A friend and former co-blogger (at the local blog I used to write at) is Facebook-sharing some piece from Daily Kos about how Bill Clinton should be arrested for blocking a polling place. This got me wondering, and I probably don’t want to know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway: how bad is the Clinton hate on Daily Kos right now? Some braver soul than I among you must go there sometimes.
(I’ll vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is. They’d both be much better presidents than the alternatives.)
Fr33d0m
Lots of sharp elbows on both sides. Seems about even.
Turgidson
I don’t stop by there often, but in my experience, it has seemed like the Bernie brigade throws a lot of venom at Hillary – not a progressive, corrupt, warmonger, neoliberal, etc. at least as often as they talk up Bernie. The Hillary supporters mostly speak or post articles that speak positively about their own candidate and say less about Bernie (good or bad). But that was just from a handful of quick visits and perhaps too small a sample size.
Keith G
So, Kos is a subset of a subset of a subset (repeat a few more times), thus why bother? In an environment of limited time, search for wisdom or at least the joyful, not it’s opposite.
C.V. Danes
Haven’t been there in a while. I’m pretty far to the left, but even I can only take so much.
Iowa Old Lady
I’ve had to stop reading anything but the front page over there. Comments and community diaries are venomous about Clinton. I like both our candidates and the foaming at the mouth makes me cringe.
p.a.
Haven’t been there in ages, but no matter how ‘in the weeds’ it may be there now, I remember when GOS was the driving force behind More Better Democrats, and Vote for the Democrat in the Democratic Primaries; and that’s a debt I chose not to discount. I was an intertube nube then, so if others were making the same arguments as effectively, I don’t know about them. Gilliard (rip Steve) & Black too.
Rich Webb
Really? I don’t dig into the diaries over at DKos but the front page seems to be pretty reality-based. Witness this by Kos on the Super Tuesday results. Seems pretty straightforward to me, although some of the comments on that post seem to think it’s too biased towards Clinton.
Okay, I’m a dummy and can’t get a link to be a link, so here’s the url plain http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/2/1494321/-Democrats-Super-Tuesday-and-one-step-closer-to-the-general-election
raven
I know they think they’re the queen of the underground. . .
Jerry
The Clinton hate is pretty strong over at dailykos, but there are still lots of pro-Clinton diaries and Markos himself is pro-Clinton.
WarMunchkin
They’ve avoided readership capture, if that’s what you’re asking.
DailyKos: 1
Balloon Juice: ?
kped
As long as you ignore the diaries, and stick to front pagers (a good idea most times anyway), it’s fine. And avoid the comment sections…
But some of those diaries are brutal. Lots of Republican talking points about THE FBI BENGHAZZI
Miss Bianca
I only follow book groups over there anymore. And some of the front-pagers. Plus, I find their new format pretty confusing, therefore off-putting.
raven
Where have you gone Jany Hamsher
a nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you
aimai
The front page is ok but the recommended diaries are a cesspit. And the personal attacks on HRC and Bill Clinton are jaw dropping. Many of them straight from the right wing fringe. They are also vehement. There is a subset over there who are, technically and when convenient, democratic voters but they really hate the party, hate Obama, and hate the other voters in the country who aren’t willing to burn the entire thing down to get to a better future.
The Dangerman
Bill really SHOULD know better (if it’s as I heard anyway, I have no desire to go look it up). Then again, Hillary should have known better about the server, so maybe it runs in the Family.
I’d love to know how many of these Open Primaries, where there are records being set for “Republican” turnout, are the result of people on the left engaging in some good old fashioned, Limbaugh inspired, ratfucking. If I read the news correctly, the only “closed” primary last night was Oklahoma.
Turgidson
@Jerry:
I think it’s more that Markos just accepts that Clinton is the likely nominee and never really saw how Bernie would pull off the upset. I don’t think he has any particular love or hate for HRC, but is ready to get on with gearing up for the general election.
Brachiator
Is Daily Kos still a thing?
kped
@Jerry: I think Markos is being pretty neutral, just posting on the state of the race and what the numbers say about the future. And really ripping into the idiots who think Trump and Clinton are the same. I’ve really enjoyed his takes.
pacem appellant
The front-pagers are neutral to lean Hilary. The diaries are overwhelmingly rabid for Bernie. I was banned for a week not too long ago for dancing on Scalia’s grave in a diary. I don’t venture into the diaries anymore. I read Hunter and Kos’s posts, occasionally Joan McCarter’s. The Social Justice front pagers are writing about interesting topics (usually) but their outrage filters need adjustment and their writing abilities are amateur; I seldom read more than the execute summary on those posts.
trollhattan
Repeating from below, Carson out. Not that it’s a surprise other than how long it took.
Bobby Thomson
Toxic. Remember how bad the Ron Paul people were all across the internet? Multiply by a 1000. A gang of bullies fluffed by Republican moles. Kos is just letting it ride because he gets tge ad revenue.
rk
I almost never go there but did today. Seemed fine to me. Kos basically said that Bernie supporters are idiots to dismiss the wins in southern states as if those voters don’t matter. Bernie does not have the black or minority votes and Bernie supporters have to stop behaving as if only the blue states matter. Also, if he can’t win liberal Massachusetts then he’s done.
Sounds rational.
Jerry
Here is a link to the diary in question.
Bobby Thomson
@Fr33d0m: horse shit.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Thought it was the Weekly Kos now?
Jerry
@kped:
Now that I think about it, yes, this.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven:
I prefer the TVZ version, of course.
