The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => The DUmping Ground => Topic started by: txradioguy on February 06, 2013, 02:32:09 PM
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Very interesting and informative piece of information that IMO answers a lot of questions about DU and some of it's most prolific posters.
Lurkers...how does it feel to get used by the people you adore?
The PR firm that runs DU does want an echo chamber. The young people (now a little older) in charge, like Skinner, Elad, etc. are being subcontracted by the PR firm to run the board. There is probably a room with a bunch of computers and the same six or seven people posting all day under many different handles, spewing out Democratic talking points. There may be other people across the country hired through one party apparatus or another to do a certain number of hours daily on DU and to watch out for any deviation from important talking points.
I think Frenchie Cat fits that description: she always said she was some kind of "activist", when she wasn't posting the pictures of other people's day care kids online or writing drunken poetry. She also knew about Obama's trip to Europe during the 2008 campaign way before anyone else did, which led me to believe she had some inside-the-party info.
In the end, I think about 20 or 30 regular posters are hired guns of some sort under a number of different handles. There are a number of genuine regulars--Mike C, for example, is a real professor at Humbolt--but the genuine posters are not on all the time.
Mostly, the hired guns are there to promote the talking points, sway conversations in the direction of the talking points, and get rid of people who are too far off message, even if they are true Democrats. For example, when the gays got too vocal, two years before Obama was ready to do something about DADT, many of them were tombstoned, even though they were true registered Democrats who had worked hard for the party.
What you need to understand about DU is that it is a PR project. To look "genuine", they have to allow some leeway, but when an important policy issue or election comes up, the firm's lackeys unleash "new" posters (with, mysteriously, many thousands of posts) to push the talking points all over the front page at rapid speed. Any genuine posters who disagree too vehemently are tombstoned for interfering with the PR.
The lackeys, on the other hand, can post the most outrageous filth. (I'll never forget Frenchie Cat posting the picture of a rectum on a thread to insult the PUMAs. She didn't even get a wrist slap.) This means that DU is really a PR dump. Genuine Democrats who honestly want to discuss issues need not apply.
H/t Elspeth of conservativeunderground.
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What you need to understand about DU is that it is a PR project.
Right on the money.
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Right on the money.
It does seem to answer some questions that left us all scratching our heads. And would confirm some of BadCats computer models.
We've all wondered why we haven't heard of some of the primitives that suddenly appear with several thousand posts and we've never brought anything of their musings over before that first time we post them here.
And it explains why there was the great purge and banning in 2008 of Hillary supporters who dared speak out against Obama.
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When you think about DUmmies like prosense in this vein it begins to make sense.
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Interesting. I remember some people who used to post at DU, but left. I thought they were banned under unpleasant circumstances. I know GabysPoppy was banned from DU and even harassed.
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Elspeth is no kook. She may well be onto something here.
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Then, if said Elspeth is on the right track, it begs the question . . .
WHY?
Why was/is it being done?
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Then, if said Elspeth is on the right track, it begs the question . . .
WHY?
Why was/is it being done?
I remember writing it, but I have no idea where it's at.
Once I write something, I tend to forget all about it and move on to something else.
Anyway, my fellow alum used to be an aide for U.S. Senators Joseph Biden, Ron Wyden, and Carl Levin--although on the third, don't take my word for it, as it might have been Levin's brother the Congressman Sander Levin.
Skins was also a congressional aide for congressman David Bonior, who made an outstandingly stupid mistake of running in the Democrat gubernatorial primary in Michigan about ten years ago, losing to that woman from Canada, and hence losing his seat-for-life in the House.
It's all on the internet, somewhere, including that Lord Marblehead EarlG had some sort of connection with the U.K. Ministry of Defence during the late 1990s (his college education was financed by them, or something, or he was an intern there; one no longer remembers), but it's information so ancient it would demand the deep-googling skills of a miskie to find it now.
My particular flaw in such matters is that I'm not so much interested as in where people have been, but more so in where they're at now, and where they're headed.
As for the Establishment Democrats setting up Skins's island so as to identify, attract, and isolate the fringe elements from the public eye, lest the nuts embarrass the Democrats, costing them elections, there were many links to this issue during the Scamdal five and a half years ago, but at any rate, res ipsa loquatir; the thing speaks for itself, and demands no corraborating evidence.
http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,53501.0.html
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Elspeth is no kook. She may well be onto something here.
Elspeth has an account here at CC. I have not seen her here in a while.
I seem to remember another mass banning at DU in 2004. Anything on that?
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Elspeth has an account here at CC. I have not seen her here in a while.
I seem to remember another mass banning at DU in 2004. Anything on that?
They were tracking people who visited DU by clicking on links at CU. A lot of moles died that day. :-)
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They were tracking people who visited DU by clicking on links at CU. A lot of moles died that day. :-)
Not only moles. I also remember non-moles and even a moderator.
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Must be some f'n lousy PR firm, with all the psycho-Nazi things said on DU the past 8 years.
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I seem to remember another mass banning at DU in 2004. Anything on that?
That was also the year of the great Deaniac purge after he went nutso.
As for the OP: Interesting theory. I'm not convinced at this point because something like this would take thought and planning, and I just have never seen liberals successfully conduct anything involving thought, much less planning. It explains some things, but leaves other things even more confusing.
