Markos Moulitsas and the band of self-important anonymous losers that he’s allowed to dominate the front page at the world’s largest supposedly-Progressive blogsite continue their cowardly march towards full self-destruction.
Today’s example comes by way of a comment from the anonymous (read: cowardly) “DHinMI”, one of the loudest, most obnoxious and knowledge-challenged of Kos’ stable of front-page sidekicks hell-bent on further discrediting the once-prestigious website:
Though, unlike Bev Harris and ourselves, who put our real names behind everything we do, “DHinMI” enjoys anonymity as he/she spews his/her unsupported, fact-free allegations. He/she does, however, offer an email address where folks might try to offer this numbskull a few facts if he/she ever becomes interested in any (which seems rather unlikely at this point): DHinMI@yahoo.com
“DHinMI’s” comment, ironically enough, is posted in support of a front page article by Moulitsas himself today, in regard to a NYTimes article reporting that some 80 precincts in some of NYC’s most African-American dominated precincts registered 0 votes for Barack Obama in their unofficial tallies. Kos then goes on to wonder if the article thus indicates that NYC’s “voting machines don’t spit out paper ballots? That should be SOP for these things.”
NYC, of course, still uses the old lever machines which, of course, do not “spit out paper ballots”, something that it seems great champions for the cause of Election Integrity, such as Kos and “DHinMI”, ought to know by now.
What “should be SOP for these things,” is that people who write at high-profile, influential Internet sites ought to learn what they’re writing about before they write about them so that they don’t mislead folks into believing they know what they’re talking about.
Today’s Daily Dose of Daily Kos loser-dom comes on the heels of yesterday’s report in which they ominously threatened former CIA agent, Larry Johnson, with permanent banning should he have the temerity to continue his support of Hillary Clinton on their site. Why they seem hell-bent on proving Bill O’Reilly right over there remains a mystery to us, and further begs the question of how long it’ll be before the dKos readers who tend to “get it”, even as the front-pagers don’t, will continue on at that place.
Previous BRAD BLOG-reported examples of dKos front-pagers, including “DHinMI” and Kos himself, busily destroying dKos’ previously good name can be found here.
UPDATE: “DHinMI” isn’t that anonymous after all. And whaddaya know, he’s a member of the official Democratic Party machine. Knock us over with a feather…
“Dana Houle is a political professional now living in Washington, DC.,” according to less-than-thorough bio found at dKos.
A bit more digging finds that he was, until a bit of a problem last year, the well-paid Chief of Staff to the U.S. Congressman from New Hampshire’s 2nd district, Rep. Paul Hodes, who has been an ally of HAVA co-author and e-voting champion, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, since arriving in Congress in 2007.
Given that we noticed “DHinMI’s” attacks on The BRAD BLOG and Election Integrity advocates just after the New Hampshire Primaries blew up, his fealty to the state of NH, their embarrassment of an election system, and the honorable Majority Leader come as little surprise.
All of that also may help to explain why he’d be working so hard in his quest towards trying to discredit Election Integrity advocates and places like The BRAD BLOG and BlackBoxVoting.org, etc. with unsupported and breathless claims in the hopes of sliming us with charges of “tin-hattery.”
In other words, the shameful Houle seems to be an irresponsible Leftie Swiftboater of the highest order.
One would think the rules of transparency and ethics would dictate a bit more info on his Daily Kos bio, given his (at least previously held) high-ranking position within the Democratic Party apparatchik. But, as we’ve come to learn, transparency isn’t of much interest to officials from NH, those in Hoyer’s office, or amongst the Kossack muckety-mucks.
(Hat-tip BRAD BLOG commenter Dan.)
UPDATE 2/17/08: An emailer writes in to point out: “You may know this already, but Hodes had been an early cosponsor of Holt’s awful bill”.
“Holt’s awful bill” would be Congressman Rush Holt’s awful Election Reform bill HR811, which we were honored to help his office write prior to it’s introduction. Despite our best efforts, unfortunately, the bill as currently written is, indeed, “awful” and will, in fact, to paraphrase “DHinMI” (Dana Houle) do “more harm than good” for Election Integrity in America. Little wonder then that Houle would want to attack us, since his boss, Paul Hodes, was so terribly wrong in supporting that bad bill. You can read the entire ugly story on our HR811 Special Coverage page.
