In the evening of October 16, 2002, Markos posted N.Korea has nukes. Where's the saber-rattling?, referencing a blog post by Hesiod. The following afternoon, RonK, Seattle made his debut on Daily Kos, writing the ninth of fourteen comments to that post:
No intelligence failure here. Repeat: NO intelligence failure.
US intel knew about the weapons program. The shocker was North Korea's admission.
The BIG QUESTION: During the Iraq war powers debate, did anyone tell CONGRESS what US intel knew about the program?
Posted by RonK, Seattle at October 17, 2002 02:55 PM
In under six months, RonK would be invited to be the fourth Daily Kos guest blogger. More RonK comments and questions—big and otherwise—over the jump.
When RonK was first moved to comment on Daily Kos, he had been writing on his own blog, Cogent Provocateur, for over seven months; his comment signature regularly included a link to his blog. He'd been active on the web before striking out on his own: the end of his first blog post (at the bottom of this archive page) makes that clear:
This launch would be incomplete without a salute to Slate's factious, fractious forum The Fray, to Frayster compatriots Tony Adragna and Will Vehrs at QuasiPundit, and to the prolific pioneer Glenn Reynolds at InstaPundit.
(I've redirected the original QuasiPundit link to the Web Archive; that blog is no longer available on the web, having disappeared that spring.)
RonK wrote comments with increasing frequency and depth as the weeks passed, chiming in with noticeable energy on the changes in House leadership (when Harold Ford tried to run against Nancy Pelosi in November) and Senate leadership (when Trent Lott went racist, tried to hang on, resigned, and was finally replaced by Frist). In his first year on Daily Kos (the blog's final twelve months with Movable Type software), he wrote well over a thousand comments—95 comments in December 2002 alone, and 192 the following month. The Movable Type site was archived in place on October 15, 2003, but there are no search capabilities in the archive, and comments are displayed in a separate window from posts. Further, there is no way to externally link to a particular comment in the thread, only to the entire thread itself. One purpose of this diary is to make a start on linking to all the comment threads containing at least one comment from RonK.
Unlike the guest bloggers who preceded him, RonK was very active as a commenter on Daily Kos after it moved to Scoop in mid-October 2003, though he didn't write his first diary and first comment on under Scoop until over three months after the changeover, on January 30, 2004. The other guest bloggers—Steve Soto, Billmon, and Steve Gilliard—had all left the Daily Kos front page to start up new blogs. RonK, on the other hand, made his final post on his own blog twelve days after becoming a guest blogger on Daily Kos.
In four and a half years under Scoop, he's written 13,200 comments as RonK Seattle—alas, Scoop doesn't allow commas in usernames. He's also written 100 diaries here, 67 of them from 2004. His most recent comments were made in April of this year.
Below, I've listed the linked diary titles for all posts that RonK, Seattle commented on in 2002, and then a link to the comment thread with the number of comments RonK made in it. For Open Threads, I haven't bothered to link to the diary, just the comment thread. He made 131 comments to 77 posts, and his commenting continued accelerating into 2003: in January he commented almost daily, missing only three days that month.
RonK, Seattle's comments, 2002:
October 16:
• N.Korea has nukes. Where's the saber-rattling? has one comment
October 25:
• I'm going to cry... Paul Wellstone 1944-2002 has one comment
October 27:
• Top Arizona Republic considers switching parties has one comment
October 28:
• Rep. Leach running against his own party has one comment
November 5:
• VNS abandons effort; SD, MN has one comment
• Someone shut Chris Mathews up!! has one comment
• Chambliss wins in GA has one comment
November 8:
• Harold Ford wants to be Minortiy Leader has five comments
• A new tag for the Democratic Party has five comments
November 12:
• Open Thread has one comment
November 13:
• Bin Laden is back has one comment
November 14:
• Open Thread has one comment
November 15:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Independent commission passed by House has one comment
• Army fires gay Arab linguists has two comments
November 18:
• Cattle Call 2004: Ranking the contenders has four comments
November 20:
• Open Thread has two comments
• Next SEC chief to be a Democrat? has one comment
November 21:
• Edwards down, Kerry up has one comment
November 22:
• Bush's cabinet remains stable has one comment
• Taking a few days off has one comment
November 26:
• Bush's reelect numbers low, so is Dem Party has one comment
November 27:
• Open thread has one comment
December 5:
• Rewarding corporate tax evaders, political hacks has one comment
December 6:
• Open Thread has two comments
December 7:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Southern Racist Trent Lott (and that's not rhetoric) has one comment
• Dems take LA house seat -- MAJOR upset has three comments
• Operation "Pie in the Face": Dems sweep LA has two comments