I still tend to think the admins are pro-Dem and they want a board that reflects approval of whatever the Dems do and whatever will strengthen the party. I think Skin's and company still hold out some hope of recognition for being loyalists. In some members, like prosense, they've found members who will tow the party line no matter what, and they like that. That is their anchor. Over time, everyone else either falls in line, or stays pretty close to base, or is TSed. They keep a few who appear to question Dems just for appearances. I mean, the comment was made that the true followers can do just about anything, and I've noticed the questioners are essentially in the same boat. You'll occasionally see primitives complain that a certain poster always bashes Dems but never gets in trouble for it. So if the above theory is true about the PR thing, then they're playing both sides with more emphasis towards the ones that favor Dems.
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But no matter what.......
........they can never explain nadin.
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But no matter what.......
........they can never explain nadin.
So true.
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But no matter what.......
........they can never explain nadin.
She's "teh shiney", meant to distract.
Those that oppose her and tarnish that image are weeded out.
Anybody seen BTG, lately?
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I pause to wonder if any one has a mole over there that has been or is currently a moderator.
If so what level of IP tracking is available to the DU moderation staff - Claims that there are only a few tens of actual posters on there should be easy enough to verify through the IP tracking component of the board software....
Even if the board software really is as old and clapped out as it appears to be ; they'd have to have a moderately sophisticated system for user tracking.
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I pause to wonder if any one has a mole over there that has been or is currently a moderator.
If so what level of IP tracking is available to the DU moderation staff - Claims that there are only a few tens of actual posters on there should be easy enough to verify through the IP tracking component of the board software....
Even if the board software really is as old and clapped out as it appears to be ; they'd have to have a moderately sophisticated system for user tracking.
Sounds like something BadCat could find out with his dumpster diving software.
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I pause to wonder if any one has a mole over there that has been or is currently a moderator.
If so what level of IP tracking is available to the DU moderation staff - Claims that there are only a few tens of actual posters on there should be easy enough to verify through the IP tracking component of the board software....
Even if the board software really is as old and clapped out as it appears to be ; they'd have to have a moderately sophisticated system for user tracking.
Not one of the real mods could find their asses with both hands and a flashlight.
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Sounds like something BadCat could find out with his dumpster diving software.
Maybe. I don't know how his software operates - but I suspect it is essentially a link crawler and statistical aggregator that doesn't operate under a user name. I may well be wrong. However, on every board I've been on - you need to be a moderator to be able to access and track IP information on users and posts.
Now if BadCat had an account that had moderator level access...
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Maybe. I don't know how his software operates - but I suspect it is essentially a link crawler and statistical aggregator that doesn't operate under a user name. I may well be wrong. However, on every board I've been on - you need to be a moderator to be able to access and track IP information on users and posts.
Now if BadCat had an account that had moderator level access...
BC to my knowledge doesn't have that level access...but IIRC there are a couple people here that do. Or did at one point. And at least one person at ToS did/does as well.
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Not one of the real mods could find their asses with both hands and a flashlight.
Yes, but that's because their arms are too short and their waist is too large in circumference for them to actually touch it.
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So...any thoughts on which "PR firm" has the deep pockets to do this?
My first thought was People For The American Way.
Not a PR firm in the truest sense but they DO float a lot of trial balloons the Dems end up using.
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I pause to wonder if any one has a mole over there that has been or is currently a moderator.
If so what level of IP tracking is available to the DU moderation staff - Claims that there are only a few tens of actual posters on there should be easy enough to verify through the IP tracking component of the board software....
Even if the board software really is as old and clapped out as it appears to be ; they'd have to have a moderately sophisticated system for user tracking.
I don't moderate here, but I do at CU. My apologies to SR & SLW etc., but I don't think I'm giving away any secrets. At CU, I can see every IP address, and can look up much further information if necessary. For 99% of those who actually post, it means nothing. Spammers & spider-bots are mostly innocuous. We zap the spammers in fairly quick fashion. But lurkers are the ones we are concerned about, as I'm sure is the same here and hell, even at the DUmp.
Very interesting theory by Elspeth, though. Very interesting...
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I don't moderate here, but I do at CU. My apologies to SR & SLW etc., but I don't think I'm giving away any secrets. At CU, I can see every IP address, and can look up much further information if necessary. For 99% of those who actually post, it means nothing. Spammers & spider-bots are mostly innocuous. We zap the spammers in fairly quick fashion. But lurkers are the ones we are concerned about, as I'm sure is the same here and hell, even at the DUmp.
Same thing here, exactly.
When I pull up the "users on line" screen, I don't bother paying attention to the threads members, a known quality to me, are reading. Members can be reading the porno threads here, and I couldn't possibly care less.
However, I care very much what lurkers are reading.
Members here can see essentially the same things I can see, other than the ISP (internet service provider) numbers, by clicking on USERS ON LINE at the bottom of the forum page. I've always suggested they check it at least once in a while, to see what's popular; they might see a thread they missed earlier.
Our old home, where I was a member but not a moderator, before the crash in 2008, the same thing; I imagine it's still that way.
It's all good.
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Same thing here, exactly.
When I pull up the "users on line" screen, I don't bother paying attention to the threads members, a known quality to me, are reading. Members can be reading the porno threads here, and I couldn't possibly care less.
However, I care very much what lurkers are reading.
Members here can see essentially the same things I can see, other than the ISP (internet service provider) numbers, by clicking on USERS ON LINE at the bottom of the forum page. I've always suggested they check it at least once in a while, to see what's popular; they might see a thread they missed earlier.