Of course, had “DHinMI” made very clear, as we do, who he was in the first place when he began his attacks on Election Integrity advocates, we would have had a better idea where he was coming from, and why he was making such attacks. But, apparently, it’s more convenient for the cowardly Houle to obscure such points wherever possible rather than have a legitimate debate (which I’m happy to have with him out in the open, anytime, anywhere, so the rest of the world can decide for themselves whose actually doing “more harm than good” for the cause of Election Integrity in America.)
UPDATE 2/18/08: Yes, we know it’s difficult to understand that most folks, such as ourselves, don’t generally bother to read dKos’ front page, where their “ABOUT” button is located. They don’t include that button on single diary pages as posted by users, the ones we tend to get pointed to when someone let’s us know there’s something of note over there. So we failed to notice “DHinMI’s” bio originally.
Had we noticed it, we would have seen that he was actually Dana Houle, and a “a political professional now living in Washington, DC.” But we wouldn’t have known, of course, that he had been Chief of Staff to a Congressman from New Hampshire, who had conflicts of interest with a number of the points that “DHinMI” had been ranting about, without Googling to connect some of those the dots. The dKos bio doesn’t disclose those germane points, or many of the others mentioned above which would seem to offer the — at the very least — the appearance of a conflict of interest with many of “DHinMI’s” pseudonymous (or actually, anonymous to most readers) postings.
When we write about Rush Holt’s Election Reform Bill, HR811, for example, we go out of our way to DISCLOSE the fact that their office asked us to help write it prior to it’s release. It seems the right thing to to do, even though we do not support the bill. No such disclosure, is apparently necessary for the Kossacks.
The front-pagers are out in force over there today, making excuses for themselves, and continuing their attempts at sliming/discrediting The BRAD BLOG again in this thread today, instead of taking responsibility for their behavior. As with the Bush Administration, it’s everyone’s fault but their own.
Also, as with the Bush Administration, the idea of following their own rules doesn’t apply themselves, of course. Though their posting rules, if you can find them on the site — as used to ban loads of posters who disagree with the dKos gatekeepers about issues of Election Integrity — state that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” and that “defamatory writing [is] prohibited”.
Nonetheless, it hasn’t stopped their own front-page posters from making extraordinary, defamatory allegations, without bothering to supply any evidence at all (because there is none) that The BRAD BLOG has made claims of “stolen elections”, “fraud” and other such “conspiracy theories.”
Oh, well. It’s their own grave. Unfortunately, it’s also all of ours in the bargain.
Kos attended NIU and was editor of the newspaper while he attended. I find it pretty sad that he didn’t make any sort of acknowledgment about the tragedy on his website. While I agree that we generally shouldn’t give press and sensationalism to these incidents, he has a past there. A simple statement expressing his condolences to the friends and family who were affected would have been, in my opinion, appropriate.
Any bit of respect I had for Kos (which was already very little) is not at zero.
Well, when you have the kind of election mentality that would embrace Rube Goldberg election devices as wonderous (without a clue about the nuance) and think Bette Davis Ayes is a voice vote, those kinda posts are what you get and those kinda numbers are what they talk about. “Obama got zero votes because porky pig shit in the hen house.” What dorks.
Back to reality. These stone fucking clowns would not detect Stalinism if it was in their shorts.
Kos and his “librul CIA” minions are jerk offs for the electronic election machine industry.
Diebold, its not just for kos and neoCons anymore.
The election official pointed out, in kosspeak fashion, that only you naive nutters do not understand the election religion very well. Hell any kossuck worth its salt knows that the stealing of votes is done right:
(NYT, emphasis added). God Brad, do you think any righteous saint of election holiness would steal votes improperly? Where is your faith Brad?
TAKE UP THY HOLY STOLEN VOTE AND WALK !!! PRAISE THE LORD B ESSER !!!
Tinfoil by association is clearly being astroturfed all over the internet. When I looked into Bev Harris, the only dirt I could find was that she sold Clinton cigars. So basically the only dirt on Bev Harris seems to be that she is a conservative. Kos on the other hand is on tape whitewashing how corrupt the CIA is. He does the same thing with election fraud.
All Kos can now do is ignore that he has been thoroughly exposed all over the internet and not just by Brad Friedman. That don’t hyperventilate comment says it all.
Shills and hacks may succeed in the short-term, but I think long-term we the people will eventually succeed using the internet. The only thing that will stop us is if the scroll button is outlawed. Good, sincere people will find ways to expose the truth. There is gonna come a time when the tinfoil by association scam gets thoroughly exposed, if it hasn’t already.
