Ko$ola Updated Via Donkey Cons
This is the work of Donkey Cons:
Dan Riehl’s got the BIG SCOOP: Jerome Armstrong’s consulting firm collected over $161,700 from SEIU — perhaps the most notoriously corrupt union in America – in a single year! And DailyKos has been pimping SEIU!
One labor journalist accused SEIU of ripping off AFL-CIO for $3 million before splitting in 2005. Wait until Tom Buffenbarger finds out what Andy “Beach House” Stern has been up to lately ….
“No politician, campaign, issue group, nor any other organization has directly or indirectly paid me for anything.”
Right. Armstrong’s been raking in big-time consultant bucks, but Moulitsas has taken a vow of poverty. In which case, Moulitsas is not the scammer, he’s the scammee.
Not a pimp, but an abused ho.
Not just a sock puppet, but a stupid sock puppet.We now return you to our previously scheduled cynical snarking … oh, wait: Ace of Spades has beaten us to it!
“Fine. Let’s say there is no secret money moving directly from Armstrong to Kos. …
Does Kos ever change his tune on a politician according to guaranteed ad revenue from Armstrong’s clients?
That’s the question, and Kos doesn’t even address it.”
* * * * *
National Review Online has timelined the Ko$ola scandal. Now let’s establish how the story (as opposed to the scandal) has developed.In January 2005, Chris Suellentrop reported the Armstrong-Kos-Dean consultant connection at Slate, but it seems this story scarcely caused a ripple of wider suspicion.
In October 2005, an Ohio Democrat (and ex-Kossack) sniffed an Armstrong/Moulitsas scam in the Hackett-Brown primary for the Senate (see here and here). This was also noted at the time by a Columbus Dispatch columnist. But for some reason, no one jumped in to investigate the possibility of a larger pattern.
Then, June 8-11, 2006, YearlyKos convened in Vegas, producing a tsunami of MSM coverage.
At YK, questions arose as to why the anti-war Kos was pimping for DLC poster boy Mark Warner.
On June 12, I stumbled over the 17-month-old Slate piece by Suellentrop and leapt to a blindingly obvious conclusion: Kos is a King Pimp Scammer.
On June 16, Suellentrop returned to the “blogola” story, noting that Jerome Armstrong (a) had been sued for pimping stocks during the dot-com boom, and (b) may have sold YearlyKos to Warner (or vice-versa). That story was then picked up Sunday June 18 by the NY Post.
On the evening of June 16, the Ohio Democrat “BuckeyeState” posted “The Armstrong Payola Incubator,” reiterating his eight-month-old accusations about the Hackett-Brown race, and concluding:
It became obvious to me some time ago … that [DailyKos] was a scam, perpetrated on people desperate for change and leadership.
By Monday night, June 19, Dan Riehl had figured out that Corzine’s ‘05 campaign bought some “blogola” through Armstrong’s Political Technologies LLC.
So today — Tuesday, June 20 — the story went viral. Why? Well, there’s an old saying in journalism that “three is a trend” and the Armstrong/Moulitsas “blogola” pattern has now been detected with four campaigns:
Howard Dean
Sherrod Brown
John Corzine
Mark Warner
Given the parallels with Armstrong’s dot-com pimping, it would defy logic that — of all the candidates promoted at DailyKos over the past two years — these four would be the only candidates with whom Armstrong and/or Moulitsas had a consultant-client relationship.
Is it a Hillary hit?
It would seem obvious that Team Hillary’s oppo-research team is all over this thing, because her ‘08 rival Warner got hit by Suellentrop. But no, Garance Franke-Ruta at TAP reports that it was a “citizen investor” who tipped Suellentrop and the Post.
Is it a “right-wing” hit?
So says one Democrat blogger Chris Baker:
Obviously this has been the kind of red meat that the right has been looking for, and they will do everything they can to turn it into a blanket condemnation of the liberal blogosphere. … They don’t have the time or the resources to wage an effective effort on this issue, even if the “liberal” media will eat it up because it attacks one of their enemies
.
Friends don’t let friends drink Kool-Aid, Chris.
Some points:
1. Yes, of course, trouble in Donkeyland is always a big funfest for conservatives. But it looks like Democrat hero Paul Hackett was one of the victims of the Kosola scam. And if the Warner-to-Armstrong-to-Kos angle is correct, then are you saying that supporters of, inter alia, Hillary or Feingold are “the right”? Cui bono?
2. The people who did the most to push this story forward were Chris Suellentrop, “Ohio Buckeye,” and the Kossacks who complained about Warner’s YK appearance. The “right” only picked this up 17 months after Suellentrop reported that Markos and Jerome were blogging on DFA’s dime. And except for Dan Riehl’s Corzine research, most of what the “right” has done is to assemble reporting by others.