Our old home, where I was a member but not a moderator, before the crash in 2008, the same thing; I imagine it's still that way.
It's all good.
It is still that way. Hell, I even do the same thing you do here, Frank. Even though I'm not a mod. I am genuinely curious to see what threads people are reading.
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It is still that way. Hell, I even do the same thing you do here, Frank. Even though I'm not a mod. I am genuinely curious to see what threads people are reading.
Yeah, I'm not kidding when I say looking at "users on line" is a good thing.
One sees someone reading an ancient thread that's a classic, and one hasn't read before, and it links to that thread.
By the way, when one tries to comment on a thread more than 90 days old, one also gets a warning that the thread's ancient--in bright red lettering, no less--but if one wants to post on it, no problem. Just hit the post key.
A recollection--when we were still at our old home, before the crash, checking "users on line" was how I figured out that while the Bostonian Drunkard was popular with decent and civilized people, lurkers ignored him.
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By the way, one can "organize" "users on line".
Click on the "users" at the top of the column, and one gets the lurkers first.
Click on it twice, and one gets the members first.
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I"m able to reach out to the authors of Red Army and The Manchurian Candidate...maybe they can dig up...or already know which PR firm is backing DU.
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It is still that way. Hell, I even do the same thing you do here, Frank. Even though I'm not a mod. I am genuinely curious to see what threads people are reading.
I must add that moderators--when there were moderators--on Skins's island were kept on a short leash; one imagines the hosts are kept on an even shorter one.
Apparently my fellow alum Skins doesn't trust his own people.
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I must add that moderators--when there were moderators--on Skins's island were kept on a short leash; one imagines the hosts are kept on an even shorter one.
Apparently my fellow alum Skins doesn't trust his own people.
Or maybe he's not the one that's really in control of teh DUmp.
:tinfoil:
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I love this thread! Hi5 for txradioguy
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the firm's lackeys unleash "new" posters (with, mysteriously, many thousands of posts)
I noticed this and commented on it when DU3 went on-line.
http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,69294.msg807505.html#msg807505
I don't know about you, but on DU3, I don't know a majority of the posters. I've never heard of em.
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Got an interesting email from an author friend of mine concering the DUmp's connections to the aforementioned PR group.
I found this post about the early DLC connection and am working my way down it (although I'm supposed to be working on a book chapter right now). You have to scan down the Internet Archive page to find David B. Allen's name.
http://davefromqueens2.blogspot.com/2010/03/democratic-underground-directly-tied-to.html
The onlineworkshop.com site is no longer active.
http://onlineworkshop.com/
Unfortunately, David Horowitz's DTN stopped updating its DU file long ago. If there were faux lefties involved, DH would have outed them. He's the real deal.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=7300
This has the smell of a Fenton operation, though.
:popcorn:
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Elspeth has an account here at CC. I have not seen her here in a while.
I seem to remember another mass banning at DU in 2004. Anything on that?
I was banned once from CU for sending her a PM and inviting her here after she first joined CU. A lurker read I had invited her in CC's shout box. That was when Gator was still there and Rob Crook aka: Crusty was still the owner of the board. At the same time, with the old software, the admins could read your PMs at CU.
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Thanks TX. Very interesting
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Got an interesting email from an author friend of mine concering the DUmp's connections to the aforementioned PR group.
:popcorn:
Oh my.
Oh oh my.
Oh my my.
If one's pressed for time, click on at least the first link mentioned.
Oh my.
<<speechless.
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Oh my.
Oh oh my.
Oh my my.
If one's pressed for time, click on at least the first link mentioned.
Oh my.
<<speechless.
First link for sure.
The lady seems like a stark raving moonbats but she exposes some damaging shit that Skimmer wouldn't want the hive to know about.
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...the firm's lackeys unleash "new" posters (with, mysteriously, many thousands of posts) to push the talking points...
Like Tucker, I noticed this, too. But here's my problem with it.
The star members on the island have the ability to search the other members posts. If someone suddenly showed up with 1000+ posts and had no, or very few, supportive posts to back it up, the other primitives would have said something. I never saw them say a thing about it. So this thing of "mysteriously many thousand posts" just doesn't cut it with me.
Like I said, her little rant raised questions in its attempt to answer them.
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I've seen the DaveFromQueens blog from following links given at other sites. Don't know that I'd take all of it as truth, maybe a few kernels. I always thought that was one of many blogs belonging to CorpGovActivist. He has a history of joining sites, posting prolifically, winding up other posters with CT stuff and ending up getting banned. He becomes enraged over his unfair banning and goes on a retaliation spree against the site owners.
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...CorpGovActivist.
I remember that whackjob. He claimed to be a former employee of Halliburton and had a series of emails of how they were going to cover-up their supposed illegal operations in Africa and maybe some other places.
Looked it up and he has a private twitter account. Here's his pic.
(https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/1159695751/nosepick.jpg)
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I was banned once from CU for sending her a PM and inviting her here after she first joined CU. A lurker read I had invited her in CC's shout box. That was when Gator was still there and Rob Crook aka: Crusty was still the owner of the board. At the same time, with the old software, the admins could read your PMs at CU.
When did it happen? I remember when CU had their crash in May 2008, some came here.
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Got an interesting email from an author friend of mine concering the DUmp's connections to the aforementioned PR group.
