Kos is a schmuck

[Dr Ron]

So far I only put this in the comments at The Democratic Daily but it might turn into a post:

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2361

Kos is a schmuck.

That’s my mini review of his book.

I just got a box with Cobra II and Crashing the Gate. I opened each very quickly and wonder how much the first passage I read from each is characteristic of the book.

In opening Copra II I came across a passage on how Rumsfeld had no plan. . .

The first thing I read in Crashing the Gate is coverage of a Dean rally. “Dean then bashed John Kerry and John Edwards for their support of the Iraq War.” Obviously no sign that he clarifies to note that John Kerry did not support the war any more than Howard Dean did.

Then I glanced at the opposite page where he talks about how a Kerry speech had “failed on so many levels.”

[TayTay]

1. Sigh! My husband bought the book for me

He thought I wanted it. He thought he was being nice and respectful and taking an interest in what I like and do and stuff like that. I love my husband so I decided not to bonk him on the head with the book that he so thoughtfully purchased for me that talks about political blogs.

Sometimes, it just sucks to be me.

[SuzyC]

7. You can have fun with that book.

DIY Network has a great candelabra craft: http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_candles/article/0,2025,DIY_13748_4188936,00.html

Then there is the altered page:
http://moderngypsy.com/green/alteredpage/00star.html

In Indiana the librarians know what to do:
http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/1998-October/086255.html

Be creative and put that book to good use!:)

[TayTay]

8. Thanks!

Ahm, I'm sorry I ranted on a night with new people checking in. (Now I feel bad.) Oh dear.

Ahm, Thanks! :blush:

:patriot:

[SuzyC]

9. You call that a rant, Tay Tay?

I'm sure you can rant better than that! Don't worry about me. I've noticed that eveyone else has over 1,000 posts, but I'm not exactly new. I've been lurking since September. So have at it! I love a good rant!:bounce:

[TayTay]

You are so kind.

And you are most welcome to this here forum. Please post more often. (And I am not done ranting. I haven't mentioned George Allen yet.)

[globalvillage]

11. Fire Destroys Bush Presidential Library

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tragic fire on Monday destroyed the personal library of President George W. Bush. Both of his books have been lost.

Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said the president was devastated, as he had not finished coloring the second one.


OK, I swear that's the last lame bush* joke of the day. But you said librarian, and I couldn't resist.

:hi:

[TayTay]

12. I love these jokes!

:rofl: Ahhhhh, that feels good. Let me do that again: :rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:

Good for the soul.

[emulatorloo]

13. Two Words - RETURN IT!

Very sweet of your husband, I am sure he won't mind if you explain the situation.

[SuzyC]

14. No no no!

Don't return it! Someone else will buy it. Don't give it to the library. They will add it and people will read it. And you can't burn it (I am a librarian, BTW, and I won't allow it). So start printing and cutting out some of these great John Kerry photos on here, and paste them in the book, along with your thoughts and hopes and dreams, and quotations and artwork. But first things first: make a new cover for it. Remember how we made book covers out of paper bags for our schoolbooks? Well, paint a bag and cover that sucker with it. Take that sow's ear and make a silk purse, Baby!:hug:

[wisteria]

22. Hi SuzyC! Happy you decided to post! n/t

[Dr Ron]

2. It gets worse

The book is full of a white wash of everything Dean did wrong which cost him the nomination, and unsubstantiated attacks on Kerry.

[karynnj]

10. Wouldn't that lead the reader to wonder why he clearly imploded?

He had the most press, the most high level endorsements (Gore, Harkin), the most money and he lost. Does he have a disclaimer that he was on Dean's payroll. Some of these comments should be put on Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobles.com in reviews.

[Dr Ron]

16. It was Kerry's fault

It was dirty tricks by Kerry and Gephardt and other party insiders which destroyed Dean's perfect campaign.

It's all explained in the book.

[fedupinBushcountry]

17. OMG

He uses that lame excuse. Does he mention how Dean thought that he was so going to win that he had to go and stage himself with Carter a day before the Caucasus? Oh and the bus that he had them drive into a rally for his arrival ( and it was not an outdoor rally), and oh the money that they owed to the Deli, oh and the mess of his campaign headquarters, no one knew where anything was. etc. etc.


