Decision ‘08

Kossacks on HRC: We Like Losing!

Hilariously, as Hillary Clinton tries to make a (real or perceived) shift to the center, the Kossacks are crying foul. Dan Balz of the Washington Post has a story on the far, far left Daily Kos supporters who are apparently afraid that Hillary might actually win a national election for the Democrats. The Kossacks, of course, have always spoken disparagingly of the DLC, and why not? After all, what did the DLC ever do for the Democrats…other than give them their only two-term president in the last 50 years (and the only Democrat, period, to hold the Presidency since Jimmy Carter)?

Commenting on the kerfuffle, Mickey Kaus gets off the line of the year, and though my jealousy overwhelms me, I’m quoting him anway:

Kos is one of the few people on the planet with a personality so unappealing he allows Hillary to seem warm and enchanting!

Beautiful…read the whole thing here…

12 Responses to “Kossacks on HRC: We Like Losing!”

1 Dennis Says:
July 28th, 2005 at 9:07 pm
Every now and then I see something like this and think, “Hillary must have a deal with the Kossacks where they’ll criticize her just to make her look better.” Then I start to understand the paranoid mentality it takes to think Karl Rove snuck into your house late and night and ate all your peanut butter.

Kos, MoveOn, etc. may have a bigger say among Democrats than moderates these days. Yeah, Dean flamed out in the primaries, but he’s DNC chair now, and by 2008 the far left will be far more organized (at least in the primaries) than they were last year. Maybe they really will be the ones to stop the inevitable Hillary train after all.

Ironically, in his own online straw poll, isn’t Wes Clark, Clinton’s presumed stalking horse, the leading vote-getter? I’m amused by how popular he is with the Kossacks. They clearly haven’t learned from Kerry that Americans aren’t simpletons distracted by a chestful of shiny medals. The Kossacks have so little native understanding of why Americans respect the military that they still think slapping “war hero” on their candidate is enough to get them past the Democrats’ 30-year-old credibility gap on national security.
2 Mark Coffey Says:
July 28th, 2005 at 9:32 pm
Dennis, couldn’t agree more with you on the military issue…
3 Jojo Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 12:49 am
I think this is the main upside to Hillary’s possible nomination: she will move the Democrat Party back to the middle, like Bill Clinton did when he got elected. The Far Left has too strong a voice at the moment, and they need to be shut up.
4 Mark Coffey Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 12:58 am
Jojo, I hope you’re right…as I’ve stated before, I think we’re better off with a strong, rational Democratic party…I wonder sometimes, though, how hard it will be for the centrists to wrest control back from Kos and his ilk…as Dennis says above, they have one of their own as DNC chair now (though I doubt for long)…
5 Andy Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 6:19 am
True that we need competition of ideas, I just can’t see it being HRC. Oh well, bring it on.
6 Andy Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 6:29 am
What’s with this centrist posturing from the reality-based community. This money quote is not only funny, it’s a joke:

““If she wanted to give a speech to a centrist organization truly interested in bringing the various factions of the party together, she could’ve worked with NDN,” the blog said in a reference to the New Democrat Network, with which Daily Kos’s Markos Moulitsas is associated.“
7 Mark Coffey Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
Andy, that’s a beaut, all right…centrist, my a - er, eye…
8 Dennis Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 7:35 pm
Well, you’ve got to remember, from the Kos point of view, centrist is “Well, of course those who differ from the party line should be liquidated. I just think a hanging is more humane than a firing squad.”
9 Nico Says:
August 17th, 2005 at 1:41 am
I really hate to say this, but if we Democrats, both lefties and moderates (such as I), need to stop competing for power, work together to redifine what we believe and work to get that message out. Its the only way if we wanna win both in the state and national area. Its time we stop being a Washington-based party and work our way up from the state/local to really confront, understand, and fix the problems of the American people.

To me, at the moment, the DNC and the Democratic leadership in Congress, seem to be nothing but a distant joke. All they do is whine and pout because we aren’t getting our way. No solutions, just criticism. We need to all be on the same page with each other, from moderates, leftie, and most of all, bloggers. We have a clear, crisp, and understandable positions on all issues work on solutions to fix major problems that plague us now (ie Social Security, National Security). Thats how we win not just elections, but the hearts and minds of the American people and if we can’t even do that, then we DESERVE TO LOSE! And this is coming from a 16 year old Junior in High School…
10 Mark Says:
August 17th, 2005 at 6:39 am
Nico, you may be a 16-year-old high-schooler, but what you just said has more wisdom than a year of Howard Dean speeches…thanks for dropping by…
11 Decision ‘08 » Blog Archive » Of Course You Know, This Means War Says:
August 24th, 2005 at 12:48 pm
[…] Mickey Kaus had the greatest line on the Kos I have ever seen, and it bears repeating: Kos is one of the few people on the planet with a personality so unappealing he allows Hillary to seem warm and enchanting! Well, not only is the Berkeley Blowhard a grade-A jerk, he may very well be the most vindictive personality in the blogosphere. Kos has delusions of grandeur, and brooks no dissent (you run a successful website, okay? That’s it). […]
12 Joe Says:
August 24th, 2005 at 2:08 pm
Nico, the problem is: We’re *not* on the same page. Not at all.

For instance, I’m a moderate Democrat. I still consider myself a liberal, because I don’t like how “leftists” have changed the definition of that word for their own ends.

I’m a proud Democrat, but if I had to go somewhere else, I would choose the Republicans over the Greens.

Many, I’d dare say most Kos’ers, would choose the Greens over the Republicans.

That’s a pretty damn big gulf in ideas right there. I’m a Tom-Friedman-loving, DLC’ing, relatively hawkish Democrat.

Such things would would get me more hate at DailyKOS than being a Republican.