(UPDATE: Lost TU status at 11:45 am. I wonder why...)
(UPDATE)Nice to see John Edwards agrees with me. From McJoan's FP post:
It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's intended as satire, humor, or anything else.
I don't think Kos does himself any favors with his intemperate attacks on Republicans. If he thinks calling Republicans morons in his frontpage articles will do anything more than encourage partisanship and we-they mob mentality and chorus singing to chorus, he's forgetting his main mission here, which is to win votes for Democratic candidates.
Every time you, dear reader, try to talk to a Republican in a sane and convincing fashion, and you run into a locked-up mindset, consider the possibility that the person you are talking to has already been reading this blog, and is insulted ahead of time by the large type front page Moron Republicans jumping out at him.
It's not like this is some minor commenter speaking. Certainly if Kos says it, it's policy. Kos says so.
Kos, you aren't making it any easier to have the friendly one-on-one convincing conversations that many of the better posters here are trying to have. I spend a good deal of time talking to people who aren't of my political persuasion. I don't need you insulting them on the front page. Maybe you should concentrate more on analyzing county by country returns...
I (blithely) expect no flames. It's just polite criticism of the tendency to carry debate and cross-examination "sully the witness' credibility" technique over into persuasive situations, where the idea is to create a sense of the possibility of compromise for the common good.
If you agree, please recommend. If you disagree, please state clearly why Kos is within his own parameters of saying that this is a Democrat(ic) activist blog for the express purpose of electing Democrats to office, not a venting station for unhappy ranters.
I know you can do it. No circular firing squad, please!