MSOC,
I contemplated writing this in a private email, but I decided to go public.
I love you to death, MSOC. And I love your rants. And I don't want this to come across as insulting in any way. But we need to realize when we're being used. And MSOC, I hate to say it, but you're being used.
More below.
There's a reason, MSOC, that
John Gibson sets you up to be the radical left on a staged "blue-on-blue" debate, and then says that the entire Democratic Party gets its talking points from you. In this artificial "debate", MSOC, you did extremely well. You spoke with calm clarity, armed with the truth. But unfortunately, it didn't really matter whether or not the "moderate Dem" had agreed with you or not, because as Gibson wrote to his supporters, the upshot was that it's the "angry left" voice that controls the party. As if anybody controls the party, right?
That was a good showing, MSOC. But this Washington Post article? This is a completely different kettle of fish. I love you to death, MSOC, I really do. But I simply can't see how you can possibly view this WaPo article on you as anything other than it really is:
A HIT PIECE AGAINST YOU AND THE LEFT BLOGOSPHERE AS A WHOLE.
It's a hit piece, MSOC. It's a walking front page attack ad. It portrays you as the spiritual leader of a vicious, vacuous, religion-hating online community that can think of nothing better to do other than discuss creative ways of watching Bush die. For the love of everything that is both sacred and profane, all you need to do is look at the quotations that the author cited.
There is no creativity here. No sense of purpose. There is mention of a vague, unspecified rant about the outrage of Darfur which, by implication, is long on ire and short on effect. And commenters who do nothing but parrot back the angry phraseology.
The Washington Post ran this attack ad front and center, MSOC, and it's no secret why. We've humiliated the Washington Post on numerous occasions, so it's no surprise that they're doing their absolute best to discredit our sphere.
And that's exactly what they tried to use you for, MSOC. Almost all Democrats who read that piece in the Post and had no idea what we were all about is going to get an impression of our community that is a 180-degree turn away from the truth. Any politician who reads that article as their first introduction to Daily Kos and MLW certainly won't take us seriously.
MSOC, you may agree with everything in that article. You may agree with every characterization of yourself in that article. But please, please, I hope you and others have the ability to see no matter how you may like it, this "profile" is a declaration of war against our power and purpose.