Welcome, welcome. I'm Steven D, your host for the 1st Annual Kossack Debate on the purpose of Daily Kos, particularly as it relates to the Democratic Party.
You may think you know the purpose of Dkos: "More and Better Democrats." Indeed that is the motto or mission statement that Our Great Leader has time and time again publicly stated as its purpose. And it is his site, so he should know. Yet, I regret to report that lately a fringe element of radical "members" or "Kossacks" as they refer to themselves, have accosted The Great and Powerful Kos regarding his vision for a better tomorrow fundraising machine Libertarian presence in the Democratic party progressive netroots political blog that supports and actively works to elect Democratic candidates.
Accusations have been made that this blog and its glorious founding father have been corrupted by the dominate corporate wing of the Democratic Party Washington Establishment DNC the Dark Side (whatever the hell that is). In brief, these malcontents claim that the national Democratic Party no longer works for the benefit of ordinary people, the voters that Democrats need to turn out to win elections.
Instead, these whiny little commie bastards minority of dissidents claim that Daily Kos has been transformed into little more than another mouthpiece water carrier apologist for the Obama administration and its weak sauce centrist conservative policies such as Wall Street friendly neoliberal economic austerity plans and free trade agreements the proposed demolition of the safety net an ever increasing national surveillance state that spies on the American people the cover-up of war crimes a failure to adequately regulate big banks, big oil, big pharma, etc. the promotion of damaging environmental resource extraction - oh just nebulous bad things in general, which they go on and on and on at length in diaries that serve no purpose but to distract us from the necessary goal of electing more Democrats.
I know, I know, this sounds far-fetched to some of you, but many of these dissident, traitorous alleged Democratic supporters on this site have repeatedly argued in rec list diaries that we should {gasp!} primary perfectly good Democratic Senators and Representatives based on some obscure notion of "purity," by which they mean an allegiance to failed and outdated notions from the past, which in their deluded fantasies constituted some sort of socialist paradise where the Federal Government had a hand in creating a large and self-sustaining middle class. As if!
However, in the interest of fairness, I feel it only proper to allow two representatives of the main factions here to debate the current state of affairs at Daily Kos. Obviously, in the interest of protecting their privacy, I can't give them their proper names or even the actual monikers they use to post diaries and comments at Dkos, but you can trust me that these two individuals fairly represent the opinions and mindset of those Kossacks whose views they share.
So without further ado, let me introduce our two debaters. For the dissident faction, we have "Leftist Naderite Agitator" and for the silent majority of Kossacks who support the party, "Proud & Loyal Democrat," or simply "Proud Democrat" for short. After flipping a coin, Proud Democrat won the right to speak first. Let the debate begin (beneath the stylized and elegant orange symbol thingy that cannot be named)!
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Hey, wait just one minute. There was no coin flip! And I object to the name you've given me. I never supported Nader ...
Steven D: I'm sorry, but you're out of order, Leftist Naderite Agitator. Another outburst from you like that and I'm afraid I'll have to cut your time. Proud Democrat, please proceed.
Proud Democrat: Thank you, Steven. Unlike my opponent I believe in following the rules here at Daily Kos. Obviously, too many so-called Kossacks, like Leftist Naderite Agitator here, are willing to say or do anything to distract us and sabotage the mission of this website, which is to elect more and better Democrats, as you so rightly pointed out in your introduction. And the only way to get better Democrats is to elect more of them. It's really very simple. When we had more Democrats we got the Affordable Care Act passed. I know of no better example of the folly of those of the socialist left, than their criticism of the President and Congress that brought us health care reform when no one thought it was possible.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Now wait just a minute. I'm all for the ACA, deeply flawed as it may be. However, all you have to do is read Paul Krugman to see that it was essentially a bailout of the Insurance Industry ...
Proud Democrat: Oh please. Everyone knows that Krugman is a crank whose entire purpose in life is to stir up people against our President. Bringing Krugman up does you no credit. Next thing you know you'll be quoting Noam Chomsky for gawds sake! Enough of these logical fallacies of appealing to so-called experts who lack any real world expertise or common sense.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Mr. Moderator, I object to this interruption. My opponent had his turn ...
Steven D And you have had yours. Proud Democrat is entitled to give a rebuttal regarding your argument.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: But, but ....
Steven D: I'm sorry, but your time is up.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: I was going to talk about the fact that single payer and the public option were never ...
Steven D: What part of "your time is up" don't you understand. Proud Democrat, you have the floor.