And you hate me for the Jane H line. I have a nickname of Mrs. R in a loosely knit social group called the LIW. So seeing her anywhere in relationship to the song wounds me. : )
Lying Irish Whores for anyone to whom it isn’t obvious.
beltane
Kos’s stuff is OK. I never really cared for the other front pagers, even back in the days (2007-2009) when I used to post there frequently. I’ll sometimes read climate change related diaries or jump into an I/P fight if I’m in the mood for drama, but I’ll go for weeks at a time without even looking at the place these days.
The Dangerman
Oops, I didn’t look downstairs; there’s an entire post on rodentia fornication.
AliceBlue
I don’t know how many folks here read Mahablog, but I’ve lurked over there for a long time and always enjoyed the thoughtful posts–the blogmistress is the personification of “keep calm and carry on”–until she started feeling the Bern. Her post today is full-on, spittle flecked Clinton Derangement Syndrome.
mikefromArlington
I imagine Firedog Lake is 10 fold worse.
maeve
@The Dangerman:
Alaska has a closed “presidential preference ballot” (formerly a caucus – now its secret ballot) for Republicans. The Dem caucus (March 27) is open (you have to re-register as a D at the door). Alaska has more unaffiliated registered voters than either R or D.
Cruz “won” but only by 2 percentage points over Trump – there are a number of R registered voters who moved here from Oklahoma and Texas for the oil industry.
raven
@mikefromArlington: It’s dead.
Bobby Thomson
@mikefromArlington: it would be if it still existed. Guess where those people are now?
Inventor
Sanders’ supporters there have devolved into a pack of hyenas. ANY diary that’s negative about Clinton or one of her supporters, even obvious troll diaries, shoot straight to the top of the rec. list.
Everything’s a conspiracy, there can be no honest disagreement with Bernie.
Why do Sanders’ supporters act like assholes? According to one rec. list diary, because their candidate is so awesome they just can’t help themselves. Really.
Senator Sanders deserves better supporters.
Chyron HR
BREAKING: Ben Carson wakes up, announces “Treacle” and goes back to sleep.
msdc
The diaries are as bad as you can imagine. That said, I actually find all the magical thinking, excuse-making, consolation-prize-distributing “Bernie taught us an important lesson as he lost 7 states last night” diaries even more depressing.
raven
@Bobby Thomson: Some of them are still on my FB but they are good folks (except for my brother Southern Dragon who has been dead for about 5 years with no one to take his FB down).
mikefromArlington
Couldn’t have happened to a better site.
That place went f’in haywire after a bit. What’s her name must have lost her cash flow from whoever was paying her to trash the administration at every corner. The commenters had to have been paid trolls. Probably ran by Republican staffers.
raven
@mikefromArlington: Jane Hamsher. She went nuts after chemo so maybe that was the deal.
The Golux
I somehow got on the “Daily Kos Recommended” email list and haven’t bothered to unsubscribe. One of the biggest takeaways I get from sampling the fare there is that the quality of writing is extremely variable. In general, the writing by commentariat here is usually better than most of the posts there, and the front pagers here are vastly superior.
I had my fill of reading bad writing when I used to read to my kids; some of the books they liked were a real chore to read.
msdc
@Inventor:
I don’t know – hearing stories about how liberal legislators like Barney Frank couldn’t get along with Sanders because of his holier-than-thou attitude makes me think that he’s found his natural constituency. Campaigns usually take on the character of the candidate.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Discovered Balloon Juice in 2008 and never went back to DKos. Why? You could easily confirm any negative stereotype of liberals you might have just by stopping by for five minutes.
I bet it’s far worse now. For whatever reasons, the site attracts people with serious allergies to reality.
goblue72
@Brachiator: Well, Markos owns a house in the Berkeley Hills and just opened a fancy digs office in downtown Oakland – DailyKos Office Photo Tour.
Meanwhile, John has to go digging around for programmer volunteers who can’t even manage to program a basic blog update without causing the whole thing to puke up.
So yeah, I’d say DailyKos is still a thing.
Lamh36
As a African American this whole primary season has got me to thinking, it must be nice to only having to worry about income inequality via classism keeping you down…and not having to deal with both classism and racism.
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
He’s not quite out yet. He’s just sitting in a daze by the side of the road, wondering if he should go home.
kindness
Shit I’ve had to unfollow a couple good friends on facebook. My BernieBro friends have gone over the line to Fox like pieces. I start out asking if they could support Bernie without giving Republicans ammunition for the fall if it comes down to Hillary v Trump. They typically said they would and then went right on mouthing Fox talking points. So I unfollow after reminding them that their support of Nader never helped Democrats. (more than a couple of them were Nader voters the bastards)
Peale
last time I went over there, the top rec’d piece was a flattering portrait comparing Bernie’s candidacy to Goldwater’s as a bellwether for good things to come for progressives. So they seemed to be in let’s lose big for the sake of a better future mode.
chopper
the wreck list has been a hot mess of denial for quite a bit. not yet at ‘suicide cult’ level but getting there.
goblue72
@The Golux: If John opened the site up to accepting full blog posts from any commenter that cared to write one (like DK does), I’d except you’d see any equally all over the map level of quality of writing / analysis.
Plus, DK draws WAY more page views and commenters than BJ – and with that, I’d expect the variance level of quality to skew all over the place.
Mnemosyne
I never was a Kos person — not sure why. I think big websites like that confuse my ADHD brain.