3. The Right “doesn’t have the time or resources” to expose this scandal? Are you kidding me, Chris? National Review, American Spectator, Weekly Standard, Fox News … hello? The RNC research boys would be all over this, to say nothing of the various think-tank operatives. There’s plenty of well-paid research professionals in the VRWC, to say nothing of a mighty legion of crafty amateurs who’d bust it open just to get the Web traffic the smoking gun would produce. (Donkey Cons is about #25,000 in Technorati, and we’ve gotten roughly 2,500 hits off this story so far.)
4. As has been repeatedly observed, Armstrong & Moulitsas aren’t exactly the Vince Lombardis of politics. True, they never seem to quit, but they never seem to win, either. From Dean in ‘04 to Busby in ‘06, Kos has promoted a seemingly endless succession of losers. Dean couldn’t even beat Kerry, who was so pathetic he couldn’t even beat Dubya/Bushitler/Smirking Chimp. And, even in the wake of the Duke Cunningham scandal — the biggest congressional bribery case in U.S. history — Francine Busby couldn’t beat Bilbray.
To the extent that Moonbat bloggers have driven the Democrats leftward and picked a bunch of loser candidates, they have been a tremendous blessing to the GOP (and God knows the GOP needs the help). If the MyDD/DailyKos operation were to continue at its present pace, I dare say that by January 2012, the Democratic Party would be out of business.
5. Scamming is scamming, and it’s up to Democrats how they deal with their own scoundrels. What Armstrong & Moulitsas are accused of doing to the Moonbats is quite similar to what Ralph Reed is accused of doing to the Christian Right in the Abramoff scandal. You’ll scarcely find a blogger on the right who’s been more critical of Reed than Donkey Cons.
There is no indication that Ko$ola involves any crime, nor could it be argued that there is any ethics violation involved, since no one has ever accused political consultants of having ethics. If Democrats don’t mind getting bamboozled by fellow Democrats — hey, it’s a free country, pal.
But consider this, Chris: If the Ko$ola gang helps lead the Democrats to another disaster in November, remember that campaign consultants get paid for their services, win or lose.
You? You’ll just be a loser, Chris. Again.
See you Nov. 8, good buddy.
Loading ...
June 21, 2006 - 09:31 AM on June 21st, 2006
Well, Peejz… I don’t really think you get my drift, which is cool. The basic jist of it is this: The right will try to turn this into a blanket attack. Learn from Karl Rove. Don’t get sidetracked. You have them on defense… keep attacking.
Sure, you can devote huge amounts of resources and time to attacking the Daily Kos and their crew, but in the end it will just make you look stupid as we hammer away on jobs, the economy, the occupation of Iraq, etc etc etc list the hundreds of other real world issues that Republicans don’t know how to deal with.
You guys will try to equate us all with Armstrong and try to turn two guy’s actions into everyone’s so as to distract people from what miserable failures your leaders have been at managing the government. Have fun… knock yourself out. I like my hand and I could care less how much you hammer Armstrong. Good for you.
You are absolutely right that this story came from the “liberal” blogosphere. That’s why attempting to use their actions against us won’t work. When we see wrong in our midst we say so. When you guys (in general) see wrong (Gitmo, illegal spying, lying about grounds for war, spending out of control and calling yourselves fiscal conservatives, etc etc etc ) you make excuses and try to spin it. That’s why we are the good guys and you are the bad guys.
June 21, 2006 - 09:33 AM on June 21st, 2006
This isn’t the first KOS issue. There have been others where KOS has sloppily takem wrong information and run with it.
KOS = POS
June 21, 2006 - 09:45 AM on June 21st, 2006
Ohio….ECONOMY & JOBS…huh…I’m lost with that one. The economy is booming, unemployment rates are at their lowest, and now due to these tax cuts, the deficit is taking a hit. No bones about it we are spending too much money, but Democrats would do better? Where I disagree with Republicans, the Democrats would do worse!!!
And what great ideas have the Dems come up with? Bush wanted to fix social security, they struck that down, he wanted kids to have a choice on what schools they could attend, they shot that down. All I hear from them is criticism of Bush’s ideas and plans. If they don’t start coming up with their own ideas, the November election isn’t going to be any kinder than the last few elections. Gitmo, illegal spying, and lying about the war is getting a little old…what happened to the Republicans want to take your Grandma’s retirement and starve your children?
June 21, 2006 - 09:54 AM on June 21st, 2006
Sandy… compare and contrast: Clinton vs. Bush. Like I said, I really like my hand, and I’m not going to waste my time playing it with you.
