Netroots Civil War: Is the Bloom off the Kos?

American Thinker ^ | July 11th, 2006 | Noel Sheppard

[Eddie01]

The Left's Eight Commandments

I
Thou shalt create an illusion of invulnerability shared by most members to foster excessive optimism and encourage extreme risks taking

II
Thou shall not allow any member to question the group's inherent morality, instead members shall be encouraged to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions

III
Thou shalt promote collective efforts to rationalize in order to discount warnings, or other information that might lead members to reconsider their assumptions before they recommit themselves to their assumptions

IV
Thou shalt reinforce stereotyped views of enemy leaders as too evil to warrant genuine attempts to negotiate, or as too weak and stupid to counter whatever risky attempts are made to defeat their purpose

V
Thou shalt self-censor any deviation from the apparent group consensus, inclining each member to minimize the importance of their doubts and counterarguments

VI
Thou shalt create and maintain a shared illusion of unanimity concerning judgement conforming to the majority view

VII
Thou shalt apply direct pressure on any member who expresses strong arguments against any of the group's stereotypes, illusions, or commitments, making clear that this type of dissent is contrary to what is expected of all loyal members

VIII
Thou shalt appoint mindguards to protect the group from adverse information that might shatter their shared complacency about the effectiveness and morality of their decisions

-Eddie01 2006 (adapted from Janis '82)

[Eddie01]

Trying to understand the reference. Are you saying that liberals are either charlatans or dupes and that a dupe with a website just tried to bring up an inconsistancy and is just learning that thoughts running counter to the views dictated by the charlatans are delt with severly regardless of the accuracy of the dupes assumptions?

[MaxFlint]

If the DNC leadership tries to satisfy the wingnut bloggers, they will be somewhere to the left of VI Lenin. If the DNC ignores the bloggers in search of a moderate (i.e., policies with half a chance of being accepted/implemented) then the bloggers will throw another tanty.

The DNC can safely ignore the bloggers in this case. The left wing bloggers have tried many times to pin a scandal on Bush, often helped by the old media. (Gannon, Rove indicated, and many more) All of them have fizzled. If they try to sabotage a viable Democratic candidate the old media won't help them.

Blogs and sites like FR are best when they analyze evidence (the forged memo that took down Dan Rather) and publicize facts that the mainstream media won't cover. The leftist opinions of Kos and his cultists don't matter, except to the extent that they reflect the opinions of Democratic primary voters. But blogs are the wagging tail, the Democratic base is the yellow dog.

[Democratshavenobrains]

But what about the upcoming conservative crack-up that has been predicted for the last decade?

[Warren_Piece]

The dynamics aren't right. Our side has True Believers who demand "purity" as well, but as long as conservatives (or at least people who pretend to be conservative) are in power, these people remain on the fringes.

Once we have our own national loss (politics is cyclical), the Purists will blame the pragmatists and we'll have our own revolution.

But conservatives are smarter - I remember joining the organization Bill Bennett and Jack Kemp formed right after Klinton was elected (Empower America). It was loony by no means, and may have been the setup for the Gingrich Revolution.

[proudpapa]

Most Conservatives are smart enough to see the bigger picture.

It's my opinion that most conservatives are united in their support of the War on Terror and the desire to have more judges like Alito and Roberts nominated.

Once you get past these two issues there is squabling about immigration, the death tax and social security. But not enough to split the party.

The big problem for Dem's is that they are split on the #1 issue and that is the War on Terror. And that is why they will remain in the minority again in 2006.

[Recovering_Democrat]

The libs have gone TOTO COELO!!

[ChildOfThe60s]

And that is why they will remain in the minority again in 2006.

I think the odds are in our favor for the time being. But, as I think most conservatives here will agree, we have got to do more than keep "Republicans" in the majority. We have to get genuine conservatives in control of that majority. More RINOs and the party is in serious danger of becoming "liberal lite". The RINOS seem to think that as long as they are to the right of the left wingnuts, that's all that matters.
Well, they can be to the right of the kooks and still be pretty liberal.

[grey_whiskers]

I have a vanity on some of the misdeeds of The Daily Koshere.

Warning: starts out talking about Mel Gibson, though...

Cheers!

[Cincinna]

I saw that little p***k KOS on TV yesterday. Someone should squash him and put him out of his misery.