I’m mostly staying out of it because California’s primary is so late that we don’t really make a difference in the result.
raven
@goblue72: So why don’t you just say there with all your bullshit?
pamelabrown53
@Jerry:
No. Markos is not “pro-Clinton”; Markos is more reality based. Still, Dkos is a toxic waste dump. It’s like all the most ideological malcontents swarmed to one spot.
The first commenter pronounced it was “equal” At any time of the day or night, read the wreck list and tell me it’s in any way equal.
LABiker
My extremely progressive Facebook friends are sharing a Washington Times article about the comparative electability of Bernie and Hillary. Of course, Bernie comes out on top. So glad for the contested primary. It’s a chance for everyone to share their best thoughts.
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
Suppose that’s the funniest aspect of several: him running or not running is essentially equivalent.
goblue72
@raven: You forget to take your pills again?
Bob In Portland
A recent national survey said Hillary Hate was at 58%. Only Trump beats her, at 68%. So yeah, everything’s hunky dory if you stay away from Daily Kos. GO TEAM GO.
Prescott Cactus
Although not an official organ of the Daily Kos empire, many Kossacks were a bit miffed at HRC for skipping Netroots Nation 2015 in Arizona (Kos also skipped it because of the immigration law attempts, etc).
It seems to be a heavy Bern area where with any luck PUMA won’t rear it’s ugly head again. I have my doubts.
goblue72
@pamelabrown53: I think they are referring to the FP posts on Dailykos. The Rec List by and large is just an extension of their comments system. Judging the site primarily by its commenters is like judging a newspaper by its comment system.
jl
The Dem primary is so boring that we are supposed to argue about the tweener spats between the candidates’ most maladjusted supporters? I think Doug! doing a troll post, and that Doug! sockpuppet troll comments are more fun. But he gets more criticism for those. Man up Doug! and brave the storm! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The GOP primaries are far more interesting. I read several analyses that say Trump is underperforming recently, in terms of voting behavior for those deciding close to Super Tuesday. Which I think is real evidence, rather than qualitative ‘expectations’ games kibbitzing. Sam Wang concluded that Trump can win enough delegates with only around 1/3 of GOPers supporting him, Wang did not say it was a sure bet by any means. So, the delegate count may be closer than expected as we move through the primaries.
And I have hopes Romney’s major address (should be in scare quotes, probably) will confuse things more. Has the making of a good Sci Fi move: can two malfunctioning androids combine forces to stop a human who has gone rogue from destroying one of the greatest political cons of modern times?
I think it’s more productive and more fun to study the GOP train wreck for clues on best way to beat them in November.
Look, the script for the Democratic primaries is set, unless Sanders is a big liar: Sanders is going to stay in through California, and if he has enough delegates to make an impact on the Democratic campaign and HRC, he is going to force a vote at the convention. HRC will forge ahead and try to wrap up so she can pick and choose which part of Sanders platform and schtick she wants to adopt, rather than having to bargain with the old coot to keep the convention nice and happy and calm. The rest is trivia. And if there is no fun campaign gear involved, it is boring trivia.
Richard Mayhew
Front page is decent. Some people I will read and learn things (especially Dkos Elections), others do a decent job of policy impacting politics summary (Joan McCarter) and the rest of the site the signal to noise is not worth the time to wade through
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hell, Sanders can’t do that. Trump was quoting him a couple of weeks ago, may still be doing so.
Aqualad08
As long as you don’t comment something pro-Hillary on a pro-Bernie diary, you’re OK. If you decide to rattle those cages, all bets are off.
It’s not FireDogLake circa 2008 level animosity, but they do get stupid once in a while.
Bob In Portland
@msdc: Holier than thou? You mean not being bought, like him? When you are an alcoholic you carry a subtle resentment against teetotallers. (metaphor)
Germy
@jl:
This is funny as hell!
EriktheRed
I still go there often, but I’m really getting tired reading the Judean People’s Front constantly trashing the People’s Front of Judea.
Baud
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
That was me in 2010.
goblue72
@kindness: If you are really worried that something a candidate might say about in an opponent during a PRIMARY might get used by the opposition during the General Election, then you really have lost the thread. This is politics. This shit happens all the time. You don’t pull punches during a primary out of some nebulous fear of what the other side might make of it.
JHC – at what point will some of you start to unlearn the “defensive crouch in fear of Republicans” stance?
different-church-lady
What’s 11 times 11, cranked to 12?
Add about 100 to that and there’s your answer.
goblue72
@Bob In Portland: I wouldn’t call Barnie bought and paid for. Except when it came to Fannie/Freddie where he had a giant blind spot.
different-church-lady
@Brachiator:
It is. It is an extremely ugly thing.
goblue72
@EriktheRed: And that is different than the comments here how?
Brachiator
@goblue72:
Wow. And I thought that the Huffington Post was the limit of political media grifting.
geg6
@kped:
Agree wholeheartedly. The front page is generally as good as ever. Comments are a horror, though. And I haven’t looked at the diaries in, literally, years.
goblue72
@different-church-lady: Fixed it for you:
#282 in the U.S. per Alexa in terms of site popularity. Balloon-Juice in comparison is #10,965.
Steve in the ATL
I have a law degree from the University of Georgia, so the Bulldogs are my college football team of choice. I didn’t go there for undergrad, though, or grow up in Georgia, so I’m a fan but not a rabid fan. I also have rooted for Georgia Tech since it’s a good school and is right here in Atlanta; I like to see them do well in every game but one.
I’m starting to hate Tech, though, because of the ridiculous, over the top vitriol that some of their fans spew in the comment section of every article about Georgia. Tech is still a fine school but some of their ardent fans make it really hard not to hate the team.
