There is right now on the Rec List a diary titled:
There used to be a leftist Tea Party. They were called Kossacks. Remember them?
Whatever the merits of the substance of the diary, titles matter. The vast majority of site visitors read only the Front Page, and never click through to read content. And a diary title explicitly and approvingly comparing Kossacks to Tea Partiers plays into the very worst Village false equivalencies.
Tea Partiers are fringe loons, Kossacks are not and never were.
Tea Partiers are funded largely by shadowy people like the Koch Brothers, Kossacks are not and never were.
Tea Partiers are suckers for astroturf manipulations, Kossacks are not and never were.
A good number of Tea Partiers are motivated not by populism but by seething fury that a black man occupies the Oval Office.
Tea Partiers are often ignorant, unhinged, and irrational, and I would like to think that Kossacks are not and never were.
At Daily Kos we have standards about being able to verify claims. We are a reality-based community, and people promoting conspiracy theories are banned. The Tea Party is built on conspiracy theories.
Again— to the vast majority of people who read this site, the substance of that post will be irrelevant. They will see only the title. They will conclude that Kossacks see themselves as the left's Tea Party. The Village will collectively nod knowingly.