:popcorn:
This gets more interesting.
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I'm waiting to hear back from elspeth. She was gonna dig through her files and see what she had on who she thought the PR firm was.
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Oh Lurkers....
Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos believes the CIA is a liberal institution with its heart in the right place. That means he is a fake lefty. The same can be said of the folks operating Democratic Underground. We have the paystubs to prove it.
It's not like the owners of DU want the general public to know this. It's not common knowledge they're an insidious organisation. While many have had suspicions, it's not easy to find proof of such. One needs the wayback machine (archive.org) to locate direct ties between DU and the DLC. One other bit of internet proof can only be located now through this blog. DU's registered agent used to be the right wing Law Firm of Howe, Anderson, and Steyer.
http://davefromqueens2.blogspot.com/2010/03/democratic-underground-directly-tied-to.html
:fuelfire:
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When did it happen? I remember when CU had their crash in May 2008, some came here.
Right after it came back up after the crash. She used to post at DU and found CU.
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Right after it came back up after the crash. She used to post at DU and found CU.
She's still active over at CU, I do recall seeing her post some in the last few months.
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Oh my.
I wonder what a DUmmy would make of all of this were one to come over here as a lurker and read the thread... ;)
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Oh my.
I wonder what a DUmmy would make of all of this were one to come over here as a lurker and read the thread... ;)
I think it would leave them with a lot of questions they would never get answered back at the DUmp.
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I think it would leave them with a lot of questions they would never get answered back at the DUmp.
If such questions were to be asked at the DUmp I suspect both poster and thread would rapidly cease to exist or ever to have existed.
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The DUmp:
babylonsister (142,860 posts)
What The GOP Won’t Tell You: Our Debt Is Nearly Stabilized
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022354265
Jay Carney:
In recent days, the White House has pressed the message that, if policymakers can agree on a strategy for replacing across-the-board spending cuts set to hit next month, the president will pretty much have achieved his debt-reduction goals.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/02/11/good-news-from-jay-carney-you-bet-the-president-believes-we-have-a-spending-problem-sort-of/
Obama:
President Obama now says the deficit problem is all but fixed, so we can stop all this unpleasant talk about spending cuts and get on with government spending.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/021213-644203-debt-crisis-is-nowhere-near-being-solved.htm
Just sayin...
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In recent days, the White House has pressed the message that, if policymakers can agree on a strategy for replacing across-the-board spending cuts set to hit next month, the president will pretty much have achieved his debt-reduction goals.
That's easy to do when your goal is zero debt reduction. Set the bar low enough and even a stunted dwarf like nadin can jump over it.
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In recent days, the White House has pressed the message that, if policymakers can agree on a strategy for replacing across-the-board spending cuts set to hit next month, the president will pretty much have achieved his debt-reduction goals.
Amazing how many gullible idiots there are who believe propaganda over actual numbers.
Cindie
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As Bela Pelosi said earlier in the week, we don't have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem.
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As Bela Pelosi said earlier in the week, we don't have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem.
And Taverner doesn't have a drug problem either.
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And Taverner doesn't have a drug problem either.
To a DUmmy, both are true.
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Kinda interesting that the first place I recall hearing about debt stabilization was at the DUmp. Then I hear the spokes kid Carney and then Obama talking about it.
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She's still active over at CU, I do recall seeing her post some in the last few months.
She is a pretty active poster there and hits things dead on. I do enjoy her posts.
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Kinda interesting that the first place I recall hearing about debt stabilization was at the DUmp. Then I hear the spokes kid Carney and then Obama talking about it.
I'm sure they got it from one of the other sites like Daily Kos or something. Some of those places get their headlines from the White House and spread the BS before it becomes official propaganda.
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She is a pretty active poster there and hits things dead on. I do enjoy her posts.
IMO it just ties back in to the OP and elspeth's theory.
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Oh Lurkers....
http://davefromqueens2.blogspot.com/2010/03/democratic-underground-directly-tied-to.html
:fuelfire:
I recall that DUmmies hate The Daily Kos.
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Skinner and his wife met while working for Carl Levin. She did not take his name and has a different last name. They bought a house together in Chevy Chase, MD worth over 1 million dollars. Follow the money. She was the treasurer for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and Clinton's 2008 Presidential bid. If Clinton runs in 2016 tying her to a lunatic website might sink her chances. Running a website like the DUmp can't be that profitable and intermittent work for Hitlery Clinton I would imagine doesn't pay the bills either, so where did the dough come from to buy this million dollar home? Skins' wife has also run afoul of the FEC, so she's dirty.
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I've swiped this latest from our friends at conservativeunderground; I hope they don't mind.
http://www.conservativeunderground.com/forum505/showthread.php?61156-DU-as-DLC-front
Elspeth
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 8,067
Remember I posted a thread some time back about what I thought Democratic Underground actually was? I can't find the link, but here is an interesting take on the same subject:
http://davefromqueens2.blogspot.com/...y-tied-to.html
It goes back a couple of years, but it's worth looking at.
http://davefromqueens2.blogspot.com/...y-tied-to.html
Democratic Underground Directly Tied to the Democratic Leadership Council and Insidious Triangulation
*** UPDATE ***
One can go to this 1999 portfolio page and see that the owner of Democratic Underground was already fully in bed with the Democratic Leadership Council. I believe it's thus fair to say that DU has been part and parcel of that triangulating focker from the get-go.
http://web.archive.org/web/199911270...://dlcppi.org/
It's not like the owners of DU want the general public to know this. It's not common knowledge they're an insidious organisation. While many have had suspicions, it's not easy to find proof of such. One needs the wayback machine (archive.org) to locate direct ties between DU and the DLC. One other bit of internet proof can only be located now through this blog. DU's registered agent used to be the right wing Law Firm of Howe, Anderson, and Steyer. I will cover both of these angles. I'll then wrap it up by briefly discussing DU's hypocritical selling of merchandise affiliated with sweatshop production.
