On January 25, 2003, Markos went out of town and left Daily Kos guest blogger Steve Soto in sole charge of the posting reins. Steve's first post that morning was So Much for Dismissing "Old Europe", written a few days before the SOTU, on Bush Administration and their push to commence hostilities against Iraq. Two comments signed MeteorBlades appeared that evening; the first reads in part:
Instead of the shrieking John Wayneism that we've endured from Bushboy since last April, he could have started by making his pretty good speech at the U.N., another at NATO, and even as a guest speaker at the Arab League. Instead, from the get-go, it's been the hollow clop-clop-clop of chest-pounding backed up by lies, lies, lies. Now, his cojones are at stake and he may not feel able to back down, even with most of the world, half the Pentagon and a good portion of the public against war under the current circumstances.
Go read the rest of it.
Were these truly the first comments written by MeteorBlades on Daily Kos? Yes. And no. This seeming contradiction will be explicated...over the flip.
One difficulty with tracing which commenters wrote what back under Movable Type is that Kossacks didn't have to sign up for accounts. Just as in today's Movable Type comments on other blogs, you can type in pretty much any name you want with a comment...or no name at all. People could change names from comment to comment, or remain completely anonymous, either deliberately or by accidentally forgetting to type in their name. Billmon was notorious for not completely typing his name—"Billmo" was entered frequent enough that there were jokes about "Evil Billmo", and "Billm" happened more than once—and he sometimes left it out entirely. Nor was he the only front-pager to do so.
Meteor Blades did something else: before he created the pseudonym that brought him fame and fortune—okay, fame—he posted under his own name. You can't blame him: he was new to the world of blogging, and, I suspect, a bit giddy. What else would explain his first Daily Kos comment ever:
I just spent two days reading Blogs. A week ago, I didn't even know what the word meant.
The blog trouble for the left and liberals, as I see it, is that there isn't enough sarcasm on lefty blog sites. Too serious. Often Too densely worded.
Get nasty! (and thereby, get read)
Posted by Tim Lange at December 13, 2002 09:17 PM
Note that this two-day blog-reading binge started on December 12, 2002. A date that will not live in infamy, but rather one we should all be grateful for. At the time, however, the significance was not marked: though this was the 19th of 73 comments in that Open Thread, not one subsequent commenter referenced the newcomer.
What happened in further blog explorations over the next month and week is not revealed, but Tim did make one more appearance, on January 20, 2003, and this comment, to Markos's story True Confessions: war protesters bug me, reminded everyone of why such protests are a good thing:
I sort of agree, Kos. As one of those 1960s activists that so many people seem to think are irrelevant these days, I got my fill of Maoists and others of the ANSWER ilk a long time ago. And I find the naivete of some of today's protestors appalling. I'd like to see protests where the message is more along the lines of "Saddam is a monster, but ..."
However, in these days of megacorporate journalism - where, as someone pointed out above, we have TV logos like "Showdown With Saddam" and we are pounded day after day with rightwing and far rightwing opinions - a protest demonstration with 100,000 (or more) can help energize people to take other action because they realize they aren't alone.
I'd like to remind those here who have forgotten and inform those too young to remember that our activism in the 1960s-70s was a good deal broader than simple antiwar street protests. We organized at every level. To say, as some have, that the antiwar movement didn't really have much effect is entirely bogus.
As for being hippies trying to relive the '60s, I can assure you that most of us who oppose the war now would be only too happy if we didn't feel the need to be in the streets, writing letters, contributing our dollars and otherwise expending time and energy to this antiwar effort. Besides being to old to get beaten up by the cops and called traitors by bystanders and everybody on Fox and InstaPundit, we'd rather be playing with the grandchildren many of us now have.
Posted by Tim Lange at January 20, 2003 11:06 PM
It was five days after the writing of this comment that MeteorBlades made his debut. His name would lack the space that would later separate the two words of his name, but the passion, the craft, the wisdom, and the excellent writing has remained a hallmark over five and a half years.
As with the previous front-pagers mentioned in this series, finding the writing of Meteor Blades on Daily Kos is difficult in that all the early comments and posts he wrote are at the archived, Movable Type (pre-Scoop) site...and that site has no way of distinguishing between authors of front-page posts. No searching, no nothing. The same is true of comments from that period: the comments on a post are displayed in a separate window, and there isn't a way to externally link to a particular comment in the thread, only to the entire thread itself.
In over four and a half years under Scoop, he's written over 1000 posts—763 front-page stories and 256 diaries—plus 29,916 comments as Meteor Blades as of earlier today. In his ten months on Daily Kos when the Movable Type software ran the blog, he likely wrote well over a thousand comments—he wrote 86 comments in 19 days during a February 2003 shortened by travel, and commented daily for the first 17 days of that month. The Movable Type site was archived in place, but there are no search capabilities in the archive, and comments are displayed in a separate window. There isn't a 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 Meteor Blades.
