Hey, y'all. I'm an infrequent poster around here. Most of you probably don't recognize me, and I'm ok with that. I never update my profile, I almost never put up diaries, and I only comment a couple times a week.
Nonetheless, I'm here every day. I read, laugh, and I weep along with the rest of you. I bought tickets to the first YearlyKos and then found myself unable to attend (donated the tix to another Kossack). I was here for the Dean Scream. I was here for the Pie Fight, the '08 Primary wars, and every internal battle in between.
And I gotta tell you, I was a touch worried about this place.
You know, I never really bought the assertion that satirists won't have any problem coming up with material for the new administration. Sure, Jon Stewart can always play Jesus Christ, Superstar over Obama's entrances, and Stephen Colbert's whole schtick was based on pretend rightwing rage, of which there will be no shortage in coming years.
But do you really think there will be the kind of performances we had at the Press Club Dinner, when Stephen Colbert ripped a new one for everybody from Scalia to the press to the President himself? The real anger is no longer at a boil. What'll Andy Cobb do now that there's no longer the absurdity of the Loneliest Icelander? I won't go so far as to call Stewart's Obama jokes a flop, but you have to see some reason in the following quote:
That the real highlight of Election Night was Stephen Colbert's begging a cockatoo to slit his throat suggests that the balance of power on the Stewart-Colbert axis might have shifted. We can see a future in which The Colbert Report becomes Comedy Central's late-night star, mixing Dadaist whimsy with legitimate critique of the Obama administration. And, sad to say, in that future, Jon Stewart sits on the sidelines, happy that Barack Obama is the leader we all hoped he would be, but wistfully remembering his words from last night's episode: "Oh, George W. Bush impression, I'll miss you most of all."
In that vein, I've been a touch worried about DKos. You know, a lot of why I came here was to hear voices like my own, crying out against the injustices we were all suffering under or witnessing from afar. I came for community in a time of stress and fear and anger. Now that we've worked hard and things are starting to get put aright, how many of us who were just here to fight might leave? How many might think "we're done, it's all better" and go home?
But you know, I was wrong. Yesterday, Droogs wrote a great diary holding Dem feet to a fire over the 50-state strategy. A great diary, I say, even though it was a misfire, because the fact that the rumor turned out to be false didn't mean that the idea of abandoning the 50-state strategy shouldn't be slapped down with any less vigor. Kaine only had to come out and deny the rumor because there was so much anger about it.
I got here this morning and saw the Rec'd diary list filled with work to be done, righteous journalistic integrity, anger at the bankers and the problems they've caused, fervor for carrying the fight to old enemies. I saw that Rec List, and I saw Hunter's graceful riposte to David Ignatius and I saw Kagro X pointing out the inconsistencies of our leadership, right there on the front page.
Ladies and gentlemen, I saw all that, and I knew we'd be ok. You know as well as I that our work is not done. Thank you all for your tireless efforts.
Now go kick some ass.