Yes, that is correct. And I say that as a self described Liberal.
Recently Dailykos member 'The Termite' made a Diary politely asking Dailykos members to stop using GOP buzz phrases to take cheap jabs at the President.
Such examples were Palin's "Hopey Changey" trademarked jab, and mocking President Obama's name by referring to him as "Barry."
Not only did certain members refuse to stop doing it, I noticed at least one ramped it up and started doing it more. Also, from the responses from the last Diary I think there's a number of members who haven't read the Dailykos FAQ.
Before I address these issues I think there needs to be some clarity as to what this website is all about. This clarity will not come from me because, frankly, who the hell am I? I'm just another member like most of you. It will come from Markos himself.
Markos's Memo to the World
I see it too much in media reports and even in the diaries and comments here:
"Daily Kos is a liberal blog."
No it's not. I'm a liberal, sure, (though pro-free trade, pro-balanced budgets, if that means anything). But I'm also a vegan. And no one claims this is a vegan blog. I am Latino, but no one claims this is a Latino blog. I am staunchly in favor of gay rights, but no one claims this is a gay blog.
Would an ideologue liberal blog endorse SD's Stephanie Herseth, who voted for the Hate Amendment? Or Kentucky's Ben Chandler, or Richard Morrison in Texas, or Brad Carson in Oklahoma, or Tony Knowles in Alaska, or Daniel Mongiardo in Kentucky, etc, etc? Would the site's community embrace these candidates and send money their way?
This is a Democratic blog, a partisan blog. One that recognizes that Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together.
We happily embrace centrists like NDN's Simon Rosenberg and Howard Dean, conservatives like Martin Frost and Brad Carson, and liberals like John Kerry and Barack Obama.
Liberal? Yeah, we're around here and we're proud. But it's not a liberal blog. It's a Democratic blog with one goal in mind: electoral victory.
And since we haven't gotten any of that from the current crew, we're one more thing: a reform blog.
The battle for the party is not an ideological battle. It's one between establishment and anti-establishment factions. And as I've said a million times, the status quo is untenable.
But it has nothing to do with ideology, and those who continue painting the battle in those colors is nothing more than a dishonest shill in the best tradition of Karl Rove and gang.
With one goal in mind: ELECTORAL VICTORY
Does this mean you can't respectfully express disagreements with the President, any other Democrat or the Democratic party in general? Of course not.
But frankly if you can't make a point without disrespecting our President, who happens to be the leader of the Democratic party right now then what do you have to offer this site? When you refer to our President as "Barry" - in what way are you contributing to the mission of Dailykos, as clearly defined by the site's founder?
I know this diary is going to make some of you angry, but frankly I don't care. I don't care anymore than I care if someone from redstate.com get's angry with what I have to say. Because to me if you're going to mock the President, the President's name or the Presidents message of Hope and Change you're not much different from them.
And don't even try to get started on free speech. This a privately owned website, so just like every other website it has RULES and it has guidelines. Your first amendment rights don't apply.
Frankly I think posts that are blatantly mocking and disrespectful to Democratic leaders should be Hide Rated en mass. How long do you think members would last on Republican blogs repeatedly referring to Bush as "the Chimp."? As Democrats we're already a big tent and we already have a fair amount of infighting. I recognize that we're not the militantly like-minded zombies of the Republican party. We have diverse ideas. But we can express them without dissing our party and our party representatives.
If my diary sounds authoritarian in tone, I apologize. Again, I'm just another regular member who is speaking his mind.