...I haven't a big problem with them, from what I've seen. I am just using this as an example that the people running Democratic Underground are not regular guys. In fact, let's jump straight to the damaging connections between the corrupt DLC and Democratic Underground.
I am now wondering if DU is an arm of the DLC. Skinner's company is called Online Workshop Inc.. If you go to their current homepage, there's nothing there but the message, "Online Workshop Inc. is not taking new clients at this time. Thank you for visiting our website."
That wasn't the case a few years ago. One of their clients was indeed the Democratic Leadership Council.
....Defining the third way. There's your paystub. Democratic Underground has been part and parcel of the Democratic Leadership Council for years. I believe Skinner scrubbed his website, because this connection exposes them as being manipulative frauds. They are neither democratic nor underground. Real progressives need not apply....
One tidbit I became aware of a few years back was that DU's registered agent was Potomac Programs, Inc. run by the law firm of Howe, Anderson, and Steyer. The old link proving this is gone...
There's next to nothing else on the net about Potomac Programs, Inc.. Even at the law firm's page, there is not much more info than that the program exists. So why am I taking a risk by claiming Howe, Anderson, and Steyer were the registered agent for DU? ...The url showing it was the truth is no longer available, not even through archive.org. But you see, there's something in the cybersleuth business called screenshots. Back in 2008 I took one. Last night I found it. Here you go.
illustration at link
Elspeth
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 8,067
Something else I found online re: DailyKos. It's a bit of a rant but there are some important details about who Kos is.
http://journals.democraticundergroun...davefromqueens
Exposed: Why Kos is Bad For Democrats
Posted by davefromqueens in General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)
Sun Jan 04th 2009, 02:05 PM
The 200 or so links of specifics can be found at my website davefromqueens dot com. To enable Kos or support Kos is to help right wing Republicans. To stand up to Kos is to help Democrats. I've chosen the latter just as Barack Obama and so many Democrats we all love below have chosen. Here is the full article.
Ann Coulter? Charles Manson? The ghost of Timothy McVeigh? Who is the sicko with the following thoughts?
He said recently, "Democrats are like battered spouses!" He said recently, "F*ck Ralph Nader" and his 700,000 supporters! He compared Barack Obama to ultra wingnut extremists. He wrote that liberal New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd is an insecure, catty bitch. He was bad mouthing Democrats in early 2008 and was plotting to have them taken out in 2010. He claimed the liberal group Center for American Progress is a bunch of assholes. He needlessly attacking Mike Gravel as a waste of our time. He obsessively attacks Caroline Kennedy and claimed that Caroline has done nothing to help beat back the right wing machine. When four Americans are killed in Iraq, he said "screw them." He smears Democratic activist Bob Fertik as "a holier than thou purity troll." He's cold and callous. He told liberal Kathy Sierra, upon receiving death threats that she should just "suck it up." He said that Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher needs to be taken out. He tried starting a fist fight with Jim Bonham, the head of the DCCC in 2004. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was attacked by Kos as someone kept afloat by the Cuban-American mafia. He wants to see white people in the minority so that he can teach the white man a lesson. His effete frontpager gets exposed as an elitist and racist who thinks blacks are too poor and uneducated to blog. He thinks gays shouldn't be in the military for it is incompatible for homosexuals and he fears "worrying" about the homosexual next to him. Guess he doesn't belong to any gym.
Who is this sick nutcase? Bill "F*ck it we'll do it live" O’Reilly? The ghost of Joseph Stalin? Michelle "internment" Malkin? Nope. This person was the only left leaning political Internet person to be voted one of Radar Online's 10 worst people of 2007. But calling him a horrible person is an understatement. What's next? Will this guy claim he ate fast and ran to the library to read in high school because he didn't have any friends? Wait! That is next.
He said about his high school experience, "I had to eat fast and run to the library to read, because I didn’t have any friends." He played to people's fears and engaged in race baiting during the 2008 Democratic primary between Obama and Clinton. He defended blogger thereisnospoon when this Kossack claimed that a woman who has too much to drink loses her right to claim rape. He has a deep seated hatred for women as indicated by his bizarre theories here of the women's studies set. Call Creedmoor! Who is this guy? He runs a blog that 99% of politicians avoid like the plague and he is despised by almost everyone. Yet this guy actually thinks that he is the 2nd most powerful person in the world. Call Creedmoor, there's a megalomaniac on the loose! Who is this nut? His name is Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, owner of the Daily Kos who blogs as Kos. He's a Republican enabler and troll. He's the Ann Coulter of the Left. He's a hate monger and a smear merchant. To support him is to help and enable right wing Republicans. To support him is to support one of the lowest common denominators of human existence. He is an unacceptable voice no matter how often one agrees or disagrees with him. Screw him and any Democrat or politician that aligns himself with him.