On a side note, I have mixed feelings about Brad’s comment about anonymity. On the one hand, I think it is a good thing that people can post ideas and findings anonymously. Yet, when I keep coming across domains which are utter rubbish, which feed into making most of us look like kooks, I don’t believe that those folks should be able to hide behind GoDaddy type proxies.
Of all of the Dkos thought police,DHinMI is head and shoulders above the rest as far as arrogance and odiousness is concerned.
Any posters on diaries of this fool that don’t conform to the company line are bound to get slimed,warned or banned.
Um, sorry, but this takes one click on Kos (on the ‘About Us’ link):
He doesn’t seem so anonymous to me…
Weird, I got booted from Kos for supporting Obama…..
They edited my comments then deleted my password without contact.
I just want you to know, Brad, that I completely agree with your asessment of DK. When I describe myself as “liberal” around my liberal friends, they all laugh and say, “No, Linda. You’re VERY liberal.” Yet, I think DK is BAD for the progressive cause.
I’m middle-aged, and graduated from college before we had PC’s to do our researching and assignments on, so I’m not as quick as some of you younger people when it comes to using the internet and websites as a way to keep up. When I first heard about DK, when it started up, it was hugely touted as THE place for progressives to go. Yet, every time I went there, I was not only disappointed, but disgusted by the level of the average poster (or what they call diarist).
I NEVER visit there anymore, unless I read, at a site like yours, about some outrageous post or thread there. DK is overrated. And it’s bad for the progressive cause, because it uses some of the same tactics that right-wingers use, only flipped around.
IMO, anyone who dislikes DK gets brownie points from me, and for progressives who dislike DK, you get double-brownies.
What does it stand for?
“D”on’t”H”ave”i”nformation”n”or”M”uch”I”ntelligence
regarding election integrity issues. That’s for
goddamn sure.
Thanks to Dan #6 above, the original article above has now been updated to shed more light on the no-longer-anonymous dKos swiftboater “DHinMI” aka Dana Houle, formerly Chief of Staff to the NH Congressman Paul Hodes. Go figure…
Maybe Dana Houle in MIchigan?
Thanks Dan, now we know what the DH is
Democratic party
Hack
Eh. They’re wrong about the election issue but right about Larry Johnson. The guy has turned into a fact-free hack. The sort of complaint you have about Kos and crew.
{ED NOTE: While you may choose to disagree with Larry’s point — presumably you’re referring to those in support of Clinton and against Obama — they are anything but “fact-free”. By way of recommended example, I’d point you to this item of his, “No, He Can’t Because Yes, They Will”, posted yesterday, which I believe deserves a close reading and careful consideration, no matter who you may support. – BF}
DHinMI denies it, but he resigned after a swiftboat incident during congressman Hodes’ campaign.
I have looked at Hodes’ votes and all those I saw were anti-bushie. I don not associate Hodes with DHinMI thru mere guilt by association.
But how in the world kos gets by with claiming to be a progressive yet demanding to stay ignorant of the election machinery is perplexing.
There is something else going on inside kos who basically says there are no election problems bekos I say so.
Wake up political panty-waists, there is one hell of a problem which you are ignoring and thereby postponing fixing it. Become political adults not political dolts.
Some people say this is a photo of deKos electronic election coverage bloggers, dkdaryl and dkdaryl.
Kos=CIA…firedoglake,crooksandliars,americablog…They all seem to have lots of money. Do not cover election fraud…. big surprise so called progressive blogs like to rant and rave about bushco but not address the cause of the problem. WE go all over the world toppling goverments in this very same way.
I am curious as to when DKos had a “previously good name”?
I’m thinking anyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together to get a spark would have figured out that DKos was a gatekeeper site within 5 mins of clicking on it.
Maybe DK is how the CIA is putting together that list of people they’re going to round up and transport to those detention centers that Halliburton has built all over the country!
Brad, Sorry have to agree with Dan, DHinMI, is/was not anonymous. The question is not who, but why. Whose dog did you and Bev run over with your reports on NH? BTW, Houle may be just paying back a favor or a debt.
In WA, CA,NYC, etc. the question is both who and why. Esser is a major support of Dino Rossi, who lost the governor’s race two years ago, and who is RUMORED to be a corrupt real estate developer (I do not have any substantiation on this).
You need to pay attention at what has happened to the Ron Paul vote. I know he is way out there, but the numbers don’t add up. And how about NYC numbers of Clinton and Obama. What’s going on there?