I think I know the answers.

[Dr Ron]

20. Dean was perfect--the establishment was evil

They even bring up the anti-Dean ad in Iowa by an indendent group. Kos claims Kerry and Gephardt were behind it without any legitimate evidence. The same old story that a former Kerry staffer worked for the group which put out the ad is proof that Kerry was behind it.

I'm not sure if I should read more--what other lame attacks will I find?

[Dr Ron]

21. Previous comments

I did comment on a portion of the book regarding Kos's views on the primary when Kos had an excerpt posted:

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1569

[fedupinBushcountry]

18. Hmmm

I thought it was the scream,it was all the media fault. Then they realized it happened after the votes were in, oops. Time for another excuse.

[Dr Ron]

48. He screamed so loudly. . .

that it went back in time and affected the results of the Iowa caucus (as well as the New Hampshire polls which were already turning against Dean).

[karynnj]

49. I totally agree

Iowa wastotally for Dean and was messed up by the retroactive effect of the scream and the Diebold machines.

Sitting in NJ, I saw the same CNN, MSNBC etc in the last couple of weeks. I actually watched the Kerry-Rassmann reunion all day. How much better made for TV story can you get! If it weren't real it would be too corny for this day and age. Kerry's obvious emotion and his "anybody would have done it" modesty was effective. That (on headline news, it was followed by a negative Dean story - where he got angry at an old heckler - was not good Dean news. Kerry = modest hero, Dean = hot tempered)

[ginnyinWI]

24. so I guess his purpose in bashing Kerry

is to find excuses for Howard Dean? How pathetic. I mean, I like Dean and all, but why does Kos have to go back and rewrite history? He must have trouble accepting certain realities. Hey-- that's what the Right does!

[BlueIris]

38. I have heard this from Dean's supporters So. Many. Times.

"Kerry's people slammed doors in our faces all over Iowa, blah, Kerry's people were snobby assholes, blah, Kerry's people stole our signs and gave us bad directions, blah"--YOU WERE CAMPAIGNING FOR A BAD CANDIDATE. Jesus. Just admit it or SHUT UP ABOUT IT. It's been two years. Let it go.

[karynnj]

40. If Kerry's supporters were the ones who were snobby ***holes,

wouldn't that have rebounded against Kerry. I am sure Kerry did not ask people to steal signs - even if I gave him no credit for his obvious honesty, he's smart enough to know that even one case where they were caught would rebound. Why were they asking the Kerry people for directions.

The Shapiro book and other independent sources seem to say the Dean people were the ones that were seen as "snobs", not in the sense of upper class elite - but in the sense of self important, people who thought they knew better than the locals. This jibes with people not being swayed by them.

You realize that all this will be quoted back to us as Gospel. Even when Kerry blogged there, there were people suggesting he read the book. Hearing all this, I think he should get someone high in his Iowa campaign read it and refute the charges in it.

[BlueIris]

41. Oh, I know! It was the *Dean* folks in my neck of the woods who

had massive superiority complexes. And an obnoxious kind of collective arrogance that use to drive me up. the. wall. I actually only met two paid members of Kerry's campaign during the summer/fall before the election--and they were the most gracious individuals I worked with in 2004.

[MH1]

42. "Asking Kerry people for directions"

:rofl:

What more would one need to know about why the Dean campaign failed?

:rofl:

[BlueIris]

43. Yeah, that was weird to me, too.

So was their repeated claim that everyone in Iowa was nice except for John Kerry's staff. Even those supporting other candidates were nice to the Dean people, it was only evil Kerry supporters who were mean to them. Right.

[karynnj]

45. Also, is it wrong to give your competitors wrong directions?

As the Dean people were the computer internet geniuses, have they heard of mapquest? Did the Kerry people buy up all the Iowa maps? Sounds like they may have asked because Kerry had many Iowans in his campaign - which might suggest why they were able to reach the Iowans.