Anyway, you know where I’m going with this: substitute “Hillary Clinton” for “Georgia” and “Bernie Sanders” for “Georgia Tech.”
Baud
@Brachiator: Markos has other business ventures as well, I believe.
PsiFighter37
I rarely visit and have not posted in what feels like several years. It looked like an absolute pit the last time I checked.
I have fond memories of DK during the Bush years, but ever since the netroots did not get on the train with Obama early on, they have become increasingly irrelevant, IMO. The fact that they were powerless in terms of getting a meaningful DNC chair in (both Kaine and DWS have been worthless) is their biggest failure – as having Dean there was their greatest success.
Nowadays I only read BJ and Booman when it comes to political blogs.
Germy
Anyone have any predictions about Romney’s upcoming announcement?
different-church-lady
@Inventor:
It’s a predictable side-effect of his playing the politics of resentment.
I started saying that months ago. But once I figured out item 1 in this reply, I wasn’t so sure about item 2 anymore. He may be getting exactly the supporters he’s cultivating, only he’s blind to it.
Ella in New Mexico
Kos himself is smart and readable, as are a few of the regular writers. But he’s rarely there anymore. The rest is just a free-for-all, and not very useful.
It’s what happens when you let too many voices take over the front page, especially if you don’t keep them balanced, and in line with your original philosophy. It’s why I really miss John Cole when he’s scarce around here–I came to this site over a decade ago because of his point of view. I like our FP’ers a lot, but he’s the balance this site often needs.
So…
May we all look carefully at Daily Kos as a warning, for it had it’s great days, but has now become the Left’s own click-baity extremist, narrow-minded version of Redstate.
May BJ stay, sane, rational, and respectful, with room for all of us.
The Ancient Randonneur
Who cares? When we have this!
Mitt Romney To Speak Thursday On ‘State Of The 2016’ Race
Be still my heart!
Baud
@PsiFighter37: I too have fond memories of them during Bush.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@The Ancient Randonneur: what I hate most about Republicans like Romney is sometimes they make me root for Drumpft. I find myself kinda hoping Drumpft has a Romeny impersonation ready to go.
raven
@Steve in the ATL: Buzzfeed! I worked at Tech at what was called the Center for Rehabilitation Technology in those days. Bobby Dodd can be nice at night when you are on the side overlooking mid-town.
eta Do you read Get The Picture? Really good Dawg football site run by a lawyer who went to UVA!
Baud
@The Ancient Randonneur: Hahahahaha.
Germy
@The Ancient Randonneur: Hear those galloping hooves? The White Horse!
Bubblegum Tate
This is me as well, but that stance gets me tagged as a jackbooted Sanders-hater by a decent chunk of my FB feed (all of whom are sharing that Kos thing and demanding the arrest of Bill, Hillary, Chelsea, and fuck it, may as well throw George in the pokey, too).
Ella in New Mexico
Also, too, can I posit that it’s VERY possible that since anyone can post a diary at DKOS, a shit-ton of those people saying they are Sander’s supporters and posting vile things about Hilary are actually Republican trolls trying to get people to vote for the person they believe will be weaker against their candidate?
PsiFighter37
@pamelabrown53: That’s probably because places like FDL, MyDD, and OpenLeft no longer exist for them to inhabit. dKos is really the only one of the progressive blogs to hit it big from a financial standpoint…everyone else (no offense to our benevolent overlord here) mainly uses it as a platform for voicing opinions.
I really do question if dKos actually gets involved in any meaningful activism these days or not, and how effective it is. I never read any email I get from websites and groups like the DCCC, although I have unsubscribed from virtually anything politics-related.
jl
@The Ancient Randonneur: Thanks. I wish I could be as succinct.
And Kasich has a good chance of winning Ohio. And Rubio has a very good chance of losing Florida. But maybe a closer-than-expected second place ‘win’ can keep him in.
I really like the way the GOP primary is unfolding. Though very upset about what they coughed up for candidates. Don’t hate the game, hate the players.
Would be nice if the GOP primary turned into a such a Baud-awful mess, that a relative safe-n-sane sleazeball like Romney could pilot the crippled their crippled ship to disaster in November.
Icedfire
As many have said above, the comments sections are a cesspool. I don’t know if I know how to pick reasonable friends or what, but despite most of my social circles skewing heavily pro-Bernie I haven’t seen anything remotely like the comment wars on DKos.
It’s why I get my feathers ruffled when I see people painting all Bernie supporters with the same brush – I and those I know are nothing like the worst of the comment section crusaders, but I’m getting an idea of why the anger levels they’ve provoked are so high.
JPL
@The Ancient Randonneur: I also heard that Mr. 47% was not going to endorse anyone. I’m sure he’ll speak to the inclusiveness of the party, except for the takers.
One thing that surprises me, is Palin escaped being called a hypocrite and bigot for campaigning on the same issues. Who was a real American according to Palin.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
you made me curious so I looked at the site and don’t see anything about Bubba. Did it get taken down? Anybody got a link?
jl
And if Baud! 2016! wants to steal ‘Baud-awful’ for his campaign, I’ll see him court. I learned a thing or two from the Yosemite trademark flap. Some real productive Romney/Trump style capitalism, there. Should put it Econ 101 curriculum.
Bostonian
It’s clear to me, as somebody who voted yesterday in one of the wards whose business Bill Clinton interrupted, that the ex-President was in violation of state election laws, namely G. L. 54, § 65 and 950 C.M.R. § 54.04, by campaigning within 150 feet of a polling location… in fact, inside a polling location.
