I may be considered a strange person to defend Armando. After all, Armando and I have had many disagreements and dust-ups over the years. We are both attorneys, both enjoy argument, and back in the old days we both went toe to toe more than a bit. In fact, Armando banned me on my very first day of posting here on DKos back in 2005 when I was getting the better of him in an argument.
You see, on my first day on DailyKos I posted on a legal topic with which I had experience. Armando disagreed with my opinion, and we ended up in a debate. My experience was giving me the better of that debate. Not surprisingly, during the course of this debate, Armando resorted to slinging an insult at me questioning my legal competence (its what you do when you can’t handle the substance of the argument). I understandably thought to myself: "Who the hell does he think he is!?!" And so I found out (back then he was doing public speaking identifying himself by his full name and DKos affiliation, not hiding under the anonymity his screen name — which is his real first name). What I discovered made me realise that Armando's questioning of my relevant experience was hypocritical in the extreme. So I called him out on it by referencing what type of law he practices. And, boom, Armando banned me.
I didn't understand why at first. But after an email exchange with Kos, it became apparent to me that I was banned for allegedly "outing" Armando. However, because I hadn't revealed his full name, or the identity of his law firm, or any cases he'd worked on, or his clients, Kos immediately reinstated me. [I’ll caveat this story with the qualifier that it was a long time ago, memories fade, and I don’t doubt that Armando would have his own side of the story that may vary from mine].
In short, I know that Armando often runs afoul of DBAD. I’ve experienced it myself. [But let’s be real, Kos has run afoul of DBAD, I have, and many others who engage in debate on this site.] But, we’re not talking about site related behavior. This is not a DBAD situation about violation DKos rules. This is about the charge that Amando called Nina Turner a prostitute and Bernie a user of prostitutes.
So why I am defending Armando now?
Because the campaign by some pro-Bernie posters to ban Armando is intentionally misreading his Nina Turner post. They are lying to get Daily Kos staff who oppose their candidate fired. This is not their first attack on Armando, a prominent Bernie poster previously called for Armando to be banned back in a diary published in February based, in part, on the argument that a typo in an Armando tweet showed he was anti-semetic (“Bernie Bris,” instead of “Bernie Bros” — when the “i” and “o” are next to each other on a keyboard). Today’s diary and petition was just the latest salvo in a campaign of trying to burn Armando with intentional misreadings of his posts.
The notion that Kos, DKos editors, or DKos writers must be “neutral” in the Presidential primary is wrong-headed. And the call to ban Armando here was dishonest.
Let’s dispense with the easy issue first: Armand did not accuse anyone of being a prostitute.
He wrote:
Armando was not accusing Nina Turner of having sexual relations with Bernie. He was accusing her of engaging in political speech which damages Bernie’s campaign. It’s the exact same accusation many have made about Sarandon’s speech. He just did it in his usual profanity laced way. He could have been much more polite. He has admitted that:
But, anyone asserting he was accusing Nina Turner of prostitution is either being intentionally disingenuous or hopelessly clueless. And I don’t think many posters on this site are clueless. This was part of a recurring attack by pro-Bernie forces on Armando.
They saw an opportunity, and they took it.
The harder issue for people here to understand is that DKos is not a neutral site.
Kos has an agenda. All of his writers and editors have their own agendas. Kos campaigns for some candidates and against others. The site rules and history not only permit that, but encourage it.
And that’s perfectly ok. Because this site belongs to Kos, not DKos readers.
If you don’t like the political tenor of this site, you are free to go to a different site or build your own. MSOC famously left DKos and founded My Left Wing back in the day. You can do the same if you don’t like the politics of Kos, his editors, or his writers.
But, this site is not the DNC. It’s owner, writer and editors are under no obligation to forego playing favourites.
Me? I disagree with some of the political choices made by Kos, his editors and his writers (maybe many). Especially when it comes to Kos’ thinly veiled support of some candidates (Warren and Harris) and rejection of other candidates (everyone else). But, that’s the price you pay for using this site.
The fact that DKos has chosen to bow down to the Bernie forces in banning Armando is greatly concerning. It is likely to embolden Bernie’s followers to engage in more attempts at censorship. It raises the spectre that we’re going to see a revival of the ratings wars of 2016.
In short, I think DKos has made a mistake by implicitly endorsing the laughable charge that Armando was calling Nina Turner “a prostitute.”
He did no such thing. I know it. You know it. Kos knows it.
Banning Armando just endorses a defamatory smear and encourages more.