Obama takes a shot at DailyKos?

[Alhena]

seems that way to me. Takes a little guts to take on Kos, in this day and age. I wonder if this was an off-the-record comment that the author improperly used.

http://nymag.com/news/politics/21681/?imw=Y

Obama’s first year in office, he voted for cloture on the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court (though not for the nomination itself), earning dozens of angry posts on Daily Kos, a hugely well-trafficked liberal blog. Obama responded with a polite but stern four-page note. “One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me?” he tells me. “And increasingly, when I read Daily Kos, it doesn’t surprise me. It’s all just exactly what I would expect.”

[KingFlorez]

1. Good

The people at Kos can be idiotic at times.

[Nozebro]

2. Pretty much a center-right outfit all the way around. Boring. EOM

nt

[Ellis Wyatt]

7. Kos is center-right?

Surely you jest.

[wyldwolf]

11. LOL! Only to the reeeeeallly far left

[LittleClarkie]

22. Depends on the issue. He's taken shots at feminists and "hippy dippy"

war protesters.

And often enough he can just be an asshat.

[wordpix]

42. Obama was against the war from the beginning. No other Dem contender for pres can say the same

[dae]

44. I believe Gen. Clark was against the war from the beginning

as well, and gave testimony to Congress stating his objections and why.

[rocktivity]

55. Clark and Obama? Works for me

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[beachmom]

45. And is for prolonging the war now. Good on Obama for calling

it correctly when there was little at stake in liberal Illinois, but now when he has the power, he's for dragging his feet to get our troops out.

His criticism of dailykos is about DU, too. It's about him dissing liberals who wanted to fight Bush. I also am dismayed with Markos and some of the excesses on dKos, but that's true of a lot of blogs. No, this was a shot across the bow of all liberal bloggers who want to fight Bush muscularly. He's trying to make friends with the other side, who will respond by slaughtering him. Here's the evidence of how they are mercilessly going after Obama just like they went after Kerry and Dean and everyone else:

townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=why_is_obamas_evil_in_rick_warrens_pulpit&ns=KevinMcCullough&dt=11/19/2006&page=1

Why is Obama's Evil in Rick Warren's Pulpit?
By Kevin McCullough
Sunday, November 19, 2006

Rick Warren, the best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life and senior teaching pastor at Saddleback Church in California, has invited Barack Obama to speak to the congregation of the faithful on December 1, 2006. In doing so he has joined himself with one of the smoothest politicians of our times, and also one whose wickedness in worldview contradicts nearly every tenant of the Christian faith that Warren professes.

So the question is, "why?"

Why would Warren marry the moral equivalency of his pulpit - a sacred place of honor in evangelical tradition - to the inhumane, sick, and sinister evil that Obama has worked for as a legislator?

According to press reports, it is because of a mutual respect that each feels towards the other over the AIDS/HIV pandemic on the African continent. That rationale however is not only dishonest, but not even logical given the two distinct positions that the men come to on the matter. Because of this supposed shared concern, Warren is ready to turn over the spiritual mantle to a man who represents the views of Satan at worst or progressive anti-God liberals at best in most of his public positions on the greatest moral tests of our time.

Maybe he should stop picking on liberal bloggers who don't come even close to the above level of hatred and extremism, and take a look at where that radicalism really lives.

[keroro gunsou]

3. humor me please...

what is the big deal about the daily kos? some historical context would be nice... sorry, i'm a bit out of the loop as it were, but willing to learn, so y'all might want to edu-macate me please.

[Morgana LaFey]

54. Very good question -- perhaps someone else can answer more

definitively.

I suppose it's because dKos was one of the early bloggers, who then became one of the most read bloggers, who then became one of if not THE more influential bloggers, etc. I've even seen him on MSNBC, I think it is. I think he's a disappointment in a lot of ways -- I remember a dust-up over some sexism that he definitely came down on the wrong side of (the ass), tho don't remember the details off-hand.

He can be brilliant, but in general I don't care for him.

[mtnsnake]

4. Kudos to Obama

[TankLV]

18. Fuck "obama" Kos is correct...obama can shove it.

he's wrong on the issues.

If you separated his statements from his name, we'd all be screaming what an awful repuke or LIEberman he was...

get real...

[mtnsnake]

19. Did you OD on your Bitter pills tonight?

lol

[Hippo_Tron]

28. Specific issues if you would care to say them

He's pro choice, was against the war, voted against the bankruptcy bill, voted against the torture act, and has had a pretty consistantly liberal voting record. Sorry that he voted to allow a vote on a well qualified conservative justice to replace a conservative justice on the bench at a time when we controlled neither the White House nor the Senate. You'd have to be out of your mind to believe that we could've fillibustered Roberts and in return gotten Bush to nominate someone as moderate as O'Connor. Alito may have been a possibility.

