Saturday, August 11, 2007

How to Distinguish MAMZ-Influenced Blogs from Independent Blogs


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One of the first blogs to become aware of the Truth About Kos Blog was Columbuser.Com. On July 5, 2007, Brian at Columbuser.Com reported that he had seen a link to the Truth About Kos blog at a blog called "As Ohio Goes," but the link then mysteriously disappeared.
Where’s that Kos post?

Hmm. Mark McNally at Paindealer links to an article about Kos at As Ohio Goes, but the post seems to have been disappeared. The link now dumps you to the blog’s front page. The original post is referenced at BlogNetNews, so I’m sure Paindealer didn’t image it.

Is there some infighting going on over at As Ohio Goes, or is it just a technical glitch?

Fortunately, the Kos post was cross-posted at The Truth About Kos (DailyKos).

Stunning new details about the life and family of Markos Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga (DailyKos) cast doubt on everything he has said about himself and on his motives for wanting to lead the Democratic Party. Those who have read the articles available in Google about Moulitsas may have noted that none of those articles mention even one member of Markos Moulitsas’ family by name, even as they proclaim him to be influential in the leadership of the Democratic Party, helping to choose our elected officials.

Last week we learned, thanks to a diary by Stu Piddy, that Markos spent six months in the employ of the US Central Intelligence Agency. Now, fresh research reveals that Markos Alberto Moulitsas is NOT an immigrant and his “humble” Salvadoran family is actually connected to filthy rich international hotel, casino and cruise ship conglomerate and international industrial polluter of grey whale spawning grounds in Baja Mexico.

Meh. I don’t think this will affect his cult much. They’re beyond this sort of thing.
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Posted by Brian | Jul 5, 2007 12:40 pm | Categories: Blogs, National, Ohio, Politics, News Columbuser.Com
What happened is that I posted at story at As Ohio Goes on July 5, 2007, and then the story was removed by someone with authority to do that at As Ohio Goes.

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To understand why this might happen, you have to read the New Republic's story on the Townhouse Scandal, in which Markos Alberto C. Moulitsas Zúñiga requested that negative information about him and one of his friends not be reported at other blogs and websites and all of the blogsites and websites within MAMZ's sphere of influence agree. This is from The New Republic:

06.21.06

THE BLOGOSPHERE'S SMOKE-FILLED BACKROOM:

Are Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas (of the famous Daily Kos) engaged in a pay-for-play scheme in which politicians who hire Armstrong as a consultant get the support of Kos? That's the question that's been bouncing around the blogosphere ever since The New York Times's Chris Suellentrop broke the news last Friday about a 2000 run-in Armstrong had with the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged stock touting. But Armstrong, Kos, and other big-time liberal bloggers have almost entirely ignored the issue, which is a bit surprising considering their tendency to rapidly respond to even the smallest criticism.

Why the strange silence in the face of such damning allegations? Well, I think we now know the answer. It's a deliberate strategy orchestrated by Kos. TNR obtained a missive Kos sent earlier this week to "Townhouse," a private email list comprising elite liberal bloggers, including Jane Hamsher, Matt Stoller, and Christy Hardin Smith. And what was Kos's message to this group that secretly plots strategy in the digital equivalent of a smoke-filled backroom? Stay mum! He wrote (emphasis added below):

The YearlyKos media people have already forced corrections at Slate and NY Times (Suellentrop's blog). There has been some serious overreach by the few outlets that picked up this story (which as I mentioned before has been shopped around). It was interesting how this one piddly-ass story was used to try and smear Jerome, me, AND YearlyKos.

So the only paper to run this as a news story is the disgraceful NY Post. Others who picked up on it have had to backtrack from their original sensationalistic claims.

I am exploring legal options against some of the wingnut bloggers who are claiming I'm syphoning netroots money into consultants and my own pockets. Note how Glenn Reynolds is fueling it with his typical passive aggressive, "I don't think it's a big deal, but let me provide links to everyone who thinks this is THE BIGGEST STORY EVER!"

And Jerome's case, if it could be aired out, is a non-story (he was a poor grad student at the time so he settled because he had no money). Jerome can't talk about it now since the case is not fully closed. But once it is, he'll go on the offensive. That should be a couple of months off.

This story will percolate in wingnut circles until then, but I haven't gotten a single serious media call about it yet. Not one. So far, this story isn't making the jump to the traditional media, and we shouldn't do anything to help make that happen.

My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I'll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on. If any of us blog on this right now, we fuel the story. Let's starve it of oxygen. And without the "he said, she said" element to the story, you know political journalists are paralyzed into inaction.

Thanks, markos

So far, Kos's friends in the fiercely independent liberal blogosphere seem to have displayed a sheep-like obedience to his dictat. And while it's true that Kos himself hinted at the controversy in this blog post yesterday, he didn't come anywhere close to addressing the questions that really matter. You might even call Kos and company's behavior in this whole affair just another case of politics as usual. So much for crashing the gates.