I believe that no man is above the law, and that Clinton should be adjudged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. State law calls for a fine of up to 20 dollars for such a violation.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: By Jingo, this racist hate spewer certainly is nothing like the fellow whose endorsement I pursued so that he could tell my supporters Obama was born in Kenya!
goblue72
@Brachiator: Heh. Hard to say. HuffPo is over 10 years old, and best its been able to manage is break-even.
DK opening offices in downtown Oakland might be evidence of decent profitability. But Kos is also involved in Vox Media, as a co-founder of Vox Media, which owns The Verge, Vox (the Ezra Klein project), Curbed, Eater and SB Nation (successful sports blogging platform), along with other digital media sites.
Vox is a private company, so at end of day, DK could even just be a hobby project for Markos at this point.
msdc
@Bob In Portland:
I forget, are you taking checks from Putin or just an enthusiastic amateur?
Beth in VA
@Rich Webb: Mostly the Rec List posts are venomous.
goblue72
@Icedfire: Agree. I don’t take the DK comment wars seriously. I am an early registered user of the site and its been like that since day one at the site. Jeez, I swear the first post on the site by Kos was a screamy rant about Bush or something. The comments section there has built from day one on feuding.
msdc
@different-church-lady:
This.
gex
@Steve in the ATL: This perfectly describes this primary season for me as well.
Steve in the ATL
@Bostonian:
Hey, we finally found an ACTUAL crime committed by a Clinton!
Marc
I stopped reading Kos in 2008. Have I missed anything?
goblue72
@different-church-lady: People should be resentful. And angry. Pitchfork mob and burning down the village angry.
Icedfire
@goblue72: Maybe it’s a function of hazy nostalgia, but I feel like I was able to have some decent comment discussions there even through the 2008 primary. Right now, though, it seems like every comment is either an echo chamber endorsement, a vehement denunciation by someone who disagrees, or some degree of insinuated insult by someone who has nothing to actively disagree with but feels like extending a grudge or stirring the pot.
The occasional hissy fits here don’t even register on *that* Richter scale.
Marc
@jl: Having Romney parachute into the late primaries after Rubio loses everywhere, including Florida, would be glorious.
Having him then lose to Trump: even more so.
jl
@Steve in the ATL:
Boston polling official says no, in their humble opinion, we have not:
Official: Bill Clinton shaking hands does not violate election law
CNN Politics
Brian McNiff, spokesman for the secretary of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, says shaking hands alone isn’t prohibited. Explicit campaigning is what’s banned within 150 feet of a polling places.
“Just meeting people doesn’t constitute campaigning,” McNiff told CNN. “We received no information that anything like that happened.”
His office said it reached out to the Clinton campaign Tuesday “just to remind them about the 150 foot rule.”
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/bill-clinton-campaigning-polling-place-super-tuesday/index.html
And film clip that came with story shows that Bill Clinton did not actually say “Shut up and sit down” to a rude and disruptive veteran at a rally.
But that said, I don’t think Bill Clinton is doing HRC much good during the primaries, and wish a way could be found for him to entertain himself until the general election begins. Said as a continuing Sanders supporter, who recognizes that Democratic victory in November is the Prime Directive.
Bob In Portland
@goblue72: No, I didn’t say that Bernie was bought. I was referring to Barney Frank, who now gets his money from that megaplex of banking he used to oppose. I guess the congressional pension isn’t enough.
kc
I’ve never been a reader of DailyKos, but, um, what was Bill Clinton doing in (apparently more than one) polling place?
I mean . . .
Marc
(deleted for format failure)
Chyron HR
@Germy:
“Oh, gosh, you know, I’m not much for speeches, but it’s so gratifying to leave you wallowing in the mess you’ve made. You’re screwed, thank you, bye.”
(Sanford and Son theme plays)
qwerty42
Worth a read:
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/2/1494621/-A-real-liberal-revolution-starts-with-communities-of-color
Bostonian
@Steve in the ATL: Where’s Trey Gowdy when you don’t need him? And where do I put this -gate?
Bob In Portland
@msdc: I get a cut from the arms deal with Qatar. Better pay.
kc
@kindness:
LMAO, shee-it. Like the GOP is gonna need Bernie Sanders to give them “ammunition” against Hillary Clinton.
different-church-lady
@goblue72:
And yet, after they both went through major upgrades at about the same time, Balloon Juice is functioning more smoothly than DKos.
trollhattan
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Remember four years ago–when we were all watching Willard, in his “endearing” uncomfortable way, pander to the party lunatics–and wondering how the hell he was going to pivot “back to the center” for the general? That worked out so very well for him.
Captain C
@Germy: A short circuit will cause him to sound like Max Headroom?
dmsilev
@Chyron HR: I think Romney’s speech will be “So, do you miss me yet, Republicans?”
It would be hilarious if he decided to actually run, but that’s sadly not realistic (filing deadlines for the primaries are long past for most states).
hueyplong
Easier for the Clinton supporters to be civil right now — they’re winning and are well served by the status quo. The Sanders people need to shake things up to win (as opposed to merely keeping Clinton from “pivoting to the center” too soon).
I don’t see much of anything around here or even at DKos that comes close to the knife fights on the GOP side. I hope grudges continue to be created and honed for the next three or four months over there and that the parade of people humiliated by Trump gets bigger and bigger.
Linda Featheringill
One of the best things about dkos is that it doesn’t fall into a coma about three times a week, like BJ does.