[beachmom]

47. Looks like somebody needs to read the Harper's article

I guess it's not online, but here's a little blurb:

http://www.harpers.org/sb-a-little-bit-more-on-obama-1161881683.html

Basically, he took money from financial people. Then he voted AGAINST an amendment to the bankruptcy bill which would have capped interest rates to 30%. Yes, Obama voted against the whole bill, but he knew full well it was going to pass with or without his vote. So why did he vote against an amendment that would have made the bill a little less pandering to Citibank, et al and more humane to consumers? Because they've got him in his pocket.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

30. Ya.

And with an attitude like that, is it any wonder that the netroots aren't taken seriously by the big names in the party?

Kos, etc: Fuck off you DLC punk-ass whorebitch!

Pol: Ok, fine.

Kos, etc: Wait! Pay attenton to me! Pay attention to me! I'm impoooooooortant!

[blondeatlast]

31. Sums it up pretty well.

If I were a pol, I wouldn't care to take the abuse of some of the boards either.

At least at DU there is a wide spectrum of left as opposed to Kos. He also rivals Madonna in his need for attention.

[Jai4WKC08]

51. No politician has a right to blow off the voters

Even the voters at dKos. Or here for that matter.

No matter how extreme or obnoxious some of us may get from time to time, Obama has an obligation to listen to what we have to say. Ok, so techically only those of us who are from Illinois. For now. But if he has plans to run for national officer, every last motherfucker of us.

[Cha]

52. I totally agree.

I like the people who listen and don't just burn bridges like they have plenty to burn.

[fujiyama]

57. That basically sounds like Kos for ya

He has been effective in mobilizing and fundraising and I'll give him credit for that.

But he has a huuuuuuuge ego, as do quite a few bloggers now.

[madfloridian]

5. DU, the new place to bash Daily Kos.

.

[wyldwolf]

12. plenty to bash

[Ellis Wyatt]

6. poor logic

Someone isn't doing good work unless they surprise you?

So what about someone who does consistently good work? Wouldn't you never be surprised? Is Albert Pujols not doing great work because it's expected that he's the best hitter out there?

[madfloridian]

8. Our Democrats gave Bush his extremist judges...by cloture vote or yes vote.

So Obama was wrong. He and the others who did this will see our country paying for their decisions for a long long time.

That's how my senator, Bill Nelson, does it. He brags he doesn't vote yes for controversial things but he voted for cloture.

[beaconess]

13. "Our Democrats" didn't - most of them voted against cloture

so don't blame all Democrats for these judges.

[Hippo_Tron]

29. How do you propose that we should have fought John Roberts?

I don't like the idea of putting fascists on the bench either, but John Roberts was far too qualified far too likeable and he was replacing another right-wing justice. We controlled neither the Senate nor the White House at the time. A minority of Senators simply can't force the President to appoint someone who is moderate under those circumstances.

Alito I agree we could've fought but getting someone better might've been hard.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

39. Oh, cut the crap. n/t

[wtmusic]

9. It seems fairly insulting at face value

"If they disagree with me but don't surprise me, I'm not interested."

[wyldwolf]

10. Good for him.

[beaconess]

14. Obama did NOT vote for cloture on Roberts!!!

In fact, there was no cloture vote on Roberts, so what are they talking about?

There was a cloture vote on Alito, and Obama voted against it.

So why are these people lying about Obama's record?

[wordpix]

40. thanks for clarifying this---I guess some people don't want Obama to be our next pres

[beachmom]

49. Okay -- that's what I thought. I don't like his remark about dailykos

but I swore he had voted for a filibuster.

[Mass]

15. This article is full of factual errors.

There was NO vote for cloture concerning Roberts, and that, if the writer is talking about Alito, Obama voted against cloture.

[AZBlue]

16. What he said about it is exactly right.

It's a blog maintained by one person who has very specific views that never change. The other posters allowed on the blog are of the same mind. I read it fairly regularly and see a lot of group-think and one-sidedness on Kos.

Let's face it - anyone who claims to be an independent thinker but then turns around and invites politicians to their conference and even lets these politicians host receptions (as in Mark Warner's reception at the Stratosphere on the Friday of the Yearly Kos) has be be looked at with a grain of salt.

[digno dave]

20. Kos is good for mobilizing. Its opinions are typical...

and this is what i think Obama meant. You trow a topic at Kos and its other writers and you can guess with 90% certainty what the response will be. Sadly, the same can be said for it's posters and most people here, as well.

[NewJeffCT]

46. How often do any politicians or pundits surprise us?

I'm guessing it's pretty rare that somebody inside the beltway really surprises us - i.e., the conservative/hawkish Murtha coming out strongly against the war.

[cally]

17. Obama tried to post a Dailykos and got

a vitriolic response. He tried to post something about consensus iirc. I'm not surprised that he's bitter about it but I'm surprised he would make it public. Sometimes the blogosphere can overboard in our attacks on our own.

[Kagemusha]

23. Yeah, the Kos readership isn't interested in consensus.

It's interested in winning. I sympathize but, no approach fits all situations and I wouldn't expect most activists to be successful senators. Of course no one on this board considers Obama a successful senator either. He wants something no one else in his own party wants. He shouldn't be shocked at the open hatred of him.

