I am a Bernie supporter as can be easily seen by my posting history. Which is why, like many Bernie supporters, I was disappointed and surprised by kos' edict that he will begin to censor anti-Hillary posts after March 15th if Bernie has not made up sufficient ground.
It reminded me of another front page diary from nearly 8 years ago where an author stated that he had made a last minute decision to withdraw his contribution to Obama because doing so would be "Rewarding Bad Behavior".
What was the great crime that Obama had done in 2008 to earn the this authors decision to withdraw a planned donation? Did he look the other way while guerillas completed a coup d'etat against a democratically elected government ultimately leading to the assassination of a heroic activist? Did he flipflop on support for a ban on the extraction of fossil fuels from federal lands? Did he misrepresent his opponents plans in the media?
No, supposedly he "reversed course and capitulated on Fisa, and reinforced right wing talking points that Wes Clark had impugned McCain's military service”.
Now this was in July of 2008 a month after Hillary had already conceded the race to Obama, so this WAS our democratic nominee not the presumptive nominee based on polls. So in the interest of ideological purity this author was publicly questioning our nominees commitment to progressive ideals, and withdrawing planned donations because of it. You may have guessed by now that the author of this post was none other Markos who I will let his own words speak for itself.
..there is a line between "moving to the center" and stabbing your allies in the back out of fear of being criticized. And, of late, he's been doing a lot of unnecessary stabbing, betraying his claims of being a new kind of politician. Not that I ever bought it, but Obama is now clearly not looking much different than every other Democratic politician who has ever turned his or her back on the base in order to prove centrist bona fides. That's not an indictment, just an observation.
Now I know there's a contingent around here that things Obama can do no wrong, and he must never be criticized, and if you do, well fuck you! I respect the sentiment, but will respectfully disagree. We're allowed to do that here. But fair notice -- I will never pull a Rush Limbaugh and carry water for anyone. Not for the Democratic Congress, and not for our future Democratic president. When anyone does something I don't care for, I will say so. I've never pulled my punches before, so why start now?
Ironically, I had suggested in my comments that although I agree he has every right to withhold his donation, maybe heshould have kept his comments to himself with the overall goal of getting our democratic nominee elected. This was flatly dismissed as a ridiculous notion.
Bri Jul 01 12:21:46pm
Its Not Just About $2,300
You are a key representative of the the progressive left. And your announcement that you do not think Barack deserves your donation at this time will be an example for many others.
It will be a distraction from our mutual goal, and could be used by the right to show that the democratic base is fracturing.
If you do not feel he has done something to deserve your support, couldn't you have kept it to yourself? Obviously you were making a statement both literally and figuratively by not donating.
Kos > Bri Jul 01 12:34:10pm
Kept it to myself?
Um, since when have I ever done that? I don't keep things to myself. That's why I have this site.
And again, if I'm so powerful and mighty, then he could change his behavior to suit my concerns.
But I'm not so powerful and mighty, so no one has to worry about it other than some hand-wringers who have lost a bit of perspective. Obama doesn't have to change a thing, and I don't have to worry about being too influential and having to deal with the stress that would create.
For example, I think Paul Krugman is more influential than me, yet his anti-Obama railings have done nothing to harm the candidate. Obama is much bigger than any one person or website or newspaper or even group of people.
If you think a little blogger like me can materially affect his campaign, then you don't truly trust in his movement.
For whatever reason Kos’ opinion on progressive support and loyalty to our candidate appears to have changed since then.