SiubhanDuinne
@Chyron HR:
Yes! Of course! He’s the Dormouse! Thank you, I’ve been spending far too much time this entire campaign trying to figure out exactly who Carson reminds me of. Now I can think about other Deep Questions.
Baud
IIRC, Kos was always good about purging people who advocated voting against Dems. I’ll give him props for not crossing that line.
Wrb
Dunno. I abandoned the Kos when it became dominated by PUMAs, public option or nothing, and firebaggers. When it was Clinton central. Is it not still?
jl
@dmsilev: More likely, he will try to talk GOP primary voters down off the ledge, and implicitly suggest that a real establishment man like himself will be available should the GOP find itself in some sort of dilemma come convention time. That would be good enough for me.
different-church-lady
@goblue72: Not mutually exclusive.
Baud
@goblue72:
@different-church-lady:
If you had told me Balloon Juice was in the low five digits in site popularity, I would have said you were exaggerating.
The internet really is a wasteland, isn’t it?
EriktheRed
@goblue72: A matter of degree, I guess. IMO, it’s not as bad here.
Calouste
@Germy: Shamelessly stolen from the TalkingPointsMemo comments section
Tim C.
My perception is that frequently Kos and about half of his front-pagers are worth it. Kos himself still seems practical in terms of recognizing both the limits and advantages of various candidates.
Diaries are….. well…. yeah…..
Look, I’ll just say there’s always been some crazy feces in the diary section of Kos for a long time.
Thor Heyerdahl
I was really active on DKos from the run up to the Iraq Invasion until 2013. My user ID there is 3-digits (under 300) and I went through the 2004, 2008 and 2012 elections there. It was a refuge during the dark days of Bush. I have rarely visited there since January 2013 and have only commented once since then.
Peale
@trollhattan: I really don’t see Hillary tacking to the center on the issues of this campaign. I mean the center right now is defined by only torturing the Muslims responsible for terrorist attacks and not torturing and executing their parents as well. I don’t know how many voters anyone is going to find in that kind of center.
At the same time, I guess I’ll let Bernie take credit for any popular policy positions she has. I mean being that she’s not really a democrat no matter what she says and is really to the right of Robert Taft, anything she says that I like must be because Bernie is preventing her from eating puppies.
Bill E Pilgrim
@goblue72:
That’s a “Rubio win”!
daverave
@Linda Featheringill:
Weird… that’s one of the things I like best about it. Everyone/everything needs a bit of rest now and then.
JPL
@Bill E Pilgrim: Oh crap.. When does John give his victory speech.
pamelabrown53
@PsiFighter37:
I tend to agree with you. It’s as if the smaller sites like FDL imploded because of a hostile takeover from anyone who isn’t leftier than thou. As each went under they congregated at kos.
It’s time I quit the place and spend more time in meat space for any real activism.
p.a.
Speaking of Kos and mo’better Democrats.
“Who will free me from this turbulent pol?”
Bill E Pilgrim
@JPL: And which of the pets plays the Chris Christie role, standing behind him and blinking SOS in Morse code.
salvage
Whatever the hate is for Clinton it’s not enough, she’s an awful person and candidate.
Why are there Democrats so keen to have another Republican President?
different-church-lady
@Bostonian: What about draft picks?
pamelabrown53
@goblue72:
Markos sold his interest in VOX. He wrote a post about . FYI.
jl
@Bill E Pilgrim:
” Balloon-Juice in comparison is #10,965 ”
I guess Cole can brag that BJ is almost a “top 10” blog. In a manner of speaking.
jl
@Bill E Pilgrim:
” And which of the pets plays the Chris Christie role, standing behind him and blinking SOS in Morse code. ”
Probably a pic of Tunch will have to do. Except Tunch never did ‘pathetic’ so won’t be the same.
If Tunch were still here, he and Rosie could team up to pick Cole pocket while he was speaking. That would be fun.
different-church-lady
In regards to the Bill Clinton thing, apparently what happened is he held a rally in a parking lot and a handful of people bitched about not being able to park and that means 22,000 people were prevented from voting for Bernie in New Bedford. So, Massachusetts was TOTALLY stolen.
I suspect Tom Brady will be suspended another four games for this.
Bill E Pilgrim
@jl: Considering that if Marco came in 10,965th they’d call it a win, I’d say BJ is # 1!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Ella in New Mexico:
I’ve followed the writings of AnylFisher13 and RiggedErections! for a long time and I’m pretty sure they are purity leftists.
trollhattan
@Peale:
Agree, not only do I not foresee her doing it, I don’t think she needs to. But the compare and contrast of Willard/Donald will be hilarious, because “No fookking way!” will he shove the tiller and tack leftward. The little people demand he keep yelling.
Bob In Portland
I don’t think that the Daily Kos website is formatted well.
Regarding Bill Clinton, I don’t think he’s changing many minds at this point. Let him wander about. Heck, I’d drink a beer with him.
A Ghost To Most
@salvage:
Doug!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Bostonian:
HRC is going to be back on the streets of Wall earning if this shit keeps up.
different-church-lady
@Just Some Fuckhead: The fine itself isn’t much, but fighting it in court could cost millions.
bemused
@Germy:
What is up with Mitt and his billionaire amigos? The horses broke out of the barn long ago. It’s months late to try to herd them back to the ranch.
aimai
@Peale: Prezackly.
Just Some Fuckhead
@PsiFighter37:
Irrelevant to the handful of Obama fealty enforcers at Balloon Juice or irrelevant to the millions of unique visitors that Daily Kos gets each month?
dedc79
Oregon to raise minimum wage up to close to $15/hr over a six year period. I believe it was just a few weeks ago that someone (Cacti, I’m pretty sure) told us all that a $15 minimum wage was a fantasy and that any Dem candidate (Sanders) who claims it’s achievable must be lying.
raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): You lost me.