[usregimechange]

21. Is he talking about independence?

[liberalpragmatist]

24. And what did he say next? (Read On)

“One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me?” he tells me. “And increasingly, when I read Daily Kos, it doesn’t surprise me. It’s all just exactly what I would expect.”

Which is not to say that Obama doesn’t have very strong partisan convictions. “There are times I think we’re not ambitious enough,” Obama says. “I remember back in 2004, one of the candidates had made a proposal about universal health care, and some DLC-type commentator said, ‘We can’t propose this kind of big-government costly program, because it’ll send a signal we’re tax-and-spend liberals.’ But that’s not a good reason to not do something. You don’t give up on the goal of universal health care because you don’t want to be tagged as a liberal. People need universal health care.”

[blondeatlast]

32. Silly, don't confuse them with petty facts. Obama is clearly conservative

and would NEVER deviate from th DLC line at all. :sarcasm: even though I know you get it--many won't without the tag.

[beachmom]

48. Sorry, his dissing of kos meant the dissing of the liberal blogosphere

It's not like he said, oh, there are some good liberal bloggers, I just don't care for dailykos. Perhaps, if somebody goes to a town hall meeting, they can ask him politely what exactly he meant by this remark. I just feel like I've been "Sister Soljah'd", and I'm not happy about it.

[Vidar]

25. Not terribly impressed with Obama, but Kos is far worse.

[Guaranteed]

26. Heh- yeah, that reminds me of this guy named Barack Obama, who....oh...

Yeah, anyway, despite him being a new, "up-and-coming" star in the party, this guy keeps pushing the same old DLC ideas that haven't gotten us anywhere in well over a decade. Yeah, he's a pretty face, and he "speaks well"- much like Colin Powell "speaks well," as Chris Rock put it- but I've seen it all before.

[liberalpragmatist]

34. Um... did you bother reading on?

From the article:

“One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me?” he tells me. “And increasingly, when I read Daily Kos, it doesn’t surprise me. It’s all just exactly what I would expect.”

Which is not to say that Obama doesn’t have very strong partisan convictions. “There are times I think we’re not ambitious enough,” Obama says. “I remember back in 2004, one of the candidates had made a proposal about universal health care, and some DLC-type commentator said, ‘We can’t propose this kind of big-government costly program, because it’ll send a signal we’re tax-and-spend liberals.’ But that’s not a good reason to not do something. You don’t give up on the goal of universal health care because you don’t want to be tagged as a liberal. People need universal health care.”

[brentspeak]

38. I'm glad to hear that Obama is in favor of universal health care

I was looking for some substance to come out of him, and that's a good start.

[liberalpragmatist]

43. Look, here's an overview of some of his accomplishments in the Senate

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2006/10/barack_obama.html

[fujiyama]

56. Don't go about doing insane things

like telling the truth about Obama and his record.

[JCMach1]

27. The more I see Obama he's exactly what I expect...

I really don't like this guy...

[Tippy]

33. He is what I expected too....

I won't go so far as to say I don't like the guy....for me it is to soon to tell...Hell yes he gave a rousing speech and imediately after people began linking his name as a possible contender for the presidency...One speech or two does not a president make....He has to have more than the ability to give a good speech, talk is cheep.

[Hard_Work]

36. Riiiightttt

He has to have more than the ability to give a good speech, talk is cheep.

No, chirping is cheep. Talk is cheAp. And to say that Obama is all talk is to not only not know his voting record, but to not care either. It's so easy to knock someone who may differ with you on a few points, rather than getting behind that person on the things you DO have in common.

Obama has done nothing to deserve the disdain I see toward him on this site. He is one of the more progressive politicians we have. He's pro-choice, anti-war, pro middle class/poor, and in spite of what seems to be the prevailing thought, he is not pro corporate. Nor is he anti corporate, and it seems that there is the rub. He IS, however, pro corporations paying what they owe, as opposed to shipping jobs and profits overseas to avoid taxes.

Man, people just amaze me sometimes!

[wordpix]

41. gosh, give him a chance. Why not read his book about growing up poor?

[chaska]

35. Empty suit????

[Toots]

37. It doesn't surprise me...

“One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me?” :shrug:

[beachmom]

50. He wants liberal bloggers to come out for school choice or

against abortion or something. That would, indeed, be a surprise . . .

[Morgana LaFey]

53. What a lame-ass yardstick he's got there

Trying to sound superior -- and failing. Badly.

I'd have expected more from him, but am increasingly disappointed by this political superstar with very clay feet and an apparently rather thin skin.

[depakid]

58. Obama's behavior over the past 21 months

just goes to show what happens when someone is anointed to a position that they never earned.

He did the same sort of deal with Alito- criticizing the filibuster, then voting for it. What an incomprehensibly stupid thing to do.

[HootieMcBoob]

59. I'm surprised at Obama

though not pleasantly. I'm afraid he's following the Lieberman/DLC model.

[DemDogs]

60. It is more than a slap at Daily Kos

Is he online enough to distinguish between sites or does he think those of us online are all predictable liberals who don't spend any time worrying about whether we surprise Obama? Maybe the guy is not as bright as we have been reading.