TNR’s ‘Joe-Nertia’
22 June 2006 11:41 am by Taylor Marsh
TNR's “Joe-Nertia”
UPDATE II: In the uh-oh department… Is Zengerle TNR's next Stephen Glass?
UPDATE: Joe Lieberman Weekly's latest. Now don't you laugh.
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Another post I can't believe I have to write.
The first one was directed straight at Ryan
Lizza, because of his disdain for stay at home moms.
This one is directed straight at Jason Zengerle, the new “Wonkette”
of political gossip, without the wit.
The New Republic has Joe-Nertia. It's now just
another right-wing rag sheet. But not because Markos
says so. It's proven
it of late.
“The
Plank” is only fit for a kitty litter box, but since it's a web based screed
it won't even get that, because I'm not going to waste the paper to print it
out.
Marshall Wittman should apply for a job, because when you have Mort Kondrake quoting
you on Fox “News” with remarks that mirror Joe Lieberman, you really
have jumped the Democratic Party shark.
The whole brouhaha began yesterday, as you may know by now, with a Zengerle “scoop”
that was dishy but dopey.
Are Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas (of the famous Daily Kos) engaged
in a pay-for-play scheme in which politicians who hire Armstrong as a consultant
get the support of Kos? That's the question that's been bouncing around the
blogosphere ever since The New York Times's Chris Suellentrop broke the news
last Friday about a 2000 run-in Armstrong had with the Securities and Exchange
Commission over alleged stock touting. But Armstrong, Kos, and other big-time
liberal bloggers have almost entirely ignored the issue, which is a bit surprising
considering their tendency to rapidly respond to even the smallest criticism.(snip)
So far, Kos's friends in the fiercely independent liberal blogosphere seem
to have displayed a sheep-like obedience to his dictat. And while it's true
that Kos himself hinted at the controversy in this blog post yesterday, he
didn't come anywhere close to addressing the questions that really matter.
You might even call Kos and company's behavior in this whole affair just another
case of politics as usual. So much for crashing the gates.
Pee-ew, turn on the fan.
“The Joe Lieberman Weekly,” as TNR has been appropriately deemed,
is dying for relevancy. So they tout as a big story that blogs are subservient
to Markos. Not only that, but if we're not we'll get hit where it really hurts,
in the pocket book.
Following up on this, why did so many of the people on the “Townhouse”
e-mail list follow Kos's orders to stay silent about the Armstrong story and
the Kosola allegations? Part of it, I'm sure, has to do with their political
allegiances to Kos. But let's not underestimate their financial allegiances.Along with Armstrong and MyDD's Chris Bowers, Kos runs a BlogAds advertising
network called Advertising Liberally, to which a number of “Townhouse”
members belong. (If you want a fuller understanding of how BlogAds advertising
networks operate, and how they allow lower-traffic blogs to gain more clout
with advertisers by combining their traffic, read this piece.) Therefore,
Kos (along with Armstrong and Bowers) gets to decide which blogs belong–and
don't belong–to Advertising Liberally, which means a lot of these blogs'
financial health hinges upon staying in Kos's good graces. Is it any wonder
they're so obedient?
If “The Plank” were actually a liberal or progressive blog, maybe
Zengerle would get how it all works. But it isn't, so he doesn't.
Chris Bowers lays
it out in a way that maybe even TNR & Znegerle can understand.
As for Markos pulling some puppet strings, puh-leaze.
There are many people in the blogosphere that don't like Markos. I've not met
him personally, though I have traded emails with him. There is no doubt he's
powerful and has made some enemies, that's for sure. In fact, I'm surprised
at just how strong the animous towards Markos is in some circles. I've only
gotten a couple of links from DailyKos, but I don't get that many links from
many of the big blogs, except when I break big stories, like on Malkin
and the Iranian
badge embarrassment. Firedoglake and C&L are the exceptions, both blogs
having opened their doors from the beginning. John Amato and Mike of C&L
put me on the map. To give you an idea of the class of John Amato, after all he's done for this blog, he even donated to my fundraiser! (Thank you so much, John. A big thank you to Jesus' General for touting my fundraiser, too.)
However, if Markos was really vindictive, he would
have come after me after this
post, because I disagreed with him strongly, publicly and unequivocally
on Bill Clinton. I got my most important link from Markos after that
post.
Late yesterday, not only did Joe
Lieberman give a speech on the Senate floor distancing himself from the
Democratic Party's debate on Iraq, but today he joined with Republicans. No
one supports Joe Lieberman more than TNR, except for Republicans like Sean Hannity,
who stand for: more of the same, stay the course, SIT AND WATCH cowardice, which
progressives roundly and rightly decry. TNR's “Joe-Nertia” isn't catching
and they're losing steam week by week, as is Joe Lieberman.
As for the other smears charges directed at Markos and Jerome, I haven't a clue. They're
big boys and can take care of themselves and I'm sure they will.
The bottom line on this whole story stems from one thing and one thing only:
the progressive blogs have become very powerful, but not because of just Markos,
Jane, Christy, John Amato and the rest, but because of you. That's what TNR and others peddling Joe-Nertia don't understand. Alone we can do
nothing. It's the MILLIONS of readers who have HAD ENOUGH and have joined the
cause that we lead that give us our power.
Joe Lieberman Weekly has passed into history. They're pissed. So what?