Corruption happens from both parties, at the same time. That is proven by NH. While paper ballots are the most important, don’t forget that there was ballot box stuffing screwing up the ballot count in the past. While you and Bev focus mainly on the how, someone needs to focus on the who and why.
I think that where the really amazingly vicious attack on you and Bev by DHinHI came from: the who and why.
That said,
Good Job!
Actually, both leeches and trepanation
are still widely used and accepted as good
ideas in modern medicine, with the former indeed
being FDA-approved as safe and effective.
wikipedia:
Trepanation is a widely accepted treatment for epidural and subdural hematomas, and for surgical access for certain other neurosurgical procedures, such as intracranial pressure monitoring. Modern surgeons generally use the term craniotomy for this procedure. In almost all cases, the removed piece of skull is replaced as soon as possible. If the bone is not replaced, then the procedure is considered a craniectomy.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-07-07-leeches-maggots_x.htm
I’ve been a critic of DKos as a left wing gatekeeper since the futile attempts of mine and many others to discuss 9-11 Truth issues. It gets you banned straight away, no matter how reasonale and tentative you are. Marcos has it right there in his posting rules now. So much for the free exchange of ideas.
While Illinois’, and the Nation’s, Veterans Suffer, Obama Campaigns
“But Obama has skipped 19 of 37 VA committee meetings in the 109th. congress. … “Providing the best care for our service members, veterans and their …”
atlanticfreepress.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=3077
‘Irresponsible Nutter Site’ Doing the Cause of Election Integrity ‘Far More Harm Than Good’
Of course, they don’t explain THEIR views of “election integrity” which, supposedly, Brad Blog is undermining! That’s the beauty of these statements, they make vauge accusations!
“How?”
“Well, I don’t want to get into ‘specifics’, but…HE’S HURTING THE CAUSE OF ELECTION INTEGRITY! I DON’T KNOW HOW!!!”
“I DON’T KNOW HOW! HE JUST IS!”
“TRUST ME!”
Great investigative work Brad, lol. At least you didn’t alter your post to cover up your embarrassing claim that Mr. Houle was hiding his identity.
What will it take for me to get called out on the front page of your blog? I said nasty shit about Bev Harris in that very story by DH, I believe.
And give me a break, everybody in the progressive blogosphere know she is a fucking nut. She lies, sockpuppets, and launches attackes on people all the fucking time. It’s why she gets banned from every site she posts at.
DHinMI is, as others have said, the second-biggest asshole on dkos. (The biggest being kos himself.) While I had been aware of the info in his site bio, he never made it clear exactly who he is and which politician he worked for. In fact, the bio makes it seem that Houle left active work in politics some time ago. Now it’s clear that he was the chief of staff for a congressman while at the same time acting as an administrator (and petty tyrant) on dkos from its inception.
What really interests me is the ethical angle here. Houle never (to my knowledge) explicitly informed dkos members and the world at large of his position in Hodes’ office. Was is ethical for a congressman’s chief of staff to be so intricately involved in that site? Was it ethical for kos to allow it without explaining upfront what Houle’s real status was? Besides the suppression of election integrity advocacy, what other agenda has Houle used dkos to advance? Have he and Moulitsas been secretly coordinating with the Democratic Party hierarchy while presenting a facade of independence? What other unseen influences are at work on Orange State that we may never hear about?
For the record, I have never trusted Moulitsas or put much faith in his site as a champion of “progressive” values. He is more of a slick operator who found a marketing model that he used to create a pure moneymaking machine. His so-called progressivism is nothing more than naked republican opportunism in action because when it comes down to issues like choice and election integrity kos is still the reactionary Reaganite he always was.
To #26 with the ad hominems against Beverly. Where’s your proof. I can show beyond any doubt that there is a “Louis Aubuchont” on the internet who has used sock puppets. Concrete proof. How is #26 not doing the same thing that the DailyKos kid did to BradBlog? And to the person making a big deal out of Brad calling that person anonymous, whoop-de-doo. He was informed of something he wasn’t aware of, and he updated it. Most people are open-minded, and if they’re provided with good info and sources, they are satisfied. DailyKos has been exposed as a gatekeeper. One of the things Kos is guilty of is covering up election fraud. That makes him a Republican operative in Democratic clothes. How he kissed up to the CIA? What progressive would praise the CIA? Maybe a few CIA are good people, but I bet there are more good cops than CIA. It’s over for Kos. He’s been exposed. People like Bev Harris and Bradblog will probably make it into the history books, alongside Cindy Sheehan and other activists. This country has moved to the left. GW Bush was never elected.
