I couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing the stream of Bernie-bashing posts in my timeline, some of which were later soundly debunked, finally became too much and I decided to pull the plug. It’s sad that the rest of DKos’s 1 million followers see that coming from a ‘progressive’ site.
And I have no idea how we got here.
Back in the dark days of the Bush administration, and those were very dark days, Markos Moulitsas was a bright light in the progressive movement. He wasn’t afraid to speak out about what was being done to this country, and even more importantly, he created this site for fellow progressives. Daily Kos became a place where people from all over the country could come together to commiserate, and more importantly, share information. By putting the disparate pieces of the puzzle together, DKos members were able to uncover some of the extent of the Bush administration’s criminality.
For those of you who may not have been around back then, it’s no exaggeration to say that things that were discovered on this site made it into the news broadcasts of the few news people who hadn’t completely sold out or were silenced — Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz. The outrage those broadcasts created could not be ignored by the corporate media, and eventually those stories led to investigations.
When the 2008 election got under way, it was pretty contentious due in no small part to Hillary’s slash and burn campaign style. But after eight years of the W nightmare and with the economy crumbling beneath our feet, the voters weren’t willing to fuck around. They were going to vote democratic, especially because the republicans offered up a guy who was going to continue Bush’s policies with a race-baiting, ignorant, right-wing, nut job as a running mate. Maybe if Hillary hadn’t been so determined to win at all costs, she might have had a chance.
During that race, I remember plenty of fighting here on DKos between the Obama and Hillary camps, but I don't remember Markos making any edicts about when the primary would be ‘done’ or who everyone was going to get behind. Maybe my memory is faulty, but I don’t remember that.
So what’s changed for Markos in eight years? Why the need to declare the race over before half the country has even had chance to vote? Why declare it’s time to get behind one candidate just when the other one is finally starting to gain momentum?
On this site, we understand all too well what’s at stake for this election. The democracy of this country is on extremely shaky ground. We’re almost at the point of losing it completely to the oligarchs. We’re about at the point where we’ve made sure this planet will be uninhabitable for future generations. I could go on, but I don’t think it’s necessary. We understand.
We have one candidate, the progressive candidate, who will fight like hell to keep us from going over the edge. And we have another candidate, the corporate candidate, who will fight like hell for the status quo that’s slowly killing us. Markos has decided he’s in for Hillary, and that’s totally fine with me. Each of us should be able to make our choice based on who we think is the best candidate. But to declare by fiat that everyone should fall in line when the race has clearly not been decided, was a huge misstep in my opinion. And then to go further by joining in actively slandering and mud slinging is going way over the deep end.
I don’t know what was hoped to be accomplished, but it’s not working. Markos has succeeded in pissing off a whole bunch of people who are now working that much harder to get Bernie elected. But what’s even sadder, he’s put this great progressive site on a course against history.
Whether Bernie gets elected or not, he’s the future of this country. Long after he’s gone, they’re going to be talking about this election and his message. They’ll say Bernie could have been (or was) the president that helped turn things around for this country.
Markos, you could have actually trusted the voters to, you know, make a choice. By not working against Bernie’s momentum, you could have helped this country elect a true progressive, but you didn’t. I hope it works out for you and you don’t look back on this decision with regret.
I’m no Bernie Or Bust-er. I’ve never voted for a Republican and I’m not about to start now. But as for the rest of the voting population, most of whom are declared independents and already demoralized, who knows.
Good luck getting someone who can’t even inspire enough people to fill a school gymnasium elected. You’re going to need it.
In closing, these are my opinions. I had to post them because I finally couldn’t fucking take it anymore. Feel free to disagree, even HRC trolls, but just know I’m not going to bother responding. I’ve got better things to do with my time than beat my head against a brick wall.