[BlueIris]

47. Of course it isn't. The ahem, center of my hatred for Dean's whiners

is their ridiculous "but John Kerry and the Democrats treated us unfairly!!!" crap. Um, kids? It's called politics. What obligation did Kerry's people or the DNC have to be "fair" to Dean or any other candidate? Hello? Actual statement made to me about Howard Dean by a Dean supporter who'd been to Iowa (after I'd said that ultimately I was glad Kerry succeeded in securing the nomination if for no other reason than I didn't think Dean could beat Bush): "Okay, come on, that's not fair. 'They' did a lot of mean things to him." AAAUUUGGGHHH.

[LittleClarkie]

60. I would put it differently

I was talking to a woman at a Dem breakfast who said we should have picked Dean as our nominee instead of Kerry. She was misinformed about Kerry, saying things like he never sponsored legislation, and not knowing about Iran/Contra. Gads she must have been an effective campaigner. But anyway, I looked her in the eye and asked, "Well, if he should have been our nominee, why didn't he win the primaries." She commented, more honestly than I expected, that his organization stunk in Iowa. My comment back was to ask how, if he stunk in Iowa, and couldn't beat his fellow Dems, how he was going to come out of that and beat Bush when push came to shove? She didn't really have an answer for that, except that she still liked Dean. That's fine. But use some logic, huh?

So, I'd personally say that the Dean folks weren't campaigning for a bad candidate, they were just campaigning badly. For example, from what I've heard, partially from this Deaniac, and partly from people who were in Iowa, the Dean campaign in Iowa spent money unwisely because they had it. Canvassers for Dean talked about themselves and how Dean had changed their lives rather than about how Dean would make life in Iowa better.

But then we've heard all this stuff from Kos before. Dean's staff cared, Kerry's staff was only there because it was a job (sure baby, that's why one of them tattooed 11-4-2004 under his watch) and other fairy stories.

Shit. And here I thought Kos was getting better. Silly me.

(Hey gang, sorry I've not been around. I'm taking a bit of a break. My stress level had gotten kind of high. I'll be around here and there, though.)

[TayTay]

61. Well, I've missed you sweetie!

Who else is going to bask with me on the rare and uncertain 'good days' around here?

I don't blame anyone who is taking a sabbatical. This year, even though it's only March, has sucked so far. We need an energy boost.

[karynnj]

62. Nice to see you, great perspective

Hope the stress gets better.

[ProSense]

3. Blog ***holes: This is no time to bash Democrats, it's time for unity.

Fuck off! Why is it always okay for them to highlight the Democrats they support bashing other Democrats? It's the same as the Feingold situation. They ask why the Democrats aren't knocking each other over to get to the press with statements supporting a person who didn't share his intentions with his colleagues and then immediately implied that they were cowering. These assholes run with that, and when the truth catches up to them that he didn't consult with other Senators, they turn it into more bashing: well he didn't do it because he knew the cowards wouldn't support it. Fuck off!

[wisteria]

4. This proves KOS hasn't gotten over Dean. And frankly, I am beginning

to question the nature of this relationship between Kos and Dean. He seems to relive the old times more frequently than comment on, and reviewing Dean in his new role. I just keep wondering when it will catch on to other media sources that Kos he doesn't embrace new ideas and isn't really receptive to others opinions.

[TayTay]

5. Maybe when someone offers to pay him to do that.

I understand that money talks. And that some bloggers are for hire.

[wisteria]

6. Well, that wouldn't suprise me in the least. I wonder who is willing to

pay?

[fedupinBushcountry]

15. He even looks like a schmuck

I see egotistical schmuckiness written all over his face.

[wisteria]

19. I wasn't expecting this. He looks like some girl who barfed next to

me on stage during a Christmas show in elementary school.

[kerrygoddess]

26. ROLMAO! N/T

[JI7]

35. i really wish the bitch would go on tv

so people can see what a piece of shitty scum he is. of course that's probably why he wont .

[Dr Ron]

23. It just gets worse and worse

Every chance he gets, Kos takes a cheap shot at Kerry. I just read his take on the picking of the new DNC chair, and he even uses this to bash Kerry and his "delusions" that he was in charge of the party.

--reading Kos so the rest of you don't have to get sick.

[wisteria]

25. Let him get all of these delusional ideas out and in the open, by

the time Kerry runs again, everyone will have figured Kos out and realize he is off the wall and anti-Kerry and his lies and misrepresentations will mean nothing.