Most online active Democrats who are progressives, liberals, and moderates know Kos is a despicable individual. While I have no problem using adjectives to embellish my point, the bottom line is that my point is mostly made with factual examples. This is in stark contrast to the Kos cultists who almost exclusively use ad hominems and excessive name calling to try and delegitimize facts they find inconvenient about Markos Moulitsas. Their primary tact is to label their centrist or liberal critics as unhinged, obsessive, or insane to try to shift the focus away from the issue of Kos' actions, words, and behavior. I should know, I've been the 3 month target of that Kossovik smear campaign. I'm not the first person to expose Kos as the nearly 200 links within demonstrate. 99% of the information accumulated was gathered by others. I've simply organized it. Clearly I am far from alone in my Democratic criticism of Kos and others have picked up on it. In fact I'm in the majority. Here’s a partial but long list of solid Democratic leaning individuals that have incurred the wrath of Kos and/or despise this little man.
Aba who explains why Kos is an extremist, peace activist Anna Baltzer, arc xix for writing a story on the Palins that Kos didn't like, Booman of the Booman Tribune elaborates, Senator Barbara Boxer stopped writing diaries in May of 2007, Buelah Man who explains why Kos is irrelevant to progressives and why, Vincent Bugliosi who yelled at Kos in Denver, thousands of Hilliary Clinton supporters who boycotted Kos' site when Kos' hatred for Hillary went too far, actor John Cusack who stopped posting at the site after two diaries, yours truly davefromqueens who left after Kos made it clear that he supported the bullying of children and outing of real life users, Desert Peace banned for thoughtcrime, Tom Duncombe who is now very disillussioned with Daily Kos, Echidne who was infuriated over Kos' sexism, Jeff Fecke of Moderate Left, Eileen Fleming who explains her banning for thoughtcrime, Brad Friedman of Brad Blog who is infuriated by Kos' right wing views on election integrity, The writer Ghandi who expresses his outrage and credentials, former Kossack, Iraq War Vet and Ohio congressional candidate Paul Hackett who was shamefully double crossed by Kos and later accused of losing his mind. Noted election reformer Beverly Harris, Francis Holland Esq. who for the most part did a great job exposing the real Markos Moulitsas, Democrat Nancy Kallitechnis who explains her banning for thoughtcrime, Erin Kotecki Vest vents her frustration with Kos at Huffington Post, talk show host Michael Kwiatkowski who explains how Kos' scam operation works, blogger Lesser Devil banned for Rick Warren thoughtcrime, Anthony Levensalor expressed his displeasure with Kos, Talk show host Mike Malloy blasted the gatekeeping of Kos, former Kossack Marisa Cat who now regularly exposes Kos, Media girl who explains Kos' misogyny over his Pie Fight, Bob Morris explains his banning along with others like Lake Superior, NARAL gets attacked by Kos for supporting abortion rights, Brendan Nyhan explains Kos' attacks in Time Magazine, President-Elect Barack Obama who ripped DailyKos in December 2006 after he was driven off the site by the Kos hate mongers, Author Mary Scott O'Connor, one of the earliest Kossacks, routinely exposes Stalinist Kos. The staff and multiple bloggers of the liberal Buckeye State Blog who exposed later banned and vitriolic front pager Armando Llorens-Sar's conflicts of interest regarding Walmart and Kelo as well as Kos' ties to the Payola Scandals. Investigative journalist Greg Palast who was ambushed and driven from the site, former Kos administrator Peeder, James Pence of the Hillbilly Report who humorously explains his banning on video, Eyal Rosenberg who explains why Kos kills progressive thought, Rural Democrat who was banned for defending Democrats of Appalachia, Jay Sennett who talks of censorship at Kos, activist Cindy Sheehan who was "warned" by Kos after she spoke of taking on Nancy Pelosi, Philip Shropshire of ThreeRiversOnline, Richard Silverstein who explains the cult and vindictiveness of Kos, Blogger Socratic Gadfly who highlights many Dems who left the site and talks about the intolerance of Kos, Liberal Lee Stranahan banned by Kos for reporting the John Edwards sex scandal and turning out to be 100% right just days later, Known activist David Swanson got banned for thoughtcrime masqueraded as copyright infringement, Howard Dean campaign higher up Zephyr Teachout exposed Kos' payouts from the Dean campaign, Activist Umkahlil and others banned for thoughtcrime on I/P issues, feminist writer Jessica Valenti of feministing called Kos out on his vileness toward women, Rev. Jim Wallis who called Kos out for shooting the Left in its foot (Rev. it's intentional, he's a Republican enabler), Senator Jim Webb who grew tired of Kos' hate, and blogger Zuzu who rips apart Kos' misogyny. In addition to all these people, there are tens of thousands of ordinary Democratic citizens who will have nothing to do with Daily Kos, Kos, or candidates that support him (the few that are left) because of how horrible Kos and his minions act. The question must be asked, "Are all these people wrong?" Of course not.