December 8:
• Open Thread has one comment
• GOP moderates should start regional party has one comment
December 9:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Judge dismisses GAO suit against Cheney has one comment
• Go with Snow has one comment
December 11:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Get off Lott's back! has four comments
• GOP momentum hits brick wall has eight comments
December 12:
• Open Thread has two comments
• Lott will not step down has two comments
• The evidence against Lott mounts has four comments
• If Lott resigns, then what? has two comments
• Canada moves to decriminalize drugs has two comments
• Lott was a racist in college has one comment
December 13:
• Open thread has two comments
• The Trent Lott Republicans has one comment
• Another apology, still refuses to resign has one comment
• Open Thread: waxing philosophical has one comment
December 14:
• On the Lott story, the blogosphere can take credit has one comment
• What Lott stands for; "blackmailing" Bush has two comments
December 15:
• Open Thread has one comment
• GOP battle lines forming has one comment
December 16:
• Open thread has two comments
• Cattle Call 2004: 11/16 has one comment
• Reading assignment has one comment
• The rules for MS special elections has one comment
December 17:
• If Lott resigns, then who? has four comments
December 18:
• Open thread has five comments
• Battle lines in Senate GOP caucus forming has one comment
• Early poll on NY 2004 political landscape has one comment
December 19:
• Reid could succeed Daschle has one comment
• Committee chairs may want to keep Lott around has two comments
• Frist's record has one comment
December 20:
• Lott steps down; stays in Senate has four comments
• 100s of middle eastern men arrested has one comment
• Lott's paparazzi has one comment
December 21:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Lott's enemies hate his Christianity has two comments
• In defense of Sen. Murray has one comment
December 23:
• Troops feel the pinch has one comment
December 26:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Lott is sticking around for this? has one comment
• Much ado about nothing has one comment
December 27:
• Retailers suffer worst holidays in 30 years has one comment
December 30:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Southern anti-Americanism has two comments
• 2003 predictions has four comments
December 31:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Reinstitue the draft has one comment
What happened next? RonK commented for another three and a third months before he became a guest blogger on the Daily Kos front page. His sixty posts from his front-page tenure will be the subject of part 2, probably appearing within the next week.
As always, corrections and pointers to missing information are most welcome. The contents of this diary will find its way into the dKosopedia in the near future, after it returns to active service. I'll be creating RonK Seattle pages there; the Billmon, Steve Soto, and Steve Gilliard information is already there (if temporarily unavailable), and has been expanded since its original Top Comments publication, though there's still much more to be added.
~~~~~
Did you notice that RonK's first comment was in a front-page post with fourteen comments? That may not sound like a lot in mid-2008, but the post had the second most comments that week: the big winner had seventeen. Top Comments back then would have been a very short diary indeed, if diaries even existed. (Since they didn't, it would have had to be a comment itself.) Heck, this was even before Open Thread, if you can imagine.
With Daily Kos far busier these days, we now daily highlight top comments from the past 24 hours, both emailed by you to the TopComments mailbox and also found by your diarist du jour. My thanks to those Kossacks who took the time to mail in comments. If you saw any great comments that are not mentioned here—and there are always tens of thousands of comments to choose from—please link to them in your own comments below. The address of that mailbox:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Anyone can submit deserving comments to our address—the direct link to a comment is available from that comment's date/time—as long as they arrive by 9:30pm Eastern Time. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly. Both link and username are important.
Mikeguyver submitted the following nomination:
RadicalGardener's impeachment can be done after they leave office, with special emphasis on the final sentence.
From madame defarge:
In this morning’s C&J by archer070, A soldier is just like a fetus.
From Carnacki:
Dallasdoc, bustacap, and xxdr zombiexx on the end of IOKIYAR.
N in Seattle writes:
Commenting in his own diary The End. How?, the inimitable edscan adds a single letter to a famous political alliteration, and raises "nattering" to a plane far beyond anything envisioned by William Safire.
It's rare enough to see a comment from edscan. When that comment is an undeniable stroke of utter genius, it richly deserves inclusion in Top Comments.
grok the edku!!
From annetteboardman:
David Kroning (with a question about McCain) and the reply from newfie made my day.
