Instead of Celebrating, Markos Promotes Bitterness and Misleads Readers (Update)

by Deb Cupples |   I understand that Daily Kos's Markos Moulitsas has been emotionally invested in Barack Obama's campaign.  It shows in what Markos writes in (and omits from) his blog posts.  I understand that Markos disagrees with Hillary Clinton on some issues -- though, obviously not an overwhelming number of issues, as Hillary 's and Obama's U.S. Senate voting records are very similar.

Tonight, Obama hit the magic delegate number (Time via Memeorandum).  Markos should be happily celebrating and -- one would hope -- touched by the generosity of spirit that often comes with victory. 

Instead, Markos is still bashing Hillary and using disprovable statements to do it.

About Hillary's speech last night, Markos wrote:

"'No decisions tonight.'"

"She hasn't said one nice thing about Obama.

"It's all about her. Period. There is nothing else that matters."

Actually, Hillary said several nice things about Obama, as reflected in the part of her speech quoted below:

"I want to start tonight by congratulating Senator Obama and his supporters on the extraordinary race that they have run. Senator Obama has inspired so many Americans to care about politics and empowered so many more to get involved, and our party and our democracy is stronger and more vibrant as a result.

"So, we are grateful, and it has been an honor to contest these primaries with him, just as it is an honor to call him my friend. And tonight, I would like all of us to take a moment to recognize him and his supporters for all they have accomplished."

Admittedly, Hillary devoted the first three sentences of her speech to thanking the audience and South Dakota.  But she began praising Obama directly after those first three sentences, which took about 30 seconds (see video at No Quarter).

Perhaps Markos simply turned off the tube while Hillary was still speaking her first three sentences.  Perhaps he just failed to catch all the nice stuff.

Of course Hillary talked about herself and her candidacy: she's a candidate addressing her supporters.  But that wasn't all she talked about.

She devoted significant portions of her speech to talking not only about issues that still face our nation, but also about supporters (both generally and specifically).

She talked about people who need health care and jobs.  She talked about school children and teachers who need more resources. She talked about families that need better economic opportunities...

Maybe Markos was caught up in a distracting activity while listening to Hillary's speech and missed the other things (besides herself) that Hillary spoke of.

Maybe Markos didn't listen at all and instead merely assumed that Hillary couldn't possibly speak nicely of Obama or focus on anything but herself.

Why not criticize Hillary's speech without wasting time listening to it?  The Kos readers who love Obama (or hate Hillary) likely wouldn't bother checking Hillary's speech for themselves to see if Markos' assessment was accurate.

I don't know Markos, but I've read some of his posts over the years. I've agreed with him about issues such as the Iraq war and government corruption.  He strikes me as having a solid progressive streak, despite his bellicose support of Obama and hatred of Hillary.

That's why I'm puzzled by Markos' fact-free response to Hillary's speech.  I expect fact-free (even downright dishonest) statements from Rush Limbaugh -- who has for years proclaimed absolute falsehoods with absolute conviction, often followed by the statement "I'm not making this up, folks."

When people like Markos resort to Rush Limbaugh's brand of persuasion tactics, it's time to worry about what's happened to our nation's progressive movement. 

Comments

[Danny]

Oh - that girl is just mad becuase there are so many kossacks in exile. She'll be okay again once Hillary is President and he has to make nice to keep readers and bloggers. May be it isn't working out very well for him over at that dirt rag of a magazine he was hired to work at. OR his medication is not working.

[Danny]

come to think of it - I may need meds myself before this nomination process is over. Because it's not over. LOL

[shaun]

You really wear me out with your scab picking. It was an extraordinary night in American history and all you can do is whine.

[xensen]

A post recognizing how astonishingly historic this moment is in American history would have been more appropriate than dwelling on one careless sentence of Markos Moulitsas.

[Deb Cupples]

xensen,

And I'll get to that after I post the election results, which weren't complete when I turned off the computer at 2 or 3 this am.

Note that I posed it at 1:46 am -- while waiting for those results.

[Deb Cupples]

Shaun,

I responded to your comment via email.

[Adam]

Shaun, Xensen,

Give Deb a break. Her favorite candidate just lost the nomination. She's entitled to be disappointed, and to not be in the mood to celebrate Obama's historic win. Her reaction to Markos's line is no less appropriate than Markos's reaction to Hillary's speech, and she is right that Markos's line was in error.

The only issue I had with Hillary's speech was the brief dip into primary election mode. She dredged up the popular vote argument again and talked about being the strongest candidate. Both points are endlessly debateable, for many different reasons. But I can understand her being stuck in a bit of a primary season mindset after the grind she's been through.

I don't care that she didn't concede yesterday. What matters is HOW she concedes, not when.

There a long time for party healing between now and November.

[Deb Cupples]

Adam,

Thanks so much.

And let me point out to others reading this comment that Adam is a BIG OBAMA supporter, who has been chatting (and debating) with me for months.

Incidentally, after responding to the negative comments this morning, I managed to get a post up about last night's results.

Disappointment wasn't really what kept me from doing it last night: I was wanting to write ONE post that combined the magic numbers with the election results.

In fact, I wrote the Markos post while waiting for 100% of Montana to come in. They came in after I shut down the computer.

I figured it was safe to post about it first thing this morning. Apparently not.

[Julie]

Unfortunately Obama and his supporters are all about hate. They have nothing positive to say about him so they tear down everyone else. They hate Hillary Clinton because she dared to run against him. She did not just hand him the nomination that he feels entitled to. Why do we have to work for what we want and he should have it handed to him (or if we are honest, what was stolen and given to him) If it was just a couple of his supporters the hate was coming from, it could be dismissed, but it is a good 95% (no matter where you go). The hatred coming from his supporters tells you alot about Obama. Obama is the democrats version of George Bush. Democrats critized Republicans for being fooled by George Bush and turn around and vote for the same kind of guy. Will we never learn.

[Deb Cupples]

Julie,

I too have noticed a few parallels between Obama and GWB -- in terms of how they deal with the public, I mean.

They both spin issues and outright mislead the public simply because it suits their agendas. Though not overtly, I suspect that they both encourage a viciously bellicose attitude from supporters, because that's what we've seen.

What's most unnerving to me is that many media outlets have fostered those tactics in Obama the same way they did a few years ago re: Bush.

[xensen]

How sad it is to read someone write that "Obama and his supporters are all about hate." Did you not see the faces of the crowd in Saint Paul last night? I am filled with sorrow that someone could utter such a statement.

If you look at my comment above you will see that it was mildly worded and in my judgment not inappropriate. Moreover, Deb has since addressed the issue it raised, so that is resolved as far as I'm concerned.

I cannot understand such reckless rhetoric.

[Buck Naked Politics]

Xensen,

Of course it's unfair to say that all of Obama's supporters are about hate. I've had great interactions with many of them, despite our having supported opposing candidates.

Some of them, however, really do talk as though they are expressing hate.

Here's a bizarre account that might interest you (from a Hillary supporter):

http://correntewire.com/scenes_from_hillarys_rally_this_evening

At this blog, I definitely went after things that Obama and his campaign said and did, but I refrained from going personal or using hateful insults.