The myth of Kos is predicated on the grossly false perception that the site has millions of users and readers per day. If this myth is punctured, Kos is out of business. The myth is punctured because the real numbers are merely in the thousands. The media should know this and simply treat Kos as nothing more than a gadfly who attracts fewer customers than your typical mall outlet on a Tuesday afternoon. If you check the true statistics supplied by Kos' statistician Jotter, you will realize that the site has never had more than 33,000 active users in a given year, has never had more than 18,000 active users in a given 3 month period, that the site has about a 30% turnover ratio from quarter to quarter, that many of the so called active users are duplicates/sockpuppets of the same person, that there are only a few thousand active users there per week, and that the number of diarists is now at more than a 12 month low. Moreover, these numbers understate the discontent at Kos given that many registered user names are the same person. Plus, what kind of community sees 30% of its people leave every 3 months? Obviously, there is something rotten in blogmark.
Kos the purge lover is an opportunist with no moral backbone who "doesn't give a shit where Democrats sit on the spectrum." In addition to claiming to have been a Reagan Republican, he actually worked for Henry Hyde and voted for George Bush in 1992. His ruse in 2004 is that he was a liberal. His 2006 ruse was that he was a right leaning libertarian democrat but when that didn't sell, it was back to claiming to be a hard left progressive who despises the DLC while actively working with the DLC's New Politics Institute to undermine and destroy the very progressive Democrats he claims to represent. Kos is apparently from the Reagan Republican, Bush voting, DLC, libertarian democrat, Obama is right wing, unapologetic liberal, strong progressive, Henry Hyde, who cares about ideology wing of the Democratic Party that coddles Chevron. This worst of all worlds scenario is one reason Democrats of all stripes despise him immensely. He once said, "Everybody says I'm an asshole and they’re right I am." Most Republicans and most Democrats would concur.
Elspeth
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 8,067
Why is Markos Moulitsas such an asshole? Is it his Kos Kops who formed a secret website of utter filth where his Kostapo coordinated their cyberbullying toward fellow Democrats, their outing of real life information and investigations of Daily Kos users, and their attacks on children because it was a game to them? Is it the #2 of the Kos Kops who lost his license to practice medicine in Colorado for admittedly sexually assaulting multiple patients. Is it the fact that almost every candidate that is closely associated with him loses races for public office? Is it the multiple crooked scandals he has been associated with regarding payola with candidates including Hillary Clinton who was buying him off weekly? Is it his censorship tendencies and gatekeeping as part of the group Townhouse where he tried to starve the oxygen of other liberal and progressive bloggers even though he openly supports the Online Freedom of Speech Act? Hypocrisy never seems to bother Kos. Is it the 30 real but unpublished rules of the site that look like something out of an Orwell or Kafka novel and not a liberal blog? Is it his personality that reminds people more of Charles Manson than the guy they’d want to have a beer with?
The reasons why most Democrats do not want Markos Moulitsas being perceived as one of them is because Markos Moulitsas is a Republican enabler who hurts Democrats because his actions and behavior are so deplorable that they turn off most people, even compelling John Kerry in 2004 to delink Kos from his campaign. Kerry's initial associations with Kos may have cost him the presidency and Kerry and Kos are so powerless that when Daily Kos endorses an Iraq vet in a Democratic primary who has six digits backing him up, he loses to Alice Kryzan in a primary. She spent $100. In only one House race in 6 years has a Kos House candidate (Donna Edwards over Al Wynn) defeated a better established Democrat in the primary. Most like Mark Pera, Jon Powers, and Karen Carter, can't make it out of a Democratic primary. Others like Ashwin Madia, Dan Seals, and Darcy Burner lose races they should have won with ease. Then there are the infamous Kos House Dozen. Now you've heard Markos' lie about how he tries to fund candidates in Republican leaning districts. Of course if you know Markos, if his lips or keyboard is moving, chances are he's lying. Guess how many of these 12 House seats were later taken over by DIFFERENT democrats? If you guessed EIGHT, you win. So ask why eight other Democrats were able to win House seats that Kos couldn't in 2004? Oh it's because Kos is a Republican asset and the best thing and ally the GOP has going for itself because Kos is a turnoff troll in the mold of Abbie Hoffman, Al Sharpton, and Medea Benjamin. Consider also that Kos would have loved to have taken out the 12 Democratic Senators with more conservative domestic voting records than Joe Lieberman. Thus far, none have lost an election.
Obama wisely condemned DailyKos for condemning Daily Kos, a site where common vulgarity usage totals several hundred thousand times per year. Condemning Daily Kos is indeed a wise strategy for Democrats who want to get elected (This is perhaps the site's only useful purpose). If Obama had chosen to align himself with Markos Moulitsas in 2008 Obama doesn't win by 7 points. In fact he probably doesn't win at all. Republicans would have been wise to have disassociated themselves from the crazed, evil Ann Coulter long ago. We as Democrats won’t make that mistake with the nearly equally venomous Markos Moulitsas. He does not speak for Democrats, progressives or liberals, or the netroots although he has planned for years to seize the Democratic Party. Bottom line, he can't and won't. Let it be clear - If you support Kos you are enabling Republicans and therefore you are the troll undermining Democrats. Moreover, any politician that associates with Kos forfeits the right to the vote of millions of Democrats. Kos is a radioactive toxin. Screw him and any Democrat that aligns himself with him.
Elspeth
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 8,067
http://davefromqueens2.blogspot.com/...ic+underground
F Is For Fake
I think it's fair to say that most of this blog has been devoted towards articulating the existence of a manufactured, internet zeitgeist characterised by right woos left infiltration. Arguably the two biggest blogs of the past decade have been Daily Kos and Democratic Underground. We now know that DKos has been run by a person whose original allegiance was to the right wing oligarchy from El Salvador. Markos Moulitsas actually applied for a position in the CIA, and in 2006 described it as a liberal institution with its heart in the right place. DU was formed as a branch of the triangulating Democratic Leadership Council. In short, true progressives have not been welcomed at either of those dives.
