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# Posted 11:18 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

IS THERE A YEARLY-KOS IDEOLOGY? On Meet the Press, Kos himself announced that

This isn’t a leftist movement...We have people on the left, the center, the right and everything in between and up and down the party spectrum.

Surprisingly, Ryan Lizza's superb article about YearlyKos takes Moulitsas at his word. Lizza writes that:

The most passionate conversations in the small knots of activists I interview is over whether to follow the lead of blogfather Moulitsas and define the nascent online activist movement as strictly a machine that helps Democrats win or to create one that is more ideologically pure and presses for a set of specific principles.

Kos may not spend his time composing manifestos, and there may be real tension between "partisans" and "ideologues" as Lizza describes them, but it's pretty hard to miss Kos' general ideological orientation. Matt Continetti drives this point home with a short list of extreme observations by Kos & Co.:

It was difficult to find commonalities among all the bloggers at YearlyKos. Most opposed the Iraq war, and most viewed orthodox religion with suspicion. In the bloggers' view, the GOP is a party of "theocons" who want to impose a version of conservative Christianity on unbelievers.
This sentiment is nothing new. Once, Moulitsas wrote on his website: "Let's not forget that ultimately, Osama's vision for the Arab world is far more akin to the Right's vision of America." Paul Hackett, the failed House candidate [avidly supported by Kos], once said, "The Republican party has been hijacked by the religious fanatics that, in my opinion, aren't a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden."

I wish there footnotes in the Weekly Standard, because I can hardly believe that either Kos or Hackett said something that dumb and offensive. Talk about accusations of being unpatriotic.

For a more detailed explication and takedown of the Kos ideology, Peter Beinart's recent columns in TNR [or subscribers] are the place to go. Beinart explains in a two-part series that Kos & Co. have mounted a full-scale assault on both the substantive and partisan political merits of the Clinton legacy. According to Kos, "Clinton's third way failed miserably. It ... delivered nothing." Well, perhaps Kos should ask whether a second-term for Bush Sr. followed by Quayle presidency is what he would've preferred. C'est la vie.

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Comments:

Footnotes? How 20th century! In fact, Googling for the Hackett quote turns up a post on Kos that starts, "holy moly, this guy is honest." The Cincinnati Post has a story about Hackett's statement. In the story, Hackett stands behind what he said.

The Kos quote is accurate, and the same post contains the gem, "The reason we hate Islamic fundamentalists is pretty much the same reason we're fighting to take back this country from the Republicans." But perhaps his thinking has evolved since he wrote that in January, and his statement on MTP is not complete crap.

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:41 AM

Let's not forget that ultimately, Osama's vision for the Arab world is far more akin to the Right's vision of America. Remember these old posts? On homosexuality, on militarism, on women's rights, on religion in school, on capital punishment, on free speech, on curtailment of civil liberties, and on a million different other issues Islamic fundamentalists don't share many disagreements with the ideologues running our country.

The reason we hate Islamic fundamentalists is pretty much the same reason we're fighting to take back this country from the Republicans. They are two peas from the same pod, and diametrically opposed to everything we liberals stand for.

# posted by

Unknown : 2:00 AM

I can hardly believe that either Kos or Hackett said something that dumb and offensive.

Start believing it. This is the "new" voice of the Democratic Party.

# posted by

Unknown : 2:02 AM

There is nothing "new" about these kinds of statements. Casting or pushing away your ideological enemies, even in liberal democracies, as illiberal assholes is a time honored tradition. Just last year a member of the Tory party in Britain accussed members of his party of being part of the "Tory Taliban." The Taliban being a murderous bunch of fundamentalists.

Hyperbole, it seems, is an ideological ever-present.

# posted by

Russ : 10:13 AM

let's not forget that republicans have also said as much about Dems (comparing them to OBL, SH &c.)

I know I know, I can't provide links or names but I have heard it, again from fringes of the GOP, not mainstream.

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:44 PM

"I know I know, I can't provide links or names but I have heard it, again from fringes of the GOP, not mainstream."

That's cute anon. What do you think the ratio is for dems=terrorists (appeaser doesn't count) vs. bush=hitler?

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:00 AM

Those quotes read exactly like one of Andrew Sullivan's "Christianist" alarums.

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