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HOURLY HUGH
Hugh Hewitt will be part of a Daily Kos-gnawing webzilla launching next month and building towards the 2008 election:
Should Dems be alarmed? “Absolutely,” says Hewitt. “Unless they don’t mind political exile.” Not everyone is so sure. “Kos can’t be duplicated,” says Salon.com blogwatcher Peter Daou.
It can’t? That’ll be a relief to Hugh, who would prefer not to become a shrieking loser. Meanwhile, things aren’t so kosy in Kossackstan.
(Via Bernie Slattery)
The drowning Kossaks with Kornbluth screaming “Oh truthful Kos, glub, glub,save us! Open your mouth and, glub, glub, throw us a tongue line and drag us back to truth land, glub, show us you are not the self-absorbed media obsessed two faced slimey you appear to be, glub, glub, my wife lov glub, glub glub….
I happened to catch this movie on TV last night…Kornbluth’s piece is somewhat reminiscient of it. At one point, the young hotheaded communist played by Horst Buchholz is forced to realize that the apparatchiks from the Russia he’s been admiring so much are just as crooked as the capitalists (represented by the Coca-Cola representative played by James Cagney) he despises so much. Yet, just a few minutes later (after some sentiments such as “the whole of mankind should be eliminated so we can start over”...sound familiar?) he’s back to spouting communist propaganda, almost as an automatism.
That’s what soft-brained nonsense like “the site is one of the greatest on the web and Markos, on his worst day, is a zillion times the man and thinker that Brooks is on his best” reads like.
And much like the movie, no matter how serious the background might be, ultimately Daily Kos is a comedy.
During the last Senatorial campaigns, Karen was so moved by Kos posts about liberal candidates in Oklahoma and Alaska that she wrote check after check.
We have a name for someone like Karen. It’s “Suck-er”.
Talk radio is a powerful tool and one in which the lefties, try as they might, will never make much of an impact. We must remain ever vigilent that nothing like the “Fairness” Doctrine ever raises its ugly head again.
I regard the Dean campaign as a microcosm of DailyKos and much of the n
uetroots. During the 2004 campaign, I read a profile (long piece—NYT Magazine perhaps) of the Deaniacs. They were quite a group. For them, the Dean campaign was a sort of latter day Harmonic Convergence. When I got to the part where one of the volunteers waxed euphoric about how “this isn’t about a presidential campaign” but rather a confluence of minds and spirits dedicated to changing the world, I knew Dean was toast. Beacause, you see, it was about a presidential campaign, it was very much about a presidential campaign. (The problem was compounded by Joe Trippi—We want to let [grassroots volunteers] have control, let them help the campaign how they want to help the campaign —who also believed that the most important thing was to change our country and our politics.)This remains the prevailing mindset among the KosKids. If there’s one thing about us “Righties”, it’s our pragmatism. During the final weeks of Campaign 2004, I went to work for the local Republicans. They were organized and focused and directed the volunteers’ activites with a firm hand. They knew it was about a presidential (Senate, whatever) campaign and behaved accordingly. That’s why we won.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 06 26 at 12:42 PM • permalinkDid you catch the part where Red Buttons - playing an MP, I believe - actually did a quick Cagney impersonation?
I caught that (and read about its significance in the IMDB later), but lacking the necessary background, namely what the heck a Cagney impersonation would look like, it mostly struck me as oddly out of place at the time. :)
Good movie, at any rate. I swear, besides a handful of TV series I’m addicted to (CSI, NCIS, Crossing Jordan, a couple others that elude me right now), the only thing worthwhile on all of German television these days are the post-midnight movies shown on the state-owned channels. I’ve been getting quite an education in 1940s to 1970s movies this past year. (Which has made the shoddy state of today’s Hollywood output all the more obvious to me, too.)
Anyway, to get this back on topic…I can’t get over that one line by Kornbluth:
Markos, on his worst day, is a zillion times the man and thinker that Brooks is on his best.
Now, I’m naturally biased against Markos, but even being objective for once, “deep thinker” just isn’t anywhere close to how I’d describe the guy. This kind of silly, willful exaggeration of your leader’s qualities is exactly why dKos comes across as a cult to so many people, and Kornbluth isn’t helping it any (although I doubt he even realizes what he’s doing).
I mean, how many Bush supporters would describe Dubya as a deep thinker? He’s undoubtedly quite intelligent, but he just isn’t the contemplative type, and nobody in the right mind would pretend that’s the case. And the same applies to Markos, yet you can’t swing a polar bear without hitting a Kossack who will earnestly tell you that Markos is the epitome of an intellectual giant.
11: Well, if you happen to be in the Sonora Desert, the mesquite is a comparatively tall tree, primarily because it’s likely to be the only tree around. People like Kornbluth and his wife simply have no basis for making useful comparisons, and I think you have hit the mark precisely in mentioning the notion of “contemplation”. Navel-gazing and other myopic forms of introspection are poor substitutes for rational thought and the contemplation of things like historical cause and effect. The challenge facing Kornbluth et ux is to see through all the narcissistic self-promotion, the delusions of messianistic destiny, and to discover that Kos and his ilk are garden variety left-wing fantasy mongers, drunk on the prospect of exercising power. Unfortunately, it is probably the Democratic Party that is going to experience the hangover when the sun comes up next election.
