For really the first time on a major issue, I was disappointed in DailyKos yesterday. I believe Kos dropped the ball on Gore's speech.
Yes, there were several competing diaries for live-blogging, and A Gnostic did a great service by getting the transcript right up for us to read. But the central theme of Gore's speech went completely missed on the front page.
The headline:
Gore Calls For Appointment of Special Prosecuter on Spying
And his five recommendations bullet-pointed [in extended]
In extended I'll also examine why I believe someone was asleep at the wheel and why this is an important issue.
The headline:
Gore Calls For Appointment of Special Prosecuter on Spying
- A special counsel should immediately be appointed by the Attorney General.
- Second, new whistleblower protections should immediately be established for members of the Executive Branch who report evidence of wrongdoing.
- Third, both Houses of Congress should hold comprehensive hearings into these serious allegations of criminal behavior.
- Fourth, the extensive new powers requested by the Executive Branch in its proposal to extend and enlarge the Patriot Act should, under no circumstances be granted.
- Fifth, any telecommunications company that has provided the government with access without a warrant...should immediately cease and desist.
This is a big story. A number of things bother me about how Kos handled this speech.
* We can't ask the traditional media to do what we are unwilling or unable to do.
I myself wrote CNN when it was an hour after the speech and still no headline. Yeah, we have an out due to the diaries and community taking action, which is of course the beauty of this site, but... Gore was asking for ACTION to be taken, and I can't help but think we let him down.
* Gore outlined five action steps that needed to become immediate, bullet-pointed talking points.
There were some great diaries/live blogs, but nowhere were our marching orders, our talking points put out there. Gore made it easy. Say these five things when you call your local talk radio, when you write letters, when you have dinner table discussions. This is how the right has won all these years. We weren't quick enough yesterday.
* The holiday is no excuse.
Yes, SusanG also posted a great diary linking the two, really a beautiful diary. But where were the talking points front and center, ready for tomorrow's news cycle?
* Someone dropped the ball.
The Kos community can be a crutch. Yes, everyone posted diaries, thing worked as intended... but those talking points should have been headlines. This page is linked from C-Span. When I clicked that link, I should have seen the 5 bullet-points front and center. Bottom line: Kos is it. And whoever the 5-7 main page bloggers are (including Kos himself)- there is a responsibility to cover the day. I have never been a fan of the Charles Barkley cop-out "I ain't no hero" stance- the community cannot substitute for a decision by the main-pagers to push front and center a critical idea or action. That's not being an "editor". That is taking responsibility. For the first time since before we had user-ids (and it wasn't a big deal then) I feel like DailyKos was not the site of record.
I can't help but feel we let Gore down by not doing our part. If it was an editorial decision, then someone explain to me what about Gore's speech was not the most important story of this year so far. As I wrote to CNN:
"The former Vice President has called for a Special Prosecutor to investigate the sitting President, which could lead to impeachment. What about that is not news?"