Taylormattd #26
You will notice that we are immune to your unsupported juvenile antics.
Bev Harris has forgotten more about the issue than you will ever know.
Check out these two articles for a bit more on DHinMI:
Mandatory Election recounts. Period.
Dem Pres 2008 Ensures There’ll be no troops in Iraq!
What I’ve learned from DailyKos frontpagers:
(1) Ralph Nader is why the Democratic party “lost” the 2000 election. Nader should be hated because, “but for” his candidacy, Bush wouldn’t be elected.
(2) Any variation from the official 9/11 conspiracy theory is a conspiracy theory that needs higher standards of evidence than the Government’s rubber-stamped conspiracy theory.
(3) 3rd party candidates are evil, and it is better to vote for someone you don’t agree with that’s a Democratic party member. Vote Democratic, no matter what, that’s the American Way ™.
(4) Election results should be trusted and a high burden to avoid mockery is on anyone who would challenge the results.
(5) Kucinich is a nutter by pursuing impeachment, and deserves to be primaried. (Yes, Kos has said this much, slightly less flatteringly I might add.) But we’re still supposed to be outraged that the administration’s new AG is not enforcing contempt citations. Gosh, big surprise.
Notice a pattern? All of these are ESTABLISHMENT memes. They don’t crash the gates. They stand at the gate and defend the status quo. But hey, it’s a PROGRESSIVE site because … Kos says so.
I think it’s no surprise he writes opposite a column by Karl Rove. He makes a great Pepsi to Karl’s Coke. Too bad the benzene is killing us, so to speak.
Wow, this is a ‘nutter site’.
The layout reminds me of LCJ/Susan loser website. Are all Hillary fanatics so damn unreasonable?
I swear, between Larry, Susan, Taylor and you(Brad), it makes me wonder who the Hell Hillary really is. You people are delusional and seem like you have a couple screws loose.
I hope when the primary season is finished you find some level ground. I’ll support the Democratic nominee.
To #32, ad hominems don’t prove anything. Kos has beens sooooo busted, and not just by the domain. You’re the one who is deluded thinking the genie can be put back into the bottle.
You gatekeepers should have stuck to making fun of everyone questioning the 9/11. By attacking those asking that all votes be counted correctly, by calling them “nutter” for documenting all the bullshit that has been going on, your CIA buddy has jumped the shark. People can see through frauds like him and Mike Rivero, to name a few of the big ones. Smaller sites like Brad get more respect than you wish. Your tinfoil by association nonsense is out of control. The question remains for those calling Brad a “nutter,” are you useful idiots or paid disinfo?
Dave Dial #32
Are you an athletic supporter? 😉 I ask because I can’t tell if you have balls, brains, or neither …
Actually, the trolls should actually be of some help in desensitizing Brad away from his unfortunate tendency towards knee-jerk responses where dkos is concerned… 😉
Brad, Bev, John, etc etc are right and kos is wrong… those discussions should be the starting point.
As kos+minions pained exhortations concerning “true voter reform” leave little room for doubt as to where all this is going we need Brad to keep a more level head… otherwise it’ll be time for the cruel shoes again… 🙂
Sadly, none of this surprises me one bit.
I’ve reluctantly come to the conclusion that the reactionary right and the collectivist left have two thing in common: Their disdain for the constitution, and their aversion to being forced to actually debate the merits of their positions.
The only difference is to whose secondary benefit will they support unconstitutional policies.
But when push comes to shove, and it looks like they might loose an argument, both invariably change the subject, and start sliming their opponents, hoping to distract them while putting them on the defensive.
They see the hypocrisy in each other, but not in themselves.
Dave Dial #32 –
I realize you come by way of the slimers of the Daily Kosiktanian, but you might want to go check the archives over there. A few weeks back, when I raising concerns about NH’s dreadful primary election, your boys accused me of being an Obama-maniac.
Ya’ll might want to get your stories straight. Makes your sliming appear just slightly more credible.
But actual credibility (which comes with transparency, accuracy, etc.) has never been of much interest to the dKos Boyz it seems.
Have an “extraordinary evidence” day!
#36 seems to be trying to turn this into an enigma. Maybe I misread.
Dana Houle called Beverly and Brad nutters, and by extension, the millions upon millions of people very concerned with the outrageous election irregularities. That’s called gatekeeping. At best, that is about being a useful idiot. At worst, Kos is still in the CIA and never left.
