Kevin Drum:
THE PERCEPTION OF POWER...[B]ecause . . Wittman . . .and even the Lieberman campaign have harped on about those crazy bloggers throughout the campaign, they are inflating the power of blogs in people's minds. . . [T]he chatter about the power of the blogs is probably more important than whether they really had any power to begin with. . .
But the real power blogger in my mind was my great friend Swami, ctkeith, now famous as the inventor of
The Kiss:
. . . U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's fall from grace, in the eyes of state Democratic Party activist Keith Crane, began with a kiss. Crane had stood by the senator, if only grudgingly . . . But the peck on Lieberman's cheek from President George W. Bush after the 2005 State of the Union Address left him feeling betrayed. . . . [T]he Branford resident, who proudly wears a button bearing the photograph and passes out buttons everywhere he goes, joined . . . a political Nor'easter threatening to tear down the house of Joe.
The rest of the story below.
The Lieberman battles at daily kos are classic and of longstanding. They started before scoop, but, I modestly believe, that they reached their height when I commenced my Blogofascistic "jihad/purge campaign" against Lieberman when I was named a Guest Blogger in December 2004. And it is true that I attacked Lieberman viciously and relentlessly all the next year and beyond.
The threads where Bob Johnson, GOVOTE, me, DeanFan and ctkeith, known to me as Swami, were going at it, are leading contenders for alltime Daily Kos flame wars.
My effect on the Connecticut race? I would say none.
You know who had an effect? ctkeith. The Swami. He got out of his chair, got off his ass and relentlessly hounded, cajoled, persuaded, called, worked, organized, attended meetings, demanded answers and basically worked tirelessly to promote a primary challenge to Lieberman.
You have to understand - Swami started this in January 2005. Sure I was posting support for the idea, most notably here. The effect of my call? Nuthin. But if you look at the thread, you can see the attitude we faced on the blog. We were not only wasting our time, we were wasting resources for fighting the GOP we were told. Now that was on the daily kos blog. Imagine the attitude Swami and other Connecticut kossacks were facing.
And this might help you imagine - Swami went to a town hall meeting on Social Security in New Haven in March 2005 with his anti-Joe signs and other stuff and was going to be arrested. So, there wasn't much enthusiasm for the idea of primarying Joe in the Conn. Dem. Party hierarchy in March 2005. But Swami would not see or hear that what he was trying to do was not possible. Blumenthal would not run. Weicker would not run. No establishment Dem would run. Swami was crazy. He would not stop. People were sick of him. He would not stop.
And then Lamont, after listening to the Lieberman drivel in December 2005, said he would do it. But there was a movement waiting for Lamont.
And that movement was made up of people like Swami. A regular committed Connecticut Democrat from Branford. Not a power broker. Not a rich guy. Not a leading blogger.
Just the first best example of the people power that is required to crash the gates.
So the Media will say what it wants to say. We know better. We lived it. We know who the real Blogofascists are - the rank and file Democrats in Connecticut, like my friend Swami, ctkeith.
Those folks are the heroes. Sorry Markos. Sorry Duncan. Sorry Jane. I can't live the lie any longer. You guys did nothing. I did nothing.
It was thousands of ctkeiths in Connecticut, who would not stop. Who would not accept no.
This story won't appear in any papers on Wednesday, whatever the outcome. But it is the true story. It is the true history of the origins of blogofascism.
I know. I had a front row seat right here at daily kos.
The heroes are ctkeith, the Swam, and thousands of others who demanded their Democratic Party back. I hope they can take it back starting Tuesday. But they have already done the impossible, and that makes them mighty (credit Joss Whedon.)