Below, I've listed the linked diary titles—written by Markos unless otherwise specified—for all posts that Meteor Blades commented on through late February 2003, and then a link to the comment thread with the number of comments he made in it. For Open Threads, I haven't bothered to link to the diary, just the comment thread. The listings below are for 100 comments made in 53 posts.
Comments by Meteor Blades:
As Tim Lange:
December 13, 2002:
• Open Thread: waxing philosophical has one comment
January 20, 2003:
• True Confessions: war protesters bug me has one comment
As MeteorBlades:
January 25, 2003:
• So Much for Dismissing 'Old Europe' by Steve Soto has two comments
• Bush Posts His Highest Unfavorable Rating Yet by Steve Soto has one comment
January 26:
• Open Thread has one comment
• ...And Meanwhile, Regarding Iraq... by Steve Soto has five comments
January 27:
• War opposition still increasing has one comment
• GOP is still party of racists has one comment
January 28:
• Tonight's most important question has one comment
February 1:
• Space shuttle crashes has two comments
February 2:
• Bush ignored pleas to ground Shuttle has two comments
• Did Bush get a SOTU bump? has two comments
• FBI, CIA both reject Iraq-Al Qaeda link has three comments
February 3:
• Open Thread has two comments
• Ashcroft bags his "marijuana guru" has one comment
February 4:
• Open Thread has one comment
• 'Borrow and Spend' Republicans has one comment
• The dKos Link Policy has one comment
February 5:
• Powell's "Adlai moment" has one comment
February 6:
• Open Thread has three comments
• Estrada debate underway has two comments
• Cheney's endorsement of "great ideas" has three comments
February 7:
• Open Thread (posted by kos) has two comments
• Bush's "Bait and Switch" New Initiatives by Steve Soto has one comment
• Remember That "Dead or Alive" Guy? What Was His Name?... by Steve Soto has two comments
• The GAO Throws In the Towel by Steve Soto has two comments
• Are You Ready for Patriot Act II? by Steve Soto has two comments
February 8:
• Open Thread has one comment
February 9:
• Bush Will Face Opposition From Both Russia and the Vatican by Steve Soto has one comment
February 10:
• O'Reilly slurs Latinos has three comments
February 11:
• Open Thread has four comments
• OBL hates Saddam; Powell loses cred has two comments
February 12:
• Open Thread has one comment
• One war scenario has two comments
• Bill Bennet blows off Pope has two comments
• Follow up on "One war scenario" has one comment
February 13:
• Open thread has one comment
• ANSWER bans rabbi from speaking at SF rally has one comment
February 14:
• Hans Blix: Inspections working has four comments
• Everyone needs to chill has one comment
• Our nation's real enemy still exists has three comments
February 15:
• Open Thread has one comment
• Sending a grassroots message to DNC HQ has one comment
February 16:
• Open Thread has four comments
• Protests largest in countries backing US has three comments
February 17:
• Liberal radio in the works has two comments
February 19:
• Open Thread has five comments
• Blair faces party revolt; US loses Canada has one comment
• GOP forced GAO to drop Cheney suit has one comment
• Tom Friedman Does Another 180 on Bush by Steve Soto has two comments
• Meanwhile, Around the Dinner Table... by Steve Soto has three comments
• Start the Countdown to Bombing by Steve Soto has one comment
February 22:
• Open Thread has two comments
In the February 22 Open Thread, Meteor Blades wrote that he had just arrived in Bali for a stay of a couple of months. The comment that imparted this information was actually unsigned; fortunately, the comment immediately below it was signed and pointed to the unsigned one so we knew who it was. Posting from Bali was apparently quite difficult, because commenting ceased for about a month before resuming sporadically prior to his return home.
This break is highly convenient in that it makes a suitable stopping place at just the point when I've run out of comment links. There are far more Meteor Blades links and writing to come from the time when Daily Kos was still being published with Movable Type software—look to future diaries for those.
Meteor Blades would be named a front-pager by Markos on September 19, 2003 in New guest posters—DHinMI was the other, with Stephen Yellin as "the dKos highschool correspondent". He made 16 posts to the front page in the three and a half weeks before the switchover from Movable Type to Scoop began on October 13, 2003. Since then he's written another 763 stories that either started on the front page or were promoted there (779 if you combine Movable Type and Scoop), plus 256 diaries. That's 1035 in all.
Links to the Scoop writings of Meteor Blades:
• 763 front-page stories
• 256 diaries
• 29916 comments (warning: can take two minutes or more to retrieve data)
~~~~~
While you're waiting for those nearly-thirty-thousand Meteor Blades comments from the past four-and-three-quarters years to be returned by search, you can check out nominations from your fellow Kossacks of the great comments found in the nearly-twenty-thousand comments made in the past 24 hours.