PW, I like your taste in TV.
I’m not sure what effect all this “netroots” hurly-burly will have. I know a lot of people will vote for the guy with the best hair, but in the aggregate, voters generally go with the people who are doing what the voters want them to do, not the people who only talk the BS they can’t, or won’t, walk. Personally, I look the other way when people approach me with a slick message and a hand out for money.
As for Kos, I doubt Hewitt can do much to Kos that he apparently isn’t willing to do to himself. Most definitely Dems should beware.
Protein Wisdom and Just One Minute have been all over this thing like a cheap suit. Worth a look.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 06 26 at 08:26 PM • permalinkKornbluth was halfway to reality in that rant of his, but as PW noted, he fell back into leftoidspeak “...almost as an automatism.” Hopefully his brain wasn’t hardwired, and he can revert to conventional thinking.
But, oh, the pain he will feel when Jesse realizes how much money he and his wife flushed down the toilet!
That’s OK, Jesse—most of us have gone through that Awful Realization™. You’ll survive that transistion. We all do.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 06 26 at 10:25 PM • permalinkI’ve been getting quite an education in 1940s to 1970s movies this past year. (Which has made the shoddy state of today’s Hollywood output all the more obvious to me, too.)
P-Dub, I agree. Turner Classic Movies (curse Ted’s commie heart, but he’s done good with this) has a series that runs on Saturday nights called “The Essentials”. It’s a classic (“essential”) movie presented with the class and respect that is the hallmark of TCM. I finally got to see The Thin Man, and oh, cripes, was it funny.
I second Ushie’s recommendation of White Heat - you can tell by Cagney’s movements in the film that he’s a trained dancer. I believe The Public Enemy ranks up there with it as a classic Cagney gangsta flick - the grapefruit scene rivals White Heat‘s trunk-ventilation as a classic moment.
And don’t miss Bogey in The Maltese Falcon. Or the sci-fi classics The Thing from Another Planet and Them! (count how many scenes in Them! were ripped off in the second Alien movie).
The thing that popped out at me was the idea that Armstrong ‘can’t discuss’ his SEC problems right now. My understanding, from looking at the PDFs is that he has already signed a consent agreement that *requires* that he not even attempt to claim innocence. All that remains right now is how big his fine will be, and that is still being negotiated. Other than that, he’s free to speak as long as he doesn’t, in any way, claim to be innocent.
The reason Kos wanted to wait ‘two months’ (as far as I can see) was so the storm would blow over. Armstrong would appear, legally, to be able to talk about the case all he wants, he just can’t say anything that looks like a claim of innocence (well, unless he wants to face even harsher penalties).
This is getting even fishier.
Also, Kos and the Kossuckers appear to have fallen into a typical adolescent trap. The one where young people suddenly discover these vast Truths that old people just don’t get. You know: Love is good; War is bad; Sex is fun; and like that that the old geezers never noticed.
Also, after serving two longish terms as a student and now perfessering, they sound just like all the pompous silver-spoon Marxist wannabes I have ever run into. Intellectual? Hardly. When you start with the proper conclusion and reason backwards via received authority I’d hardly call that being intellectual.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2006 06 27 at 01:11 AM • permalink#18: Dave, I think the first 10 or 15 minutes of Them! are among the best moments of sci fi anywhere. Also, for film noire fans, don’t miss Out of the Past, a 1947 movie starring Bob Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas - one of the absolute best examples of the genre, with Mitchum in what, I believe, was his greatest role (certainly one of his greatest, anyway). TCM shows this one pretty often.
Let’s see: Progressives Allied for Change Overnight. The acronym has a nice, familiar ring to it.
I agree. Time to incorporate in Nigeria! Or sub-contract out to them.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 06 27 at 01:39 PM • permalink#23: Why, lookee here! “Articles of Incorporation, Pac-O-Lies, Ltd., Lagos, Nigeria, June 14, 2006. President, Prince Ahmed Cuthbertson Okapi; Vice President, Genuine Geoffrey. Corporate charter empowering officers, employees and designated agents to conduct business operations without restriction, let or hindrance, including, but not limited to, the solicitation of funds for progressive causes”. See what a dollar and two box tops will get you?
Time to go for the progressive gold!
Time to go for the progressive gold!
I’ll settle for cash. :-p
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 06 27 at 07:45 PM • permalink“Kos can’t be duplicated,” says Salon.com blogwatcher Peter Daou.
“Well, that’s some consolation, anyway,” says Woody Paul, in nearly every episode of Riders’ Radio Theater
Posted by Huck Foley on 2006 06 27 at 11:53 PM • permalink
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Jesse Kornbluth’s piece is a semi-hard headed view of Kosgate; however, the author has a ways to go before he acquires full cranial integrity: “And this is tragic, for the site is one of the greatest on the web and Markos, on his worst day, is a zillion times the man and thinker that Brooks is on his best.” Seeing that “zillion” made me wonder if the author is a climatologist. Or maybe a zoologist specializing in polar bears. I think that “progressivism”, for many people, is a rechanneling of the battered romantic fantasies of youth - Santa Claus, Superman - and thus a mark of the permanent immaturity cited by Professor Charlton.