Yes, obviously, it's another I/P diary. After all, I don't have anything to add about Rick Warren, and these are the only two topics we're allowed to discuss here, right?
Anyway, here's my take:
Daily Kos, when I joined, wasn't your average Progressive blog. Sure, there were some contentious issues, and the Primary season was actually pretty bad. But, overall, it had started to represent a real, viable, part of the Democratic Party. The election of Howard Dean as DNC Chair, the elections of Jon Tester, Jim Webb, Claire McCaskill, Paul Hodes, Patrick Murphy, etc. These all were part of the real role that Daily Kos was starting to play in national politics.
There were, of course, other sites that Progressives could go to if all they wanted to do was shout at each other, the most obvious being My Left Wing. A site that had become so bad that Shergald couldn't even take it anymore.
Because Daily Kos wasn't anything like My Left Wing, actual elected Democrats started posting here. Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Russ Feingold, Sen. Edward Kennedy (perhaps the ultimate endorsement), John & Elizabeth Edwards (I assume I'm not the only one that liked Elizabeth more), and the staffs of others, including Sen. Hillary Clinton.
From the beginning, there were always contentious I/P diaries. However, it always seemed that the majority of Kossacks believed in a 2-state solution where Palestinians are guaranteed a free state, and Israelis are guaranteed security. I never believed Bill O'Reilly's claims that Daily Kos was anti-Semitic, because I was here, and I knew that it wasn't. There were some diarists and commenters that frequently crossed the line, and many were banned as a result. However, if you took a poll, the majority of Kossacks were on the "I" side of the debate, and the really outrageous ones were few and far between.
However, after the events of this week, and the diaries that followed, it is clear that a turning point has been reached. If you think that Israel shouldn't be using the amount of force it is using in Gaza, fine, that's your right. It's not what this diary is about. If you believe that Israel shouldn't exist, that's also your right, and also is not what this diary is about. If your anti-Israel rhetoric crosses the line into anti-Semitism, that's still your right, and still is not what this diary is about.
What this diary is about is that Daily Kos has now become another version of My Left Wing. Every single person here is entitled to their opinions, and entitled to shout their opinions at the top of their lungs, if they so desire. However, opinions also sometimes have consequences. And, I fear that the consequences of this week's I/P diaries is that Daily Kos will no longer be a respected section of the Democratic Party. There is a difference between Crashing the Gate, and being on the opposite side of an issue from almost every elected Democrat.
Maybe I will be proven wrong, but I would be very surprised if any elected Democrats choose to post here anymore.
UPDATE: OK, I was wrong. Good to see ya, Gov. Paterson.