Does that make me a nutter for saying that? Is Brad a nutter for trying to get the Sibel Edmonds story out? You ever hear of Hal Turner? He has been busted for working for the FBI. He appears to have been playing the part of a racist in order to give leads to cointelpro-like employers. The same kind of scam has been going on at Mike Rivero’s WhatReallyHappened forum, and I have the proof.
The link in my username will take folks to info on Hal Turner. Also on that thread is proof that the same type of Hal Turner scam has been going on at Rivero’s forum. With all these internet scams being exposed, from Netvocates to Advantage Consultants, from Steven Hertzberg as “Navari” at BreakforDisinfoNews to the cyber bullying of folks like Bev Harris, this all makes one wonder whether Kos is up to something insidious also.
Anyone can call folks a nutter. That’s called an ad hominem. But the truth always eventually comes out in the wash. Tinfoil by association will eventually backfire. The tide is turning for truth and justice, and good sources like the BradBlog.
“DailyKos accepts that the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated by agents of Al-Qaeda. It is forbidden to write diaries that:
1. refer to claims that American, British, Israeli, or any government assisted in the attacks
2. refer to claims that the airplanes that crashed into the WTC and Pentagon were not the cause of the damage to those buildings or their subsequent collapse.
Authoring or recommending these diaries may result in banning from Daily Kos.”
Unfortunately, the truth is that Saudi Arabia assisted in the attacks of 9/11.
“(CNN) — Saudi Arabia could have helped the United States prevent al Qaeda’s 2001 attacks on New York and Washington if American officials had consulted Saudi authorities in a “credible” way, the kingdom’s former ambassador said in a documentary aired Thursday.”
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/01/saudiarabia.terrorism/index.html
Truth is not allowed to exist on KOS.
At one point in time, DailyKOS was actually readable. But then Markos got a case of Swelled Head Syndrome and went the same way as RedState.com except from the left rather than the right. He has become part of the political establishment that he originally claimed to be “crashing the gates” of, completely co-opted and subverted, nothing more now than just another self-important political hack. I have an account on DailyKOS (or at least did at one time), but haven’t logged on there for probably a year because if I want to read dishonest political hackery, all I have to do is pick up my morning newspaper, I don’t need to go look at a blog for it.
Wow. It’s amazing how this has snowballed in such a short time for DKos. I had reservations about the Daily Kos for a long time and posted a few times on this site. It just goes to show the more you dig the more you find. I agree with the previous post that somewhere along the line Markos got a swelled head and it almost approaches cult territory.
I read that article and thought “what an idiot”. That really ticked me off so I was glad to read you wrote this up. Markos writes the same crap…like the NY 80 precincts having zero votes for Obama is just an “accident”. I am almost thinking someone gave him political favors to have he and his staff/headliners write that election fraud does not exist. I guess with the Democratic Primaries they don’t’ want to acknowledge that Democrats steal elections too because when they all fall in line after the Primaries and tell us all to back whoever the candidate is, even if they are corrupt and steal elections…well, as long as Kos gets his power plays and his bank account keeps increasing…forget reporting the truth.
I think the reason is, Markos is really a conservative if you have been reading his writing the past 5 years and he makes millions off his site in advertising, gets a job at the very MSM he criticizes, book deals and others get to run the site. He’s a good marketer, he is NOT a progressive and no one should look to him for any kind of leadership or uniting of progressives. Basically, he is making more money than he ever has in his life and doesn’t have to do anything. The people volunteering to write and the small staff do all the work that makes the site successful. A sweet deal for him, for sure. The website has really deteriorated, especially within the last year and the front page writers. The only really good one they have now is the comedic guy Bill who donors are paying to have there. There are occasionally good posts on the recommended list, but even then much less than in the past. It seems all the good writers have fled. I am so sick of every time Markos himself writes (which isn’t that often) he has spelling errors, grammar error and his facts are constantly wrong…things that can easily be fact checked with Google. He criticizes established writers for this and the guy is just lazy. Intellectually lazy and lazy in every regard.