[kerrygoddess]

28. You're so good to us, Dr Ron

I'm nauseated already. ;)

[fedupinBushcountry]

29. Can we get him on Oprah

for all the crap he made up. Dr. Ron, how are you coping with such crap ?

[jillan]

27. It gets worse

Tell me this is not going to be in print

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/daily-kos/catching-john-kerry-with-his-pants-down-161669.php

[fedupinBushcountry]

30. HE has never met him

and he writes all this crap about him, my God what a complete asshole.

[jillan]

31. Can you believe that statement?

grrrrr!

[fedupinBushcountry]

32. Its ridiculous

and how the hell did he meet him, did he look under the stall and say hello, nope according to him he didn't speak to him. Geez what a jerk.

[jillan]

34. Maybe KOS is some kind of pervert

Looking under bathroom stalls.

Men - BEWARE you never know who might be
lurking in the next stall.

[karynnj]

36. Omg

Her title is worse than his comment. Strange that he never bothered to meet or interview Kerry.

[jenndar]

50. I know, right?

I guess they are in a contest with eachother to see who is the tackier bitch.

[ProSense]

37. No doubt he's a litte

dick with big penis envy.

[karynnj]

44. Might be why he didn't try to meet him because he

Realized that he was outclassed on every possible level from intelligence, character, and achievements to looks, energy, height, hair, and charisma. Kerry is the real deal, dKos is a little jerk. (The argument during the campaign over the mercenaries killed - shows the character of each man - one is pretty ugly, the other is moral, has integrity and common decency.)

[Dr Ron]

33. New post at The Democratic Daily on the book

I just added a post which includes much of the nonsense Kos wrote at:

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2367

[BlueIris]

39. I'm officially embarrassed for him.

Sort of. I wonder if he realizes how obvious his delusions are to the rest of us, or how obvious their source is to some of us?

Kos, honey? It's okay. Lots of people are born that way. You're not different, not special, just another human being like the rest of us. Come on, you know what I'm talking about. There's nothing wrong with it. Sane, non-prejudiced people know this by now. I'm sorry you still feel so desperate to get the approval of those who don't that you would go to these lengths to try to centralize the Democratic Party with hacks like Dean. There are more effective ways to stop Bush. Yes, I know that's all you want to do. His administration has been so terrible to men like you. And I know it's hard for you to do it by embracing an effective leader like Kerry because if you supported a real liberal, Mom and Dad and their conservative friends might think you were one, too. Then they might start getting the meaning of liberal confused with what idiots like Limbaugh have told them it means. Then they might start to suspect the truth. Hon? You live in Berkeley. Don't you think they might already suspect something? Oh, right, I'm sorry, you just bought a house there. With your wife. Who is mentioned in absolutely every single interview with you everywhere. Forgive me, I don't want to blow your meticulously maintained social cover that does not look suspicious in any way, especially when it involves constant attacks against Kerry with the dullest ammunition possible, making even those who don't give a shit about you suspect that you have a fixation on him. I realize you hate Kerry, a man you may have assumed is just like you, only better at "passing," and better liked, despite what you see of yourself in him that you can't bring yourself to do anything except despise, but really. Give it up. You're soulless. You're also classless.

[SuzyC]

46. Just like at Dkos

We need a recommend function! I give you a 4!!!!:thumbsup:

[whometense]

51. Politus says:

http://politus.blogspot.com/2006/03/howies-sour-grapes.html

...I've seen the same grumpy flip-flop from Markos at DailyKos. Back in 2003 he was infested with hubris and confidence about how Iowa and New Hampshire played right into Dean's strength as a retail campaigner. Later, Markos seethed with resentment, calling loudly for an end to IA and NH's first-in-the-nation status because they had not actually voted for Howie. Principles are mercurial things in Deanville.

[Dr Ron]

53. Look further

Dean a is quoted as saying:

"If you look at the caucuses system, they are dominated by the special interests in both parties," Dean said on the program, according to NBC. " the special interests don't represent the centrist tendencies of the American people. They represent the extremes. And then you get a president who is beholden to either one extreme or the other, and where the average person is in the middle."