Mike J
Drove into an overpass and saved the taxpayers the cost of a trial.
ellennelle
@The Dangerman:
fwiw, i’m in MA, and was pretty dumbfounded when i heard about this. it is a hard and fast law, pretty much throughout the country, so yeah, bill should know better.
and it’s not trivial. bill is a walking symbol for all things clinton, so his very presence does not even need to openly say the words ‘vote for my wife’ to dissolve the boundaries between letter and spirit of that law.
i voted after doing visibility, and was asked to remove my button, and my buddy was asked to remove his cap. no problem, we’d forgotten; it is, after all, the law.
but given that experience, i was pretty offended bill could just waltz in like that, right up to the letter of the law, and thumb his nose at the spirit of it. the point is, there should be no influencing voters on election day at polling places. period.
but from all i’ve been able to gather over about three decades now of watching the clintons (i lived in memphis when he was AR guv), living on that fine edge between illegal and i can get away with this just seems to be their MO, esp. his.
for the life of me, i am baffled that the party would be so all in with a candidate with so much damn baggage. most of it fully fabricated out of malicious misogyny, granted (had i a dollar for every defense of hillary i’ve preached, fully memorized now). but let me tell ya, they’ve cultivated an entire generation of folks who loathe her as much as they loathe dark skin, and they’ll crawl over shredded glass to vote against her.
which might help explain why her opponent tends to do better than she does in head-to-head polls against the GOP clowns.
jl
@trollhattan: I think both HRC and Trump started practicing their general election acts last night. And it was interesting watching Trump trying to be calmer and more coherent adult.He looked like wanted to explode at some of the questions.
I wonder what is going on in that guy’s head. He seemed pretty calm when the Muslim ban came up. He’s got his ‘until we figure things out’ escape hatch there. Depending on mood of general election voters, he can start ‘figuring things out’ to modify that pretty easily if he needs to (at least in his mind he thinks he can, and he has a brilliant mind after all, he has deemed it so).
Seemed more irritated with the Trump Wall questions. It’s really stupid proposal, and maybe he would like to have an escape hatch on that but realizes that will be hard? When he got the question was he thinking “Aww that damn wall crap again. That was just something to beat those stupid losers in the primary. How do I make that stunt look good…? . but the rubes really love the Trump Wall schtick.. Dammit…I’ll diss the ex-president asshole for awhile…”
Or maybe he loves the Trump Wall and thinks it’s brilliant, and was outraged that he still has to answer questions on it from loser reporters who don’t get much glamorous ass at all and are poors?
I dunno. Good sign is that I think Trump will have a far harder time switching his act to “real grown-up” than he thinks. He looks like he was ready to explode at times during his Q&A. Either that is the way he thinks he is supposed to act to have gravitas, or he was really ready to explode in outrage in having to put up with it all.
eemom
Never have been a Kos reader, but a friend sent me a really good piece by Himself the other day. Essentially, STFU and vote Democratic or fuck off.
Woodrowfan
@CONGRATULATIONS!: yeah, I was the same way with Democratic Underground. After a while the most strident, irrational voices drove me off.
Bob In Portland
@dedc79: My state rep lives two doors down. I owe her a beer.
eemom
Take me down, little Susie, take me dooooown…..
/also too
DCF
@ellennelle:
I Did Not Have Illegal Relations…
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280132505
Ruh Roh! (Bankers For Hillary)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511394926
Daily Kos has been relatively calm, but Democratic Underground boards are heating up fast….
jl
@trollhattan: Trump also seems frustrated that he is being called on his David Duke BS. Maybe Trump thinks he doing standard GOP dogwhistle, and very unfair that he is singled out for special treatment on it. Probably a Fox/GOP Establishment plot.
Hey, Donny, maybe it isn’t as easy as it seems when you have to move your act out of the madhouse, eh?
FlipYrWhig
@ellennelle: How do you think head-to-head polling between Sanders and Trump is likely to look on the subject of, say, a terrorist attack? As compared to, you know, the candidate who’s been caricatured as a ball-busting biyotch for 30 years?
Elizabelle
@Mike J: Have been following the Aubrey McClendon story. Sounds like suicide; police have as much as hinted that.
2012 Rolling Stone article by Jeff Goodell that helped bring down his house of cards.
The Big Fracking Bubble: The Scam Behind Aubrey McClendon’s Gas Boom
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-big-fracking-bubble-the-scam-behind-the-gas-boom-20120301#ixzz41mzTajVV
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Interesting scoundrel. Impulsive one too, by several accounts.
And Reuters, also from 2012, on his living large: this was news to his shareholders and got him booted from Chesapeake.
Special Report: The lavish and leveraged life of Aubrey McClendon
FlipYrWhig
Noted without comment:
@Woodrowfan:
@DCF:
A Ghost To Most
@bemused:
Is it possible that the establishment reptiles could hijack the Constitution Party (or whatever) that has ballot access,to run Rmoney as a ratfuck candidate?
dedc79
How would you rank the various versions/covers of Dead Flowers? I think mine would be:
1) Townes’ cover
2) Stones alternate take (only released last year)
3) Cowboy Junkies
4) Stones original
5) Steve Earle
Distant last place) Guns and Roses
Chyron HR
@DCF:
“L-look, someone else agrees with me that Hitlary is an evil bitch! That means Bernie gets to be president now, r-right?”