Markos is really just using the site as a tool to promote himself, appear on TV, etc. The YearlyKos event they completely stole from DemocracyFest, and he didn’t even acknowledge it. This year, they even have the organizers who did the 2005 DemocracyFest organizing their “Netroots Nation” event in Austin. How pompous too, to call themselves “Netroots Nation” when they don’t represent the netroots at all. The 2007 event apparently was just a MSM and conservative lovefest. All Markos and the organizing team cared about was the MSM attention they would get. The people who paid to be there were very disappointed and this year they raised their prices to a ridiculous $450. Markos even publicly dissed the CEO of Jet Blue when he donated tons of tickets to them. Unprofessional to the extreme. A lot of people were pissed at the venue as well as the choice of speakers…most of whom were conservative hacks. Very few were progressives, unlike what you see at other “grassroots” events, though I wouldn’t call it that since Markos is all corporate and censors anyone who challenges his status quo. Let’s face it, he slams the James Carville’s of the world because he wants to be them. He won’t citizen the Democratic Party too much because he wants to be their inside man and have that power. At the same time, he is making his money off of the everyday folks who come to his site which he uses those numbers to increase advertising revenue. It would be interesting to see if the advertisers even get what they pay for since they don’t publish actual click-throughs nor does he base his prices on that…only total hits.
It is interesting that DHinMI did not disclose he was on Holt’s team and had a conflict of interest, nor did Kos force him too. For someone (Markos) who claims to support transparency, time and time again we find that he is dishonest and does not disclose his or his teams role in various things and then they write critical articles. He calls out politicians and their staff, yet does the same thing. That Susan is same way. She bans people in violation of their own rules, with no warnings, nothing. She did this to someone because they criticized her for not taking election fraud issues seriously, and the post even got all recommended and no troll ratings. She completely cut off their ability to comment and post anything because she was mad posts criticizing her stance on election integrity got recommended. Talk about gate keeping! However, they didn’t delete the account. Why? Because they want to say they have 100,000+ members when in fact a lot of those people are no longer even there or have been banned by Kos. That is just another reflection of that lack of integrity of that whole site. The only thing it really has going for it is a great website developer guy that Markos has working for him.
Well, Brad, keep up the great work and the integrity. Unsung heroes are the only ones who ever make real change.
#38 “Is Brad a nutter for trying to get the Sibel Edmonds story out?”
Yes, the irony. Brad has been trying forever to get that out, and now Dailykos is trying to take credit…reporting on it after the other people did the work. In the same sentence they chastise the MSM for not reporting it when they themselves did not until other blogs and individual bloggers kept pressing the issue.
They do this constantly. It was interesting reading the diary defending Brad when the paid staffers got on to attack, and whined about Brad doing a hit job in effect, when their own writers started it. They even talked about banning the author but MissLaura, as much as she wanted to, technically couldn’t because he already outted himself in the “about” page. What a bunch of losers. Then BarbarainMD makes a comment about how Brad can’t be an expert on election integrity because he didn’t know how to find their stupid ab out page and his readers had to tell them.
That is so rich! 99% of everything on DailyKos comes from their readers researching it and brining it to Markos or his staff’s attention! He wouldn’t even have a site without them. He wouldn’t even have a popular site if weren’t for the Dean campaign where the bulk of his fast growing readership in 2003 and 2004 came from, yet he has no problem dissing Dean when it serves his pupose. I know Dean and he has ten times the integrity Markos will ever have. Their hypocrisy knows no end.
I think with tv appearances with Crier and Robert Kennedy Jr. the Kos borg are just jealous that this might be a smaller website, but Brad has ten times the credibility Markos and crew will ever have. They are so nasty too, then whine we are nasty here. Pot, meet kettle.
Sandy #43: “Brad has been trying forever to get that out, and now Dailykos is trying to take credit…reporting on it after the other people did the work.”
The same thing happened here in Boston with the Church pedophile story. The Boston Phoenix, our local progressive type paper with the classifieds and whatnot, were the ones who really broke that story. Then when it became obviously true, the Boston Globe showed up and took the credit.
It is kind of shocking how quick Kos’ credibility has tanked. It goes back to that admission he made about how great the CIA is. I really didn’t give him the time of day before that. I never liked the layout of the DailyKos, never knew much about him or that place. But when the CIA thing came out, it rang a bell with other stuff. I know Brad made a comment about how perhaps we shouldn’t be so anonymous, if we are gonna be posting. And sorry if that is a generalization on what he means. But there is something beautiful and pure about ideas and sources used for posts transcending who makes the post. E.G. If we see a good piece of art, we needn’t know who produced it to appreciate it and know it is art.
The same applies to the truth. That’s why disinfo punks like to associate election reform with individuals like Mr. BradBlog and Bev. That way, they just go into the cyber smear mode. They figure if they can discredit those two, then this story will go away.
