reyonthehill

Will a democratic victory in 2008 spell doom for liberal blogs? That may be true, unfortunately. The rise of blogs, liberal blogs in particular, came out of the growing public disgust for the contemptible Bush administration. And Bush's unconscionable reelection victory in 2004 only led to increased liberal blogging.

It should be noted that the entire existence of blogs, blogging tools, and amateur web-publishing utilities, have been during the time of a conservative president's administration. Blogging has made it easier to publish opinions online, and the majority of those opinions were liberal.

During the rise of the blogs, we have seen a failed and misguided war and dozens of impeachment-worthy scandals. We have also seen a well of support grow for the opposition party, culminating with a tidal wave of democratic control in the 2006 election. The liberal blogosphere has pretty much been in that same place the last year or so, leading up to the coming presidential election next November.

But what if we win? What if Obama or Clinton beat Romney or McCain? Then what?

The conservative blogosphere has never taken off. But how could it? Their president has been in power; their party has only recently lost control of Congress; and their dreadful war in Iraq remains the focus of their party's and this nation's agenda. So what is there for conservatives to gripe about, at least online? (There is always room for blowhards on television and in print.)

Will the same fate happen to DailyKos following a hopefully-jubilant election day? Will liberals cease their relentless watchdog-blogging of those in power? Will we rollover and let corruption seep through our party as well?

In Washington, power always leads to some level of corruption. And bad policies know no political boundaries. I simply hope that liberal bloggers keep at least some objectivity (as I sincerely believe I make an earnest attempt to do) if the democrats win in November, and not commence a protect one's own agenda during the next administration. That is what the conservative bloggers have done, and that is why they have arguably had limited influence.

But with the democrats in the White House -- especially if it is a Clinton -- rest assured, the conservative blogosphere will awaken. I just hope the liberal blogosphere doesn't go to sleep at the same time.

I will promise you this, dear reader, you will be able to count on hapless wit and retrospective genius from this blogger. I will continue to serve, even if I agree with president.

Dennis Kucinich places third.

Although I do agree that John Edwards is an electable boy.

I started this post on January 31, 2006, and never finished it. I used the theme partially the following day, but not completely. I have tried on many occasions -- probably too many -- to make the point that DailyKos, like other liberal-leaning large group-blogs, are much more than political opinionists now, that they have become more of a fundraising arm for the democratic establishment.

Markos may insist that his aim is to elect liberals to government (e.g., his attacks on Ellen Tauscher), but that is not entirely true. It is also about winning seats in red states. And that goal is noble, I admit, but it is also contingent on being a part of the establishment, and not being a separated entity, as too many blogs are purported to be.

There is only one thing that keeps politicians interested -- your donations -- and until that changes, there will be no "real change" in Washington, or Sacramento, or Albany, or anywhere else. And the DailyKos community has joined that system, somewhat unknowingly. The U.S. is a democratic republic, but for that to work (or continue to work, as the case may be), it is about people choosing their representatives, not online donations.

Unpublished Draft

Daily Kos has officially become an arm of the democratic warfare, it is no longer about liberalism, progressive policy, or ripping on Bush, it has become us vs. them on a larger scale.

Now that I think about it, maybe 13 million people are reading this blog. Everyday. And since I have installed several scaling mechanisms on the back-end, I am confident this site can handle such traffic. So why not? Why not 13 million?

This calls for a new slogan... reyonthehill, read by 13 million people, everyday. (Take that, DailyKos.)*

* The DailyKos portion isn't part of the new slogan. Or is it..?

- Markos (of DailyKos) turned down a meeting with Bill Clinton, because he "had better things to do with [his] time." That's dumb. I've got better things to do than blog, but I still do it. (What am I saying? No I don't.)

- Bush really wants a speedy confirmation of his newly-appointed attorney general. By announcing a safe consensus pick as the nation's top cop, and at the same time announcing a controversial conservative as the interim Attorney General, Bush all but ensures a smooth confirmation process by the democrats. A solid political move.

- Bill Richardson is stumbling through the reyonthehill primary. One must not mis-speak. Ever. But the president mis-speaks all the... nevermind, it doesn't have to make sense.

