Because kos sets such a wonderful example of "anti-navel gazing," when writing on the front, most dailykos Guest Bloggers have largely refrained from publicly wondering what dailykos is, what the political blogosphere is and what it all means.
kos has stated his view, and it is one that I share, that the focus of the blog is Democratic partisanship. I believe that this focus is compatible with issue activism, or to put it another way, with activism in favor of a progressive/liberal agenda. I like to think we can, and do, do both.
This view is perhaps why this description from The Decembrist, discussing this Garance Franke-Ruta article, caught my eye:
Anyway, all that aside, I guess this is nothing more than the old "On the Internet No One Knows You're a Dog" problem, but it does seem like the right is a little better at using the medium as an extension of shady attack politics, as opposed to straight-up, DailyKos-style attack politics. Both Franke-Ruta and Crowley capture some of that weird subculture.
DailyKos style attack politics? Is that what we do? Is that different from partisanship? And if so, how? Is it a good thing? Bad thing?
I have some thoughts on the flip.
Many Center Left bloggers discuss politics and policy in ways that would make any Beltway Wonk proud. They discuss the ins and outs of policy making, the effects or perceived effects of policy, spew statistics, etc. All very nice in its way.
There is a fair amount of that here at dailykos, admittedly, not as much emanating from the front page. Personally, I think deep discussions of policy intricacies are important and necessary. But not very important right now.
Fundamentally, the biggest disagreement I have with these very smart and seemingly very good folks is their illusion that policy is discussed on the merits in Washington, DC these days. When the Federal Reserve Chairman is a political hack; when the Treasury Secretary is disavowed only hours after making a sensible statement; when a reasonable policy has not been proposed by the Bush Administration on ANYTHING EVER, what's all this reasonable discussion mean anyway? Nothing, that's what it means.
So what do you do in times like these? In my opinion, you fight. Politically. With all the tools at your disposal.
To me, the fundamental difference between the Center Left Blogosphere and dailykos is not so much ideological (in this of course it mirrors much of the dispute between DLC-type prescriptions and partisan prescriptions for the Demcratic Party) as it is the unmistakeable difference in how we view the current political climate. dailykos, both its Front Page and the majority of its membership (IMO), believe that we are in a political war with the Extreme Right that controls the Republican Party and this Administration. The Center Left appears to have a different view.
Perhaps that best explains the perception articulated by Schmitt that dailykos engages in attack-style politics. I would ask Schmitt this though, has dailykos "attacked" using falsehoods? Have we made things up? Are we trafficking in "hate"? Or are we fighting for our ideals and our Party?
Ok, navel gazing is now officially over.