Same thing happened with Cindy Sheehan. Disinfo punks went after Cindy figuring that by slandering her, that all peaceniks likewise would become tainted. As Elvis Costello has sung before, “What’s so funny ’bout peace, love, and understanding?”
We must not forget that we have the power of numbers. Markos really blew it. He has no one to blame but himself for now appearing to be a paid spook, astroturfer, troll, gatekeeper, etc.. He praises the CIA and calls election reform people “nutters.” It’s like one of the lines Brad puts up at the top, giving them enough rope or something……
“DHinMI” is a Congressman’s chief of staff named Dana Houle?!?
Other people say they aren’t stunned, but I sure as heck am. I thought DHinMI was going to end up related to KOS, like an in-law. Someone Kos couldn’t say anything to without it getting back to his wife, and his wife tossing him on the sofa… something like that.
DHinMI talked like a 18 year veteran enlisted sailor that just found out his leave’s been canceled. DHinMI would make Andrew Dice Clay and Maryscott O’Connor blush. I want to know how Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff allowed someone the Speaker would have recognized on sight she would have known personally to fill up a very well known media outlet with f-bombs, c-bombs and ever other “-bomb” every single day 24/7/365 for years.
DHinMI was SO foul-mouthed, and SO abusive. How did anyone think a person everyone will immediately know had approval from high within the Party was going to be able to be that over the top and go that far beyond any and all standards guiding behavior and not have it boomerang back on the Party?
I started my career in blogging at Daily Kos as DCDemocrat. Daily Kos has turned into a sewer. I post there only infrequently. Believe me, it’s become a complete and total waste of pixels and photons.
Dana Houle was resigned (been fired) from his position as Paul Hodes Chief of Staff several months ago because he opened his big, fat, abusive mouth one too many times and tried to destroy the reputation of the NH Dem party chair rather than some poor unfortunate who made the mistake of writing something Dana disagreed with. As far as I know he’s not be rehired and if the dem pols in DC have the sense god gave a hamster they won’t hire the sociopathic fucker for another position despite Miss Laura’s pathetic and disgusting enabling.
Many thanks to Brad blog for exposing this vile man. The demise of DKos as a decent and interesting blog began the day this piece of crap started posting there. He and his fellow third rate operatives are excellent examples of what is wrong with the Democratic party.
Just discovered this article and the excellent comments. Particularly impressed, and agree with, the comment that the right and left gatekeepers are both more interested in dismantling the Constitution than having an informed debate.
That said, it’s now tempting to look at the posting dates and times for DHinMI (and I sure didn’t know he was Hodes’ Chief of Staff, thanks Brad!)
If he was screwing around doing propaganda posts on Kos while being paid by our tax dollars, there’s a bigger story here. In other words, any posts from Mon-Fri 8 to 5 pm ought to be catalogued and exposed for the colossal waste of our tax dollars that they are.
I don’t have time to look into that but it is a story with real news value. As you may recall, there was a kerfluffle a while back when it was learned that congressional staffers were wasting hours and hours editing Wikipedia articles to suit the agendas of their congressional bosses. And we already know that an employee from Riverside California Elections has been caught wasting taxpayer money posting pro-DRE propaganda without disclosing his affiliations.
Thank you for this article! Dana Houle is a piece of shit. He’s a political hack, an AFL-style unionist, and a chickenhawk. He is a foul-mouthed and abusive asshole to everyone who disagrees with him and the DNC party line.
My username is the same one I use on DailyKos. I went there believing it was a progressive blog but soon found out that it’s run by conservative and centrist Democrats. All they care about is perpetuating their own political party and could care less about true progressive values.
Dana Houle represents the worst aspects of the Democratic Party. It is a party of political hackery, careerism and triangulation.
Dana Houle props himself up as a “super-patriot” of sorts. He’s gung-ho about the War on Terror and has a generally pro-war outlook on foreign policy. When he’s grilled about his chickenhawk ways (he has NEVER served the military yet he’s an armchair militarist), he goes on the defensive.
I posted this link for another poster on DailyKos and boy did he get pissed! He slammed me for a comment I made concerning my disgust with this country and how I can’t wait to leave it. I stand by what I said.
Despite my lack of patriotism, I find it hilarious that Dana Houle refuses to join the military even though he’s pro-war and his idea of helping the country is just getting Democrats elected. Since he’s a career politician, he could care less if they stand for anything or not.
Sorry for the long response. I had to vent and share! Thanks everyone!