I happen to live in Ohio, the swingiest swing state in the electoral college. For a pinko like me you couldn’t hope for a better place to teach people about the failures of Republicans.
Well… gotta get back to work. It’s been fun, kids!
June 21, 2006 - 10:04 AM on June 21st, 2006
Ohio 2nd- Thankyou for taking the time to respond. Your graciousness is very much appreciated.
I think if you took the time to study the blogs that are writing on this subject, you will see that we are quite capable of multi-tasking..Kos/Armstrong are but a blip on the big picture. If you are interested, my concern about the subject is what the long term legal effects will be on all blogs. One could argue that there may be laws being broken..
As to the rest of your claims: Let’s not go overboard with the “we point it out”. You did, and kudos to you, but let’s face facts…both sides of the aisle(elected officials) wait until the public knows of an indiscretion before they acknowledge it…That is a fact..
There is no illegal wiretapping, you may not like it, but it is legal.
As for Gitmo, it is a necessary evil. Do you know what the % of prisoners are there that were released and then recaptured on the battle field? These are not innocent people..again, you may not like it, but it isn’t illegal.
Lied to? You were lied to? hardly..
Economy? I live in Michigan..we have been hit hardest and Ohio is just behind us..The unions are failing. We never should have been that dependant. Luckily, many of the companies diversified and at least on my side of the state, the economy is booming. Our Republican controlled legislature raised the minimum wage. I say that my Democratic gov ran an add and I guess I can depend on her 85% of the time. That is the % of State purchaces for MI furniture products…She did fail to mention how she gave a contract to the prison system that cut the MI industry out of the picture…Let’s layoff hard working citizens so that prisoners can take their work! (I kid you not, and trust me, it got ugly)
So, we can talk about any number of subjects and keep our eye on the ball!
Again, your comments were appreciated!
June 21, 2006 - 10:05 AM on June 21st, 2006
Yeah, it was so tranquil during the Clinton years…’93 WTC attack, USS Cole attack. We just didn’t fight back…or we would just give our enemy nuclear technology so they would leave us alone…ie North Korea.
June 21, 2006 - 11:51 AM on June 21st, 2006
Peejz, it’s true that there’s little value in over-generalization, but it is sometimes fun to indulge in. Personally, I think it’s our duty to keep everyone honest, and find a tremendous value in working towards common ground.
I don’t really understand the inner workings of the Kos/Armstrong relationship. I do find their reactions to questions very telling. How they are telling is not for me to say
I do find Daily Kos to be a very useful tool, as I do Free Republic, although in different ways. Dialog is always welcome.
Thanks for your hospitality!
June 21, 2006 - 12:34 PM on June 21st, 2006
“…what happened to the Republicans want to take your Grandma’s retirement and starve your children?”
Americans are told routinely by the MSM, the Democrites, and their propagandists that Republicans want to:
1. Starve and abandon the elderly.
2. Take food away from poor children.
3. Poison the air and water.
4. Destroy the environment, and ultimately the planet.
5. Give tax cuts and economic advantages to the greedy rich.
Just today #1 and #2 were asserted on this very site in another topic.
All this is from the mentally-ill fringe of our society.
June 21, 2006 - 10:23 PM on June 21st, 2006
The AFL-CIO are the most corrurupt of the laobor union and the TEAMSTERS are over leaded with violent thugs its time for serious RICO laws to be brought to bare on these labor unions:mad:
June 22, 2006 - 10:30 PM on June 22nd, 2006
Think the AFL-CIO is corrupt? They’re not half as bad as the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America. The coal miners’ union). When I was growing up, one union president was so afraid that the challenger was going to unseat him, he, with his mob connections, had the challenger, his wife and daughter shotgun murdered in their home. The Teamsters were in bed with the mob 35 years ago.
Now on the topic of orphans and widows. I heard a very interesting point on the radio the other day. They were discussing how much profit the oil companies had been making and how some people were whining about it when the economist commentator said ” I wonder if these legislators realize that their “windfall profits” tax would be coming directly out of the mouths of widows and orphans because the beneficiaries of the record profits are the stock holders. With various pension plans being the largest stock holders in almost every company, to take away the corporate profits would thereby reduce the money going to the widows and orphans who live on those pension plans.”
As for privatizing Social Security, there is one question every liberal should ask their representative who voted against the President’s plan, (BTW he didn’t come up with the plan, FDR did. But FDR couldn’t get it passed because of the Depression at the time.)”If privatized plans produce such low return on investment that the current social security system is so much better, why aren’t they in the regular social security plan instead of the privatized government employee plan?” Every single member of Congress and their staffs have opted out of Social Security in favor of the privatized government employee plan.