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.
DemocraticLuntz submitted the following nomination:
voila leaks internal Kos Kop secrets.
From va dare:
On merit pay for teachers, see not a question easy to address by teacherken
Re: changing the mode of U.S. electricity transmission, One other thing getting off the grid does by shpilk and The kind of by jfromga
Excellent (and too true) observation: But if Obama gambling? It'd be 24/7 on tee vee. by chrississippi
I should have nominated this one for the Sat. TC but didn't see it until too late - do give it some love: What drives me crazy is that some people ... by leevank
BeninSC sent:
escapee on abortion in years gone by, in annrose's fine diary, Mercy Abortions: Let me preach to the choir.
RonV relays this clever 'poem' in pastordan's Sunday pm Brothers and Sisters diary.
From your diarist sardonyx:
Lib Dem FoP reminds us that water wasn't always safe to drink, which is why beverages involving boiling or brewing were consumed rather than plain water. (As I note in downthread, this is still true for a significant portion of the world's population.) From OrangeClouds115's diary How To Say Bull Testicles in Texan, which apparently started life with a slightly different title.
In Jeff Lieber's diary President Barack Obama will not rotate your tires., threegoal's medical demand sets up a lovely comeback by xxdr zombiexx.
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) Wonderful analysis. . . by nyceve — 244
2) Risk takers by lgcap — 112
3) Her's and Jerome's both. by One Pissed Off Liberal — 86
4) The place you describe by kestrel9000 — 85
5) nyceve, by NogodsnomastersMary — 81
6) vs. Penny Poker by kath25 — 79
7) Wonderful diary by The Fat Lady Sings — 73
8) It's all part of the parcel, nyceve by stitchmd — 71
9) heh by Jerome a Paris — 68
10) What a perfect role model for my kids by bobbyd100 — 68
11) 1 and 2... by annrose — 60
12) Yes, yes and yes, stitchmd . . . by nyceve — 57
13) Let's go back a few generations by escapee — 56
14) Silly me. by filmgeek83 — 55
15) Not necessarily by Valatius — 55
16) At the risk of sounding like I'm defending him, by classico — 54
17) OMG - Lori was the best by nika7k — 54
18) I'll bet he's good buddies with Bill Bennett too. by irate — 51
19) Or turn down the heat. by Mother Mags — 51
20) Blessings and peace by Cali Scribe — 51
21) Will you rotate my tires by TheBlaz — 51
22) I got your back, Deoliver47. n/t by Fasaha — 50
23) Not enough: Obama has identified one more by Jim in Chicago — 50
24) Good question. by abundance — 49
25) The difference between R's and D's by missliberties — 49
26) Yes, it sounds very much the same by Deoliver47 — 49
27) Wow. You know by africa — 48
28) Glad to see this ... by Meteor Blades — 48
29) yah...the girl who was raped by her by Cedwyn — 47
30) Another reason women wait by idealistlefty — 44
31) For the record... by annrose — 44
32) My Condolences To Her Friends by ChapiNation386 — 44
33) My condolences by PatsBard — 44
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar - 6 July by Jerome a Paris — 474
2) Happy Sunday Tip Jar by Steven R — 396
3) As for me... by JeffLieber — 278
4) Tips, Comments, Etc by MLDB — 263
5) Tip jar. by Eternal Hope — 249
6) Tips for Bushwick and bachata by Deoliver47 — 249
7) Wonderful analysis. . . by nyceve — 244
8) Tips please. by annrose — 243
9) Tips by kestrel9000 — 224
10) Oily tips here. by Asinus Asinum Fricat — 162
11) Wine-Soaked Tip Jar by Sam Loomis — 158
12) My condolences to the family and friends... by AnotherMassachusettsLiberal — 148
13) Tips by pontificator — 145
14) Rip . by indycam — 122
15) If this doesn't get rec'd, by Compound F — 114
16) Risk takers by lgcap — 112
17) Tip Jar by davidsirota — 111
18) Her's and Jerome's both. by One Pissed Off Liberal — 86
19) The place you describe by kestrel9000 — 85
20) Tips for truth-telling, accountability on torture by abundance — 84
21) nyceve, by NogodsnomastersMary — 81
22) tips by JCHallman — 81
23) vs. Penny Poker by kath25 — 79
24) Wonderful diary by The Fat Lady Sings — 73
25) Now this IS ready for your discussion by teacherken — 72
26) It's all part of the parcel, nyceve by stitchmd — 71
27) What a perfect role model for my kids by bobbyd100 — 68
28) heh by Jerome a Paris — 68
29) Tip Jar for Trying... by janis — 65
30) Tip jar by devtob — 63
© sardonyx; all rights reserved
All quotes are the property of the original authors or the websites that held them