Kath25's diary on the rec list, People Power Will Donate $2,300 Instead, Markos (Updated), argues that Markos is setting a bad example by not donating cash to Obama. Markos' failure to donate out of some misguided principal is particularly disappointing because by my reckoning, WE, the users of dailykos.com, have made Markos Moulitsas a millionaire. Anyone can log onto the site that administers his blog advertising and see the rates that advertisers are paying. Then do some math and you'll see what I mean.
Here are the weekly ad rates that Markos is receiving from Blogads.com:
DailyKosReach over one million daily committed progressive activists on the web's highest trafficked political weblog.www.dailykos.com
(no ads running)Premium $15,000 5,435,594
(1 ad running)Second Slot $7,500 5,425,143
(4 ads running)Standard $4,650 5,415,053
Do the math: $7500.00 plus ($4,650 times 4) = $26,100.00 in gross income a week just from weblog.blogads.com. That's over $1,357,000.00 for the year. Add in what must be significant income from Google Adwords, (and figure that he's got Premium Ads running much of the time) and Markos is cleaning up. I'd guesstimate that Mr. Moulitsas is earning a gross income of at least $1,500,000.00 to $2,000,000.00 per year, probably more. Even if some of these advertisers are negotiating special, lower rates, Markos is still making a small fortune.
His expenses?: A bunch of servers (not that expensive), an ISP, a webmaster, maybe a little money for marketing the site - that's it. Can't amount to more than a few hundred thousand per year at most.
In no way am I begrudging Markos his success. He deserves it.
But that he won't give up $2,300 to Obama? Shamefully setting a bad example.
UPDATE: For those of you who have insulted me by calling me "idiotic" and "a dipshit," let me just say this: I am quite sure that I don't earn nearly as much as Markos. I am also quite sure that I am not a well-known leader of the progressive movement. However, I did donate $2,300.00 to Obama during the primary (look it up if you must) and I WILL donate another $2,300.00 to him for the general. I encourage ALL of you to give as much as you can.
The point is this. Whether you want to believe it or not, Markos makes a boatload of money. He's a leader in the progressive movement. For him to publicly withhold his $2,300.00 (which he can easily afford) to make a point stinks. It sets a BAD example. Remember, the alternative is McCain.