Citizen_X
@Baud:
So, not like Salon.com, eh?
Steve in the ATL
@dedc79:
The attorney general of Alabama has already filed a lawsuit to stop this
p.a.
Holy Shite DU is still an active site?!
Guess since 08 I just assumed some of em would wither away. I’m stoopid.
Ella in New Mexico
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Don’t doubt you on them–but there are an awful lot of people out there on the other side trying to influence Democrats and Dem-leaning independents towards who they see as a loser candidate.
Although, given what’s happening in their party, either one of ours is gonna blow them away by the time November rolls in, so it’s a pretty stupid endeavor.
Kay
This, all by itself, is amazing:
This country, I swear. It’s reached the point where it’s like a mass suicide.
Bethesda 1971
@Tim C.: Yes, the Rec’d diaries on Kos have become toxic with Hillary hate, but I still see it as a long-term powerful voice for Democrats. I credit Daily Kos for giving the Dems the Senate in 2006 (Tester and Webb) and providing a good source of information (lately on the Front Page primarily) to counteract the RW Wurlitzer.
Pre-Bernie-Hillary, the Rec’d diaries were a great source of information and a way for anyone to get thousands of readers. I got a kick of being rec’d sometimes and being able to have my voice heard and contribution made, especially when it helped spread something not that well known to that point (e.g., Romney’s Madoff-level returns on his IRA).
I am hopeful that post-nomination, Kos will return to that level. I’m not sure if it’s essential, but it’s certainly a vital place to learn and disseminate ideas and informatioln.
kindness
Funny, In the same thread where folks are suggesting the DKos commentariat is somewhat rabid we have several folk suggesting Hillary is a Republican. No, none of you can control the others. Damn.
Technocrat
@FlipYrWhig:
If Progressives had a mascot, it would be this
Just Some Fuckhead
@kindness:
And Balloon Juice used to be ranked higher than 10965 before it began its long slide into irrelevancy. I believe some eye-beam searching is in order.
Raven Onthill
I left Kos years ago because of their tolerance for sexist abuse in their comments. I don’t hang out there. Poking my nose back in, well, the top-liners seem pretty OK. There’s even a piece directed at Sanders supporters arguing “better Clinton than Trump.” But I suspect “Don’t read the comments” is still good advice over there.
As to the debate…
I understand Clinton rather as a crusty old general: tough, strategy-oriented, aggressive. None of these are “bad” qualities, though they are not popular in women. She has done some hard things that (people here know) I dislike. But let’s look at her, regardless of my opinions. Her virtues are very much conservative virtues. So I think the public id is confused and angry: “We want a tough leader,” “We don’t think a woman should be tough,” “We like her conservatism, but we don’t want to say it,” “She’s Christian,” “A good Christian woman should stay home with her family,” “Her feminism is family-oriented,” and so on, and on.
So, internal conflict, and some of it comes out as Clinton-bashing.
Michael Bersin
On April 25, 2015:
“Markos Moulitsas, founder, Daily Kos: …Hillary’s gonna be the next President of the United States. [voice: “Yes, she is.”] [applause] It is, a, I mean, it’s close to a fact as you can get in politics, I mean, without, you know, major illness or, um. The, Hillary, the, the draft [Elizabeth] Warren stuff is absolutely patently ridiculous, not just because she said no and people don’t want to take no as no. Um, but, uh, it, I know, like, Warren is probably one of three politicians in the entire country that I consider an actual friend. So I know her, uh, fairly well and I, I know she’s not running. It’s never been an issue. She’s not gonna run. Um, but the fact is it actually endangers her agenda by pushing her. She’s very effective in the Senate. Anything she does now is basically instant virality. Like people love her. It’s a platform like no other….
[….]
…When you look at Hillary Clinton’s numbers among African Americans and Latinos she is off the charts. So, that there, you know, so, make, mostly, it’s [inaudible] activist mostly white base that’s really pushing for a candidate that doesn’t want to run against a candidate that’s already been embraced by the party….”
ellennelle
@FlipYrWhig:
wow. what metric to use?
i’ll choose this one. young folks are more concerned about getting jobs and an education, living and making a living.
old folks are scared.
i also notice that old folks typically get their news from the fright machine, where the kids get theirs from the net. and the kids are not as dumb or cavalier as many might think. i’ve been damn impressed
and i’m one of the old ones, full disclosure. but, i try to keep fear at a minimum, and imagination and vision at the ready, frequently exercised. these tend to keep fear at bay, i find.
FlipYrWhig
@ellennelle: Well, OK, that’s nice. Thing is, old folks outvote young folks by leaps and bounds.
different-church-lady
@Just Some Fuckhead: Irrelevant to anything that actually has an impact on things.
different-church-lady
@Just Some Fuckhead: Was it 10538?
mere mortal
@ellennelle:
I’m a bit amazed that this needs to be pointed out, but, you’re not Bill Clinton.
This was a Democratic primary. Bill Clinton is a rock star *among rock stars*. When Bill Clinton shows up in a sleepy little polling place, people don’t say “Get out, there’s voting going on”, they say “Holy Shit, Elvis is here!”.
Bob In Portland
@Just Some Fuckhead: Why should a working class person vote for Hillary?
Theodore Wirth
A weary hear, hear for Doug!
Come to think of it that is an amusing nick. My dog just dug this up! You done dug your own grave!
Why not Douglas? It’s not on the same level as those whose given names are Richard yet call themselves Dick, for the love of Pete.
Whatever, my given name is Theodore and I hate being called Ted! It could be worse I suppose.