Wow, how time flies! I remember when Kos first started this site. I've actually been on DailyKos even longer. In the early days, the site didn’t even require registration, and when registration did begin, it initially didn't work for Macs! Still, I’m member number 538 or something like that.
Looking back, here are the big themes that dominated the early years of DailyKos. This site was like the canary in the coal mine for the rise of corporate media and the far right:
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The stolen 2000 election: DailyKos highlighted how legal votes from minority communities in Florida were thrown out or never counted, and how the right had been prepared to attack Gore had he won the election while losing the popular vote—yet they were silent when the opposite happened.
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The post-election “unity” narrative: There was a lot of pushback against the post-2000 election calls for the country to "come together," which often felt more like cheerleading for George W. Bush.
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The Bush tax cuts: We were shouting about how these tax cuts were going to unravel all the progress made under Clinton in paying down the national debt.
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9/11 and Afghanistan: DailyKos was among the first to point out how the Bush administration was squandering the chance to build a global coalition to go after bin Laden, eliminate the Taliban, and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a failed state.
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The Iraq War: We were screaming from the rooftops that Saddam Hussein had no WMDs, had nothing to do with 9/11, and that invading Iraq would destabilize the entire region.
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Grassroots organizing online: The site helped pioneer using the internet to build movements and organize, which eventually led to the rise of Howard Dean.