From your diarist sardonyx:
In last night's Top Comments diary, RickMassimo recounts a visit to the zoo.
MagisterLudi has a characterization of America's latest European traveller.
ladylib says The fist bump was awesome.
This week's Health Care Change Night diary Medical Care for the Uninsured - My Experience by drchelo should be read by everyone, as should most of the comments. A couple of these (mostly about the commenter's experiences in this field) are by TheFatLadySings and mcmom, plus an action item on an upcoming vote in Congress, also from TheFatLadySings.
In thereisnospoon's I'm Voting Republican, about a YouTube video with that title, jazmen8 echoes that video as she shares her thoughts.
Glic's diary on sinking lame-duck governor Matt Blunt of Missouri has this one-liner from ford prefect 2.
Today's top mojo—those comments which have received the highest number of recommendations from Daily Kos users like you—as supplied by sardonyx, using his own revision of the amazing cskendrick's mojo-to-Excel magic.
First, Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, and Cheers and Jeers:
1) I guess it's too over the top to talk about by XOVER — 200
2) This will do nothing but help Obama. The more by Man in Black — 168
3) It may not have been Fitz by Dallasdoc — 149
4) DAOMN! Outside the Beltway? 1,000 miles from by Press to Digitate — 112
5) McCain... by Lava20 — 101
6) And we should probably expect more by sistermoon — 97
7) asdf by InsultComicDog — 96
8) This is such an awesome diary! by islandinthesun — 95
9) Excellent. McCain supported by TomP — 93
10) This remark of Obama's may have scared him by Dallasdoc — 91
11) Scalia's head has exploded by Sharon Jumper — 90
12) Do I have to agree with you twice in one day? by homogenius — 90
13) I agree with your take about partisan operatives. by Randall Sherman — 90
14) We're one swing vote away from tyranny. by geomoo — 85
15) I don't thank God, I thank the ACLU! by whitewidow — 82
16) re by cookiesandmilk — 78
17) Sexist and racist by Houston Gardener — 75
18) Lawyers and judges... by Sharon Jumper — 74
19) Good job getting by TomP — 71
20) An interesting thing is by Shane Hensinger — 67
21) John McCain doesn't understand computers by yesivotedforbush — 67
22) Michelle Malkin is a disgusting person... by David Kroning — 66
23) This is Hate Speech by absalom2 — 66
24) Actually, Mr. Broder passed away many years ago.. by Finck II — 65
25) Da Beers! by beemerr — 64
26) Better than Cheney's birth certificate... by droogie6655321 — 64
27) I'll take Kennedy by gchaucer2 — 62
28) Kennedy authored the majority opinion by Sharon Jumper — 62
29) Wow. by Lava20 — 62
30) The process of digging up by Superribbie — 62
31) You are wrong. by joehoevah — 62
32) Da Bears by deluge99 — 62
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tips, Somberly Please by Keith Olbermann — 653
2) I'm beyond disgusted by Stroszek — 549
3) tips by thereisnospoon — 535
4) Tip Jar by Muzikal203 — 518
5) tip jar here! by slinkerwink — 469
6) tips for unity!! by DJShay — 459
7) Tj by jkennerl — 404
8) Tips for Harper's by Hudson — 364
9) Time to put this injustice by wmtriallawyer — 241
10) I guess it's too over the top to talk about by XOVER — 200
11) This will do nothing but help Obama. The more by Man in Black — 168
12) Yoiks! by gchaucer2 — 165
13) Tip jar by attytood — 155
14) It may not have been Fitz by Dallasdoc — 149
15) Tip jar - health care for all! by drchelo — 139
16) Tips for changing the world! by SallyCat — 135
17) Delaware Dem by Delaware Dem — 121
18) I dunno... by Addison — 114
19) DAOMN! Outside the Beltway? 1,000 miles from by Press to Digitate — 112
20) it would be an honor by danger durden — 105
21) McCain... by Lava20 — 101
22) tonight we remember by a girl in MI — 99
23) And we should probably expect more by sistermoon — 97
24) asdf by InsultComicDog — 96
25) This is such an awesome diary! by islandinthesun — 95
26) Excellent. McCain supported by TomP — 93
27) This remark of Obama's may have scared him by Dallasdoc — 91
28) Do I have to agree with you twice in one day? by homogenius — 90
29) Scalia's head has exploded by Sharon Jumper — 90
30) I agree with your take about partisan operatives. by Randall Sherman — 90
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