After numerous bannings from Dkos, I'm sufficiently chastened, and excited, to come back as a member of this incredible community.
Most of you know me as the creator of this video, which Politico named last November as the #7 Most Viral Video of the entire 2008 presidential campaign (I'll also note that I'm the only individual blogger on their list who isn't backed by millions of dollars...yay!).
Some Kossacks may remember me from the 2006 Ohio US Senate race, when Kos and I tangled in the primary. That experience left me pretty much despising this site, Markos, and a lot of the folks here. Lotta cheap shots, lotta scars, and I'm sure a few cheap shots will get lobbed in this diary, too. But that's not the point.
In the interim, I've blogged in a number of places, most recently at the blog which I've decided to mothball today. The reason? It's time to move on from there, and join a bunch of other badasses at the new Ohio blog of record, Plunderbund. My first post there is pretty standard stuff - watching the local Republican leaning newspaper go into the toilet. Fun!
That's the news, so on to my return to Kos. I'm not coming back here to link whore, or pimp a client's project, or take pot shots at Markos. I know I used to do the latter quite a bit; I'll debate with Markos and other Kossacks when I disagree but I've changed my attitude toward this site, and not just because Markos and I were on the same side of the 2008 presidential primary (although that was fun!).
I'm back because DailyKos (can't believe I'm typing this) is probably the most important development in progressive politics in my lifetime. I watch this site like a hawk, mainly because the recommended diary list is the single best real time barometer of the Democratic Party's psyche ever. The front pagers realize this, too, and it shows.
When a diary starts crawling up the rec list, people notice immediately. By "people", I mean the most powerful people in the country - editors, politicians, and every Democrat who spends any time online. When a recommended diary hits the top of the list, pretty soon its subject matter ends up all over the place - at Huffington Post, on blogs big and small across the country, and then on DailyKos' front page.
The video above is a perfect example of this dynamic. The diary in which it was introduced to this community blew up so fast, I was getting text messages for hours at the bar I decided to pickle myself at after posting the video. Pretty soon, bloggers everywhere were going to McCain Palin rallies and recording lunatics. I'm not the first person to capture a McCain Palin mob, but I'm pretty damn sure that this diary, on this blog, helped change the narrative of a campaign blissfully ignoring a tide of hate that had been going on for months unanswered, uncovered, and totally out of sight.
That's why I'm back. Not because this dynamic works for me or my interests, but because it works for DEMOCRATS and OUR COUNTRY's interests. If you want to change our country, DailyKos is a required arena of engagement. And for that, Markos Moulitsas deserves all the credit in the world. I'd love to someday debate Markos, have a drink, put the past in the past, and thank him, to his face, for creating with his own hands this historically powerful tool for progressive politics, the Democratic Party, and our country.
There's a danger in something this valuable, though. I've noticed a bunch of diaries lately which point out how people get paid to put diaries here. As many of you know, I sniff out payola like a hound dog, especially if it affects my home state of Ohio, and I have precisely zero tolerance for it. However, I'm not really sure what to think about the current debate. As long as you're up front about your self interest, disclose, then disclose some more, all the time....I don't see a problem. If a diary makes an impact under full disclosure, great. No disclosure, you got trouble, buddy.
Anyway, just some thoughts on coming back here. I hope the water's warm!