusted to push for your ideology even when reality proves otherwise. And when all else fails, blame Netanyahu and Republicans for being evildoers just like the "activists" that killed in Paris.
Kos is too strident and that may work in his fiefdom with his sycophants, but not among equals. It is a good thing that most people reject his way of seeing things and view of how to get things done.
Hopefully The Elder Of Ziyon will get to engage him twitter a la Jim Clancy. Heh.
ReplyDeleteDrunken frat boy and owner of Fark.com Drew Curtis is running for governor of Kentucky. So what?
ReplyDeleteThe "so what?" question is almost always an excellent question to ask.
DeleteAnd I wish that I had a good answer for it.
Running for political office in California routinely becomes one of those circus shows in American politics - like running for Mayor of NYC or the city that elected a dog, or that Idaho election that ran a Satanist Biker against a Jesus Freak Biker.
ReplyDelete