MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Hillary Supporters Defect from Kos

• Posted by Beth on March 15th, 2008 filed in 2008 election, Barack Obama, Blog Wars, Blogs, Blogs Suck, Candidates, General, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Moonbats, Politics    

Because “racists” and “Republicans” aren’t accepted at Kos, of course, and as we all know, if you aren’t for Obama, you must be either a racist or a closeted Republican!

This is a strike - a walkout over unfair writing conditions at DailyKos. It does not mean that if conditions get better I won’t “work” at DailyKos again. As a regular contributor to the discourse in our community, I would certainly hope to take part in the conversation at DailyKos again some day if we ever get to the point where we’re engaging each other in discussion rather than facing off in shouting matches. But not now. Writers need a safe place to reach out and exchange ideas, to communicate and challenge one another. DailyKos should be that place, but its tone, its essence has evolved into something ugly and destructive. Good writers can’t survive in that kind of atmosphere. Democrats shouldn’t have to put up with that from fellow Democrats.

Get a load of this:

No, I won’t post specific attacks here. That would just be repeating the lies and the hate, but I will note that one of my fellow Kossaks (someone with whom I thought I could agree to disagree) went so far as to suggest that others try to dig up real life information on the pro-Hillary members of our community. To what end? Was his aim to find enough information on us to try to get us fired from our jobs and leave our families homeless – or worse? Suggesting that they dig up real life information on us is the lowest form of intimidation and goes way beyond the limits of all things civil and reasonable. It’s nothing more than the worst form of thuggish, hateful and intimidating behavior toward other members of our community.

Now in all fairness, that diarist saw just how far over the line he went with that post and eventually took it down. But the fact that he posted it in the first place shows us the kind of mob mentality that has been allowed to develop, grow and fester at DailyKos.

Welcome to reality, Alegre.

I know the Hillary supporters don’t want to hear it and don’t want sympathy, but they need not worry; I have little sympathy. I do empathize, however. I also find it amusing that they’ve just now figured out that the Daily Kos is an echo chamber. So are most blogs (including blogs on the right!), but Kos is a joke. It’s the largest blog (if you call it a “blog”) of all, and you’d think there would be some tolerance for various points of view, especially considering the fact that “liberals” (scare quotes intended) are always going on about how open-minded and tolerant they are. Of course, they aren’t. This is certainly not news to anyone to their right, either.

Now, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary or Obama, but one thing is obvious: Hillary is the more serious candidate, and anyone with two eyes can see that her supporters are more serious and reasonable than the feverish Obamessiah disciples. I’d say it’s an age thing, but how would you explain Chris Matthews and “thrills” he feels when Obama speaks? The fainting? The ovations for snot? Hillary has kooks supporting her too, but that’s the case with any candidate, and it’s quite obvious that the kooks are marginalized far more in her corner than they are in Obama’s. Even Bill Clinton has been silenced. Of course, that’s because you’re not allowed to criticize the Obamessiah on anything without it being seen as a racist attack. I still haven’t figured out how Slick Willie saying “fairy tale” is an appeal to racism. And see, that’s becoming a real problem with Obama. What’s that going to be like if he’s elected? Are people not going to be able to oppose anything without being called a racist or demonized in some other way? Is that really what this country needs? What kind of totalitarian BS is that? I thought Obama was supposed to be about “unity.” I guess that’s “just words.” And here’s a free tip to Hillary supporters: just as you (and we) don’t like being called racists for opposing Obama, Hillary’s opponents’ supporters don’t like being called misogynists, either. Besides, the cry of misogyny runs counter to what I thought her campaign is all about. I didn’t think her campaign was about “elect me because I’m a woman.” I thought it was supposed to be about issues, experience, and judgment. (She loses big-time to McCain on that, but still, she’s way ahead of Obama at least in experience and judgment.)

Via the Moderate Voice, Tom Watson, a Clinton supporter, gets real:

The resentment among non-Obama backers is growing rapidly - you can see it in the comments here, and I can see it in my emails. There’s a real split among party activists, and it’s getting wider. Some of it is motivated by the media’s love affair with one candidate - and hatred for the other; Keith Olbermann’s embarassment drove many over the edge. But much of it comes from boorish, Stalinist behavior online - the kind of “you’re either with us or against us” attitude we saw so much of when the Bush crowd was flying high. It’s disturbing, particularly because so many of the targets are women. This is not the Democratic Party many of us have worked for; this is not the progressive blogosphere we’ve supported. Without blaming the worthy candidacy of Senator Obama in any way, this is not a progressive movement - it’s a harsh, echo-filled politburo bathed in faux post-racial hosannas and the gauzy camera lens of “hope.”

Stalinist. Politburo. Hey, we’ve been saying that for years.

Anyway. I wonder what Hillary’s supporters will do when Obama officially gets the coronation (and I have no doubt that he will). I wonder if they’ll remember that Obama isn’t ready for that 3am call. I wonder if they’ll remember that he has not passed the Commander in Chief threshold. I know what I think they ought to do, but I’m biased. We would, of course, welcome them.