Suing The Gates: Kos Throws His Weight Around
Ever get the feeling you’re watching the beginning of the end for a house of cards? Kos and his co-author Jerome Armstrong are feeling the heat from the pay-for-play allegations swirling around the blogosphere in light of the recent Mark Warner poodle show at YearlyKos and the revelation that Jerome Armstrong signed a consent decree with the SEC regarding stock-price manipulation on an Internet bubble dog. How do we know? Because he’s circling the wagon and threatening lawsuits (hat tip to our friend Dennis):
Why the strange silence in the face of such damning allegations? Well, I think we now know the answer. It’s a deliberate strategy orchestrated by Kos. TNR obtained a missive Kos sent earlier this week to “Townhouse,” a private email list comprising elite liberal bloggers, including Jane Hamsher, Matt Stoller, and Christy Hardin Smith. And what was Kos’s message to this group that secretly plots strategy in the digital equivalent of a smoke-filled backroom? Stay mum! He wrote…:
“…I am exploring legal options against some of the wingnut bloggers who are claiming I’m syphoning netroots money into consultants and my own pockets. Note how Glenn Reynolds is fueling it with his typical passive aggressive, “I don’t think it’s a big deal, but let me provide links to everyone who thinks this is THE BIGGEST STORY EVER!”
And Jerome’s case, if it could be aired out, is a non-story (he was a poor grad student at the time so he settled because he had no money). Jerome can’t talk about it now since the case is not fully closed. But once it is, he’ll go on the offensive. That should be a couple of months off.
This story will percolate in wingnut circles until then, but I haven’t gotten a single serious media call about it yet. Not one. So far, this story isn’t making the jump to the traditional media, and we shouldn’t do anything to help make that happen.
My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I’ll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on. If any of us blog on this right now, we fuel the story. Let’s starve it of oxygen. And without the “he said, she said” element to the story, you know political journalists are paralyzed into inaction.
Thanks, markos”
Remember these tactics, those who defend the Nutroots® attack on Joe Lieberman: if Kos says so, hacks like Jane Hamsher fall in line. Why? M-O-N-E-Y:
…[W]hy did so many of the people on the “Townhouse” e-mail list follow Kos’s orders to stay silent about the Armstrong story and the Kosola allegations? Part of it, I’m sure, has to do with their political allegiances to Kos. But let’s not underestimate their financial allegiances.
Along with Armstrong and MyDD’s Chris Bowers, Kos runs a BlogAds advertising network called Advertising Liberally, to which a number of “Townhouse” members belong. (If you want a fuller understanding of how BlogAds advertising networks operate, and how they allow lower-traffic blogs to gain more clout with advertisers by combining their traffic, read this piece.) Therefore, Kos (along with Armstrong and Bowers) gets to decide which blogs belong–and don’t belong–to Advertising Liberally, which means a lot of these blogs’ financial health hinges upon staying in Kos’s good graces. Is it any wonder they’re so obedient?
The best part? Watching Kos act like a real Washington politician by lashing out at the ‘leaker’:
Alas, it looks like Kos is going to have to find another way to issue his marching orders. According to multiple sources, a couple hours ago he unsubscribed to the “Townhouse” list. Fortunately, multiple sources say that a “more exclusive” e-mail list is already in the works.
Isn’t it more than just a little richly ironic that the centrist liberals (if you catch my drift) that Kos has threatened to ‘make radioactive’ have unveiled the backscratching hypocrisy that might yet do him in?
Cost of running a blog: Lots of time and a little money for hosting fees
Seeing a harmful influence on American discourse begin to crumble before your very eyes: priceless…
UPDATE 06/22/06 10:44 a.m.: My tongue is somewhat-in-cheek here in thinking this will bring Kos down, but I think it does severely impede his credibility; some liberal bloggers are taking offense, as best represented by Ezra Klein at TAPPED, who notes:
Poppycock. I’m a member of the Liberal BlogAds Network. I’ve mocked Kos’s “Libertarian Democrats” concept, derided his elevator pitches, and generally been surly and disagreeable when it suited me. The idea that Markos can just throw folks off the list is a bit silly…Â
Fair enough – I, too, have had it insinuated that my opinion was bought and paid for since I’m a member of Pajamas Media, so I’ll concede these points while continuing to assert the others – that is to say, that Kos is attempting to twist arms into silence through a combination of threats and pleading…
Only time will tell, but I’d say this news deals a pretty severe blow to Mark Warner’s gambit of simultaneously running to Hillary’s right and left.
The most powerful color in the world is G-R-E-E-N. Change the N to a D and you get G-R-E-E-D. Kos’ colors are showing.
I thought Kos had a law degree.
Here is a guy who is making a living off innuendo and rumors, but his response is ’suing’?
Apparently he did not pass his bar-an assumption-based on his failure to recognize himself as a public figure.
His world is falling down around him, as he worries about his reputation, among less than 1% of the US population.
“Can’t stand the heat…”
or eventually…”Where do I go to get my reputation back?”
Markos Moulitsas Zuñiga (Daily Kos) in good compan
While it is not the purpose of this post to excuse the actions of Moulitsas Zuñiga and Armstrong Armstrong, I think it important to note that this request for discretion is not unprecedented.
[...] Decision ‘08 has some thoughts. [...]
[...] Jerome Armstrong, of course, is the Kos co-author who is under fire for signing a consent decree with the SEC on charges of stock manipulation. Let’s not forget that, since the liberal blogs under the direction of Kos are trying to bury it. [...]
Mark, hate to rain on the parade, but Zengerle’s accusations about Kos are pretty baseless. For a thorough take-down, I recommend this post by Ezra Klein at Tapped. You also might want to read Jane Hamsher’s response.
Jane Hamser? Come now, I wouldn’t walk across the street to spit on Jane Hamsher. She represents everthing that is bad in the blogosphere. I’ll read it, out of respect for you, but how Kos cronies are going to be convincing witnesses is beyond me…
Anonymous, just read the Ezra Klein piece – some good points, and I’ll update the post later in the day. Now – ugh! – for Hamsher…
The Hamsher piece is irrelevant and not convincing – I’m sorry (genuinely) for her family illness, but all the TNR piece said was that she was on the mailing list, along with other elite liberal bloggers – and it’s not like Christy Hardin Smith could not have commented…the blog hasn’t shut down, after all…
Jane’s response is a heartfelt explanation of her own silence, but is utterly irrelevant to the larger point. Ezra Klein’s gets more to the issue of whether Kos is strong enough to bully people, and he concludes he isn’t. Fair enough. None of that changes the fact that Mr. Crashing the Gates is still asking people not to talk about this issue, because doing so makes his life more difficult. I’m sure it does, since it forces people to ask why a blogger whose signature issue is the war, the war and the war is suddenly going gaga over an ex-governor whose position on the war remains exceedingly fuzzy.
Kos also shows himself to be an egomaniac and at least a would-be bully, throwing around tough talk about lawsuits and starving stories of oxygen, but we knew those things about the guy already.