Proud Democrat: Thank you. Let me just add that without President Obama and the Democrats in the Senate, we would have seen the ACA repealed by those Tea Party crazies under a Romney administration. We don't have a problem with Democrats, we have a problem with pouty leftist voters who refuse to go to the polls if they don't get every little thing on their interminably long wish list. I mean, have you seen the stock market lately? It's shooting through the roof! More people are working now than when the President took office ...
Leftist Naderite Agitator: At lower paying service jobs for lower pay ...
Steven D: Agitator, I'm not going to warn you again. Wait your damn turn.
Proud Democrat: Oh that's all right, Steven. This is standard operating procedure for these people. Constantly nagging and distracting and making a fuss over nothing most of the time. They refuse to see the many good things our grand old Democratic Party has accomplished over these past few years. Indeed, if I may risk offending my 'colleague', it is her ilk that led to our losses in Congress in 2010. Their constant negativism and demands for more "progressive candidates" have been a real drag on our party's electoral performance. I see the glass as more than half full. They don't even see the glass at all.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: May I please respond?
Steven D: Proud Democrat, you still have more time.
Proud Democrat: That's all right, Steven. Please, by all means, Agitator, proceed. I can't wait to hear you criticize the greatest and oldest party in our nation's history.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Thank you, I think. I just want to say that if the Democratic Party hadn't been afraid to run on a more populist and progressive platform, if they hadn't insisted on running so many candidates that were essentially Republican Lite in 2010 and 2012, if they paid more attention to local and state elections, and if they had given our young people a reason to get out to vote, much less taken so long to combat the constant barrage of voter suppression efforts by the Republicans until it was too late, Democrats might have won more elections, both at the national and state level.
Proud Democrat: See what I mean? All Agitator has is complaints. No solutions, no indications of working for the party's candidates, no support for the leaders of our Party, only the constant drumbeat of negativity.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Well, perhaps if the DNC hadn't fired Howard Dean, whose 50 state strategy was beginning to show results ...
Proud Democrat: Dean? Are you really going there? Mr. Hysterical Screaming Man Howard Dean? His leaving was the best thing that could have happened for the health of the party. You're just sore that the party made an executive decision to dump a fellow traveler, and instead appoint leaders whose decisions have provided us with the money we need to fund competitive races. Really, how petty can you get? Howard Dean?
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Competitive? You mean by courting Wall Street Money with promises to save their skins at the expense of the 99%? The same Wall Street financiers that contribute far more to the Republicans ...
Proud Democrat: There you go again. That same old tired refrain. I didn't see any of those Occupy protesters doing much to help elect Democrats? All they did was waste time, piss off traditional Democratic constituencies, and then when the election rolled around they were nowhere to be seen.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Well perhaps if the Federal government under the President's ultimate authority hadn't coordinated with local authorities to harass and arrest peaceful demonstrators, and paint them as commie sympathizers and dirty hippies who deserved to be beaten and arrested on trumped up charges ...
Proud Democrat: Conspiracy Theory! Conspiracy Theory! This is a fact based community, buddy!
Steven D: Your way out of bounds here, Agitator. Stick to the facts, or I'll have to end this debate here and now.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Okay, you want facts? I'll give you facts. Fact: The president proposed to compromise on social security with his Chained CPI proposal when he had no reason whatsoever to do so. Thank goodness for all of us lefty activists who made enough noise that Democrats in Congress forced him to abandon it, for now,. I Chained CPI would have been devastating to the Democrats in future elections.
Proud Democrat: Give me a break. That was just a negotiating tactic. He never would have gone through with it.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: Right. Like he never plans to go through with the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline despite having hundreds of protestors against its approval arrested. Or his stealth promotion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a monstrous trade agreement that would erode the rights and economic prospects of millions of Americans in order to benefit "the wealthiest sliver of the American and global elite at the expense of everyone else," as the NY Times op-ed contributor, Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, noted yesterday ...
Proud Democrat: Now I have had just about enough of these slanders and lies! This is outrageous! Outrageous!
Steven D: I'm afraid, I must agree. This debate is over. I declare Proud Democrat the winner. Congratulations.
Leftist Naderite Agitator: But I never got to speak about the student loan crisis, minimum wage, climate change ... [microphone cut off]
Steven D: Well thanks to everyone who tuned in. Let's hope next time we can have a more civil debate about these important issues regarding the Democratic party and role played by Daily Kos and its many members in fostering its mission. And remember, always, always play by the rules.