P.S. Was Armstrong really, as Kos claims, a "poor grad student" when he settled with the SEC? Armstrong agreed to the settlement in December 2003. That was eleven months after he and Kos started their political consulting business and six months after the two were hired by the Dean campaign at a rate of $3,000 a month.

--Jason Zengerle
posted 12:33 p.m.
Comments (45) New Republic
When negative news is reported about MAMZ, there is an standing agreement that these blogs will suppress it, not reporting it, by removing it if it is published by others, and finally by banning users who repeated "bash" (report negative news) about MAMZ.

Look what happened at MYDD after I reported that DailyKos is 69% atheist and agnostic and that one member of DailyKos helped fund a US Supreme Court case attempting to remove the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. (Frankly, I hate the pledge of allegiance, but I love controversial news about DailyKos.)

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Banned at MyDD for Citing DailyKos Internal Poll that 69% of DailyKos Does Not Believe in God!


When I posted this story at MyDD, then Chris Bowers, one of the authorities at MyDD, said,

that's it, you are banned (3.00 / 3)

How many times did I have to warn you about posting anti-Dailykos diaries here? This is MyDD, not Dailykos. If you have a problem with Dailykos, take it up somewhere else. MyDD is not second life for for anti-social types that get banned from Dailykos. MyDD
So, right there you have Chris Bowers, managing editor of MyDD, telling you that there is an enforced policy at MyDD that if you criticize Markos Moulitsas or DailyKos, even by making reference to their own internal polls, then you will eventually be banned from participation at MyDD. Doesn't this mean there is a collusive relationship whose purpose is, at least, to prevent the publication of negative news and opinion about Markos Moulitsas and perpetuate his position at the top of the blogosphere pecking order?

I have been banned or threatened with banning at countless blogs after criticizing MAMZ and DailyKos there, including BlueMassGroup and Blue Hampshire, after criticizing MAMZ and DailyKos there. At Blue New Hampshire, I was banned for posting this diary whose critical anti-Markos factual contents were confirmed last week in an article by the Washington Post.

Here's a TailRank compendium of articles reporting the lack of diversity at DailyKos, but you probably won't find many of these articles discussed at DailyKos or the blogs that cooperate with DailyKos to suppress critical news, information and opinion about with DailyKos.

The unmistakable conclusions are that:

(1)There is (at least)a virtual contract between DailyKos and its affiliated blogs to suppress negative coverage of DailyKos, no matter how factual it is, and

(2)Users at these affiliate blogs are explicitly warned not to criticize DailyKos or MAMZ, regardless of the factual basis of the criticism, and (3)You are more likely to read factual news about MAMZ and DailyKos in the Washington Post than you are to see the same information at MyDD, Blue Mass Group, My New Hampshire, and other blogs that may or may not be on the DailyKos blog list, but are, in any case, members of the virtual DO NOT CRITICIZE KOS cabal.

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Even at Culture Kitchen, where I once criticized Markos Moulitsas, I find that I am no longer permitted to "create content."


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Liza Sabater, owner of Culture Kitchen, explicitly told me not to criticize DailyKos or MAMZ at her blog. Ironically, she told me that the Reaganite, George H.W. Bush-supporting ex-CIA trainee Kos who opposed gays in the military had done too much for the progressive cause for her to allow his reputation to be defiled! Look at the last topic that I diaried about before my posting privileges were withdrawn.

So, what does all of this mean? I do not have sufficient facts to assert that there is an explicit oral or written agreement between all of these parties to ban users who report critical facts about MAMZ and DailyKos. I suspect that there is a combination of (1) pressure from people who desperately do not want to see Kos and DailyKos criticized ("Kos minions"), and (2) a misguided belief that MAMZ is the uber-leftist, the epitome of commitment to progressive causes, and therefor any criticism of MAMZ would hurt the left. (p)After all, (rather than demonstrations or sit-ins or other direct action) hasn't DailyKos computer babysitting become the face of the anti-war left. If DailyKos is discredited, we might all become frustrated with blog activism and go demonstrate in the streets instead!

If MAMZ has been influenced by his six months of "application processing" that he underwent at the CIA in Washington, then how can we distinguish those in the blogosphere who are, in turn, under the influence of MAMZ from those who aren't?

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I suggest that we go about this empirically, because I do not like to rely on conjecture or supposition.

If you suspect that the blog in which you participate may be under the influence of MAMZ, then write a diary about MAMZ and post it there, leaving out my name and my blog and making no reference to "The Truth About Kos", but using the links that are offered here to primary source information, using these citations as proof of your assertions.

If you find that you are warned not to post anti-MAMZ material at that blog, or you are summarily banned from participation there, then you will know that the said blog is under the influence of the MAMZ delusion - the delusionary belief that a Reaganite Bush-voter, supporter of George H.W. Bush and CIA applicant can also be the fearless leader of the progressive left.

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