- Dick Cheney doesn't write memos, which I'm adopting as my newest philosophy. "I learned early on that if you don’t want your memos to get you in trouble some day, just don’t write any."

- And it may be taken as demeaning, and maybe somewhat racist and/or anti-woman, I guess, but I hesitantly agree with Joe Biden's comment that he is competing with "'celebrity' candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama." You've got to admit it, we're dealing with a new era. The same phenomena is happening (to a smaller degree, however no more less significant) in the GOP, with the candidacies Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.

- Michael Bloomberg has been planning his entrance into the race for the White House the past two years. Will he make a splash? A big one, if he does commit. I'm hoping he does; it'll make things interesting.

- The era of zero accountability continues... "Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government." (via Swampland)

- It is not just Iraq that Bush is polling at 26 percent approval... "Bush scores record or near record lows on every major issue." (via kos)

- The republicans take a short-term view on energy, blocking the democrats' renewable energy bill. "Republican senators argued that the nearly $29 billion in additional taxes on major oil companies would have led to reduced production and higher gasoline prices." (via kos)

- And the Senate has agreed on fuel efficiency terms, but "the White House opposes having Congress mandate a specific mileage number for auto fuel economy." And we'll see if democrat Dingell will finally turn the corner. (My money is on "no.")

- Uh-oh, Ralph Nader is supposedly pondering a run. Says Nader, "The two parties are still converging -- they don't even debate the military budget anymore. I really think there needs to be more competition from outside the two parties." I agree, the two-party system hurts the natural breakdown of the American voting public. And, on Hillary, "She is a political coward." Ouch.

- Markos is not a fan of the Richardson campaign, just another part of the reyonthehill primary.

- Not only did Lieberman jump (the democratic) ship, he pulled the pin of a grenade on his way overboard.

- With Rupert Murdoch's pursuit of the Dow Jones Company, publishers of the esteemed Wall Street Journal, reporters of said paper are worried that the change in ownership "would dumb down and politicize the news pages." Or foxnewsify it, as they say in the industry.

- Reporters and journalists covering politicians are also contributing to their campaigns. What say you, Jake Tapper?

- And the Roberts Court puts in doubt the future status of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the "'super-duper' precedent."

- Cheney's first-hand accounts of Iraq aren't so first-hand: "Cheney said he had spoken with a friend who traveled recently from Baghdad to Basra and 'found the situation dramatically improved from a year or so ago.'" That isn't what my friend told me.

- The anti-Tauscher movement (started by Kos) has gone mainstream. (I am not necessarily a Tauscher supporter, nor am I a "centrist" democrat, but the choice of representatives lies solely with the people of her district, not me.)

- And y2k (take 2) is approaching as daylight-saving time begins four weeks earlier. I have already stored up enough Campbell's soup to last three months.

I know I tend to rip on DailyKos often, but out of all the mindless bloggers at his website, the only readable writer is Kos. When I do peruse the monster blog, which happens to be daily, I only look for his posts, because he is the only one that actually has a sense of humor. Well, I thought that until I read this. This post is meta, meaning it is solely about blogging (yes, blogging about blogging, one of those infinite regressions), and the post is written in a similar style to my brief FAQ series. But it is hugely unfunny. (There I go, ripping on Kos again.) And I wouldn't have done this if Kos didn't try so hard, but he did.

- "'President Hillary Rodham Clinton' is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as a virtual inevitability." But what will DailyKos do to stop it?

- Environmentalists and Bush agree on at least one thing: a feasibility study to examine the removal of Hetch-Hetchy Dam, which provides water and electricity to the city of San Francisco. But it won't happen. Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, former mayor of San Francisco, said, "We're not going to remove this dam." But we should. And Feinstein should get her head out of the ground on the issue. (Although Bush must be looking for something in return from environmentalists, like hyperactive logging in the restored valley.)

- "[Apple CEO Steve] Jobs calculated that only 22 out of 1,000 songs on a typical iPod, or less than 3 percent, are purchased from iTunes. The rest come from CDs." You know, he is probably right, but how in the hell did he "calculate" it. That is sort of creepy.