We all know the George Allen campaign is desperate. We all know the George Allen campaign is unscrupulous. And we all know the George Allen will stoop to whatever level in order to get re-elected (it's not going to work, though). Now, the Allen campaign has outdone itself, issuing an utterly bizarre "press release" in which they call on Jim Webb to give back $130,000 (where they got that number, who knows), which they claim Webb has "accepted" from a "controversial liberal website" called Daily Kos.
In actuality, Daily Kos is the most popular political blog on the internet, with around 600,000 visits per day. Like Raising Kaine and dozens more, Daily Kos is a "group blog" (multiple authors) and a COMMUNITY blog (anyone can register and post comments and "diaries"). I mention the "group" and "community" aspects of Daily Kos because often one sees right-wingers attacking Markos and other bloggers for comments made ON their sites, but which they themselves didn't make.
In fact, it is quite common for Markos and other "owners" of community blogs to disagree vehemently with comments made on their sites. As a long-time reader of Daily Kos myself, I can definitively say that I disagree with much that is said there. I can also definitively say that people disagree with each other all the time at Daily Kos, including with Markos himself (and vice versa). That's the nature of a true community, something right-wing Republicans like George Allen apparently have difficulty understanding.
Anyway, why on earth is it "controversial" that Jim Webb has received donations from thousands of Americans who happen to be Daily Kos readers (and writers)? Because, according to the desperate, pathetic Allen campaign, at one point, the site's owner, Markos Moulitsas Z+¦niga - a veteran and former Republican - commented that foreign mercenary contractors in Iraq were "there to wage war for profit." In comments for which he later apologized, Markos at the time added:
This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly. That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.
In other words, Markos was arguing - as a U.S. army veteran himself - against the use of paid contrators to fight our wars for us, including foreign nationals employed by companies like Blackwater. Markos also was arguing that the deaths of contractors in Iraq was the result of "Bush's folly," the misguided invasion and occupation of Iraq, in the first place. Finally, Markos got emotional and went way overboard in his "screw them" comment.
For the record, I totally disagree with the sentiments behind the "screw them" comment, as do most Democrats. No, I'm not a big fan of the Iraq War, or of using paid foreign contractors to fight it. But it was callous to say "screw them" to people who had been killed. Markos himself realized that and apologized for his over-the-top commment. By the way, Markos made his comment in April 2004, over two years ago. It's not "news," just an old comment that Markos apologized for. Move along, nothing to see here.
But now, the Allen campaign, devoid of any issues or accomplishments to brag about, has resorted to a campaign strategy of attacking a blogger, who they strangely claim is "fringe." Well, if he's "fringe," then why do they spend time attacking him? Also, if he's so "fringe," then why does his blog get 600,000 visits per day? And why does the Daily Kos community give hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates all over the country? Finally, do you think that THIS is what the Allen campaign's so worked up about? The fact that the Webb campaign has been one of the most successful Democratic campaigns this year in raising money over the internet? Ha.
Meanwhile, I wonder how much money the ALLEN campaign has raised from its "fringe" RIGHT-WING blogs. Have you ever gone to sites like Little Green Footballs, Free Republic, or Michelle Malkin? Does Dick Wadhams really want to have some of the comments from THOSE sites highlighted all over the place? Take 10 minutes, and I guarantee you that you'll find a smorgabsord of homophobic, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, even racist remarks on those right-wing sites (and others). Enjoy! Actually, you almost certainly won't enjoy it, because it's not a pretty picture.
Finally, I would point out that the Allen campaign receives ITS money from big corporations, such as the oil and gas industry (ExxonMobil et al), the entertainment industry (straight from Allen's native Southern California!), the big pharmaceutical industry (including a company that makes the controversial "morning after" pill), Big Tobacco, the military-industrial complex (e.g., Halliburton), and other such sources. Which would you prefer YOUR Senator to be beholden to; tens of thousands of private Americans who give $25 or $50 each, or ExxonMobil and Halliburton?
No wonder why the Allen campaign is busy attacking a veteran and former Republican Markos Moulitsas Z+¦niga, just as he attacks the character of an American hero named Jim Webb. Aside from their lack of any accomplishments to talk about, perhaps it's because they don't want you to notice where they get THEIR money from? Hmmmm....
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
That's the diary where I discuss how Big Tobacco has heavily financed George Allen. (I didn't check what he's gotten in intervening years.)
Markos, last I looked, doesn't kill people like the tobacco industry does. He doesn't consciously try to make kids addicted, as they did for years with Marlboro Man ads.
Here's one thing George's friends do for a living:
If this is the standard then every time Allen supporters make shit up, a press release is in order. But wait.. that would break the internets.
I haven't seen George Allen at any funerals for these contractors. But hey, let's talk about TAXES. Thanks to lousy policy, military services are provided by contractors at an unprecented level. They make way more than real soldiers and there's no system of standards and quality control.
Hardly the best use of our tax dollars.
And you're right. Wadhams can't get his head around the idea that authentic grass roots aggregation isn't a goose step operation.
An effective counter-attack is to do what Lowell has done. Allen and his people have a pretty shoddy record concerning the treatment of veterans. I willing to wager that neither Wadhams nor Allen is aware of Markos's service.
If Allen is serious about discussing the efforts of quasi-official security contractors, he's going somewhere that he doesn't want to go. A number of these contractors are not U.S. citizens, and many have committed acts that have indirectly, and in some cases directly endangered the lives of U.S. military men and women.
'Nuff said.
In fact, Republican leaders seem to treat these veterans worse than the average Democrat.
Given the extremely pro-military posturing of these Republicans you'd think that they'd respect everyone who served. Sadly, for these unpatriotic Republicans, it's not about service to your country, it's only about which party you belong to today. It's about holding on to power no matter what. It's about party loyalty, not loyalty to our country. It's pathetic.
We can count the Kos attack just another example, in a long sorry line of examples, of how little respect Republican leaders have for our service men and women.
If I recall the debate at the time, Kos's family heritage is from Central America (El Salvador?) and personally felt the pain and family suffering from the death wrought during the 80's. It was personal to him just as it took Bush's folly in Iraq getting personal with me to motivate me to political activism.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha GOOD.
So all of us who donated through the netroots page, whether we've even been to the Daily Kos site or not (though I imagine most have visited at least once) are counted as endorsing every statement made by Kos or any Kossack? Very logical.
That Division was first formed during the First World War, in 1917.