In other areas of the internet, we have witnessed even more lefty posers with their right wing suitors. Sub-tier blogs such as BradBlog, Rigorous Intuition, InfoWars, and What Really Happened can be said to be part and parcel of paranoic, conspiracy theory freakdom. This is the historical record. Once was a time when there was great hope for the internet being a communicative device for positive, social change. Stories published on the internet were scooping the mainstream media. However, as Altamont signified the end of 60's idealism, hoaxes perpetrated by lying lefties such as Jason Leopold and Brad Friedman symbolised the end of the internet having any credibility. We knew deep down that Alex Jones, Michael Rivero, Willis Carto, and other forms of right woos left were full of it. Those influences didn't actually destroy the internet. It was the Lefty Liars Club which did that. It was as if we were all rounded up into fake lefty blogs only to be ridiculed and then banned for questioning the idiocy being spewed. Now all that remains are pockets of awareness.
In this blog entry, I will examine belief systems and try to formulate why hack bloggers were able to infiltrate and destroy the blogosphere. In short, this was done because we the people form the bedrock of fakery. Wilhelm Reich was quite correct that Nazism took hold in Germany due to the social-psychology of the masses. The same applies to the United States and its current forms of fascism-lite. Of course some of us knew from the get-go that the Iraq War was criminal. However, we were only the few. Why did it take so long for the rest of society to catch up to the truth?
In regards to the net, fakery ruled the day due to there being a dearth of thoughtful discussion. Simply put, things regressed into the realm of conspiracy schlock. Bush and Cheney were demonised. More people were hearing about them being the problem rather than the system itself. The idea was pushed that Bush and Cheney were behind 9/11. Bush and Cheney truly suck, but that's preposterous. It then got even stu piddier. Bush and Cheney were plugged as being central cogs of a government sponsored, satanic, mind control, pedophile ring. That crap was making its way to the top of the Democratic Underground's most popular links. Andy Stephenson was at the forefront of peddling that specific form of insanity. Some of his best friends were Brett Kimberlin, Brad Friedman, and Larisa Alexandrovna. Alexandrovna used to co-write articles with Jason Leopold and vouched for the Speedway Bomber, going so far as to spread the disinformation that he was an exonerated, ex-political prisoner. Larry Johnson was also a part of that crowd. They controlled the moderating and zeitgeist at the top boards.
Around the time Kos got outed as being a CIA loving piece of shit, he decided to ban conspiracy talk. Fine. Whatever. But the damage was done, and the big question that needs to be asked is why do so many people feel that Daily Kos speaks for the left? Sure, it's a skeleton of what it once was. A new blog jumped in front by an incredible margin. That would be the Huffington Post. But that was no great advancement. The structure of Huffington lends itself to churning out threads with a daily turnover rate. Nothing ever remains on the front page for too long. The pages take too damn long to load. Too much entertainment rubbish is pushed. Too many of the bloggers are non-intellectual entertainers and hack writers. Censorship also exists at HuffPost. And even if one is fortunate to have any good stuff posted, whoop-de-doo. It won't ever approach becoming a pocket of awareness, since it will inevitably be circumscribed by a mountain of posts full of inane banter.
We have seen the enemy, and it is us. One of the greatest works put out by Orson Welles was a little-known documentary titled F is for Fake. Like the article above concerning War of the Worlds, this movie covered the concept of how fakery can easily become established as zeitgeist.
Here is what Welles found out. He covered the story of Elmyr de Hory, a man notorious for faking out musuems with his forgeries of art masterpieces. Now here is where the irony set in. Clifford Irving had been the one conducting interviews of the confidence man. It later turned out that Irving himself had concocted a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Like with the mass hysteria produced by War of the Worlds, Welles showed how significant numbers of society can be easily duped into believing fakeries. I think such an analysis can also be applied to the blogosphere. The same process has taken place there. Eventually such fraud does get exposed but only much later, after the damage has been done, like with Bush's War on Terror.
The same process occurred with the satanic panic, and innocent people went to jail. Opportunistic creeps such as Geraldo and Oprah lended credibility to that which deserved none. There is another example I'd like to share. It concerns the search for the Zodiac killer.
Robert Graysmith wrote a book called Zodiac. Somehow he pulled a Clifford Irving, just substitute the Zodiac killer for Howard Hughes. Graysmith ended up as a so-called expert. Such confidence men are all over the internet. Alexandrovna, Leopold, and Friedman are fake journalists. Rivero, Jones, and Carto are fake patriots. Kos and Huffington are fake liberals.
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I wonder if this should find it's way to the pages of Discussionist?
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I wonder if this should find it's way to the pages of Discussionist?
Dare ya...
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Im a little confused here
Doesnt running a PR campaign require someone to be self-aware?
I might buy a "semi-advanced talking points bot" but not a PR machine. They lack the cognitive ability to pull that off.
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Mr. Mann had a good take on this thread.
When it was speculated that DU is PR my reaction was...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbfn3dzu8Ik[/youtube]
When the thread ventured into lurker conversation, I always try to read the whole thread before I post.
But lurking...no way.
I'm the anti lurker.