Imagine if Kerry said someting like this. Kos would attack him for being a DLC sell out and being Bush-lite.

When you lack principles of your own (like Kos) it is easy to attack the enemy for what they say without worrying about consistency.

[whometense]

52. And I assume everyone saw this

in the Sunday NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/magazine/319wwln_q4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Amazingly, I do agree with one point he made:

Do you read your fellow liberal bloggers, like those who write for Huffington Post?

To me, Huffington Post gives voice to the voice. They're celebrities who don't need a platform.

That's not fair. You can't discredit bloggers like Jane Smiley or Nora Ephron just because they have a reputation outside politics.

These people don't have trouble being heard if they want to be heard. Sometimes Huffington Post has noncelebrities — I am more interested in them, people who don't have the chance to get their message out.

[wisteria]

54. I wonder why he likes Warner? I can't figure that one out other than

perhaps, he fits the formula for being elected. Kos being a veteran, you would think he would understand how important it is to have a candidate with enough military experience to tackle the Iraq war and get our troops home.
That said, Kos is a little jerk who has too high an opinion of himself.I want to know how he knew it was Kerry in the next stall. Did he take a peak under neath? Yeah Kos, it was a private moment, why were you taking a look?

[whometense]

55. My take on Kos

(for what it's worth):

He's really, at bottom, quite conservative. Dean was pretty conservative. Warner is conservative. If you look at the policies and politicians Kos supports, they tend to be centrist-conservative dems. I've always thought part of his antipathy towards JK came from the fact that Kerry is just too liberal for him.

Ironic, ain't it?

Oh, and p.s. Dr. Ron is right. He's also a schmuck. I think his schmuckiest quality is that he hides his personal agenda.

[wisteria]

56. Good call, why don't his blind followers see through him or are they

just like him?

[whometense]

57. I think that's a great question,

and I wish I knew the answer to it.

I honestly don't know why they don't see him for who he is - except that they don't see JK for who he is, or Feingold, or Dean, or apparently anyone else, either. In the end, left or right, it seems to be pretty true that anyone who plays follow-the-leader wiith a blindfold on is doomed to play blind.

[Dr Ron]

59. Not ideological

It's not that Kos is conservative or liberal, but that he is far more into style than positions. That's why he's interested in both Warner and Feingold. He doesn't like Kerry not because he is too liberal or conservative for him but because his speaking style is too stufy for him, or he windsurfs, or simply because he was paid to support Dean. Once he decided (or was paid to decide) on Dean over Kerry he went ahead and called Kerry Bush-lite even though Kerry is more liberal than Dean as issues of policy and principle don't mean anything to Kos. The attack sounds good so he went with it.

In other words, he's a schmuck.

[JohnKleeb]

58. The dude's "met" Kerry the same amount of times I have

I was near the senate office room where the Bolton Confirmation hearings were and Kerry passed me, nothing was really said, that said I wish I could have seen it but the line to get in to that hearing was crowded and I only worked part time on the Hill.

[ProSense]

63. Ugh!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=760065&mesg_id=760065

[karynnj]

64. Ugh is right

What a self satisfied jerk. I've seen far more insightful analysis of why the Democrats lost in 2004 almost everywhere. (I think some of the things Kerry himself has said are excellent - and consistent with what people themselves said.) Also, the fact that even Democratic partisans say things like why didn'y Kerry talk about the environment or the problem of depending on oil shows how poorly the press covered it.

I heard Kos speak one afternoon last week on AAR (I think with Sam Seder). What he talked about seemed the same - all about we're no winning - but I heard no real answers from him. I found him pretty boring and found his voice annoying.

[ProSense]

65. Noise machine

Yeah, I agree with that point.


Other points:

It's so hard for us to have a unified message when we are so dysfunctional on so many levels. (This coming from Kos? Please! Also, how the hell does this help? We're friggin trying to win an election and the message has been defined.)

We show we can beat up on journalist too (This is a weird characterization for holding media accountable and pointing out bias. It gives the impression that this is partisan sniping.)

Said he generally avoid politicians; that he finds them pretty dull. (Whatever!)