Fringe wingnut blog takes Kos to task, but shoots self in the foot

Proving once again that it's foolhardy to cite Dan Gerstein as an authority on anything except what it means to be an idiot, some überwingnut named Warner Todd Huston (he supports Alan fucking Keyes, for crying out loud!) takes Kos and the Kossacks over at Daily Kos to task for their support of the "angry populist" John Edwards, saying that the victories of "unity" candidates like Joe Lieberman (gag!) prove that Daily Kos "has lost the contest for the hearts and minds of the Democrat Party."

This Huston guy is pretty uncivil himself ... get out your clutching pearls, gang:

The angry Kossacks might take that very angle to explain away why they lost (as Gerstein points out, they supported Edwards heavily) but this would not explain why Edwards' campaign did not resonate at all outside the nutroots on Al Gore's Internet. So, with this in mind, I'd say that Gerstein is right that the petulant, tyros [sic] of the DailyKos are an ever dwindling minority and have lost their battle to control the Party.

Oh, and there's more, where Huston quotes Gerstein favorably:

Gerstein sums up his feeling that the angry left is waning with some "delicious irony."

The best evidence that Kos-ism is about kaput, though, comes from Kos's mouth himself. Yes, the most delicious irony of this campaign is that the supposed hatemonger is supporting the hopemonger.

Seeing the writing on the wall, as well as on his own blog, Markos Moulitsas — Kos himself — rejected the candidacy he himself helped spawn and announced (albeit grudgingly) on Dec. 12 that he would be voting for Mr. Obama via "a process of elimination."

Not exactly the most graceful concession, but the import is undeniable: Hope trumped Kos for Democrats. Now let's see what it will do for the rest of the country.

Hope trumped Kos? This guy is certifiably batshit crazy. What will he say when November comes and hopeful, positive agitation for change (whether from Clinton or Obama) "trumps" the hatemongering, war-hungry, selfish, ultra-negative message of the Right?

Finally, lest you have any doubt about whether Huston is truly insane, check out this passage:

Gerstein misses the mark when he throws in a few remarks about what is going on with the GOP — his own leftist bias skews his vision in this case. In attempting to explain what the Daily Kos set was emulating in their style of politics, he garbles the truth fairly badly by assuming that the Kossacks were trying to act like Karl Rove.

The Kossacks and their activist allies... believe that Republicans are venal bordering on evil, and that the way Democrats will win elections and hold power is to one-up Karl Rove's divisive, bare-knuckled tactics.

Gerstein is right that the Kossacks believe that Republicans are not just opponents to beat at the polls but are actually evil, but Karl Rove never showed anything remotely like the hate and vitriol exhibited by Kos and his venal acolytes. Rove is not what the wild-eyed Kossacks are emulating. Stalin is closer to their pattern, than Rove.

First of all, the only thing remotely "leftist" about Dan Gerstein is that he has a left hand and a left foot. Secondly, if I'm not mistaken, saying Karl Rove isn't hateful is cause for instant commitment to a mental facility in at least 32 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam.

Sadly -- and unsurprisingly -- Huston's blog doesn't permit comments. Still, it would be wise to keep this in mind for some tasty schadenfreude in a few months.

(cross-posted at Daily Kos)

UPDATE (9:58 am 2/11/08): Eschaton commenter nona alerts us to a representative remark by Karl Rove:

Eventually, I met with Rove. I arrived at his office a few minutes early, just in time to witness the Rove Treatment, which, like LBJ’s famous browbeating style, is becoming legend but is seldom reported. Rove’s assistant, Susan Ralston, said he’d be just a minute. She’s very nice, witty and polite. Over her shoulder was a small back room where a few young men were toiling away. I squeezed into a chair near the open door to Rove’s modest chamber, my back against his doorframe.

Inside, Rove was talking to an aide about some political stratagem in some state that had gone awry and a political operative who had displeased him. I paid it no mind and reviewed a jotted list of questions I hoped to ask. But after a moment, it was like ignoring a tornado flinging parked cars. "We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!" As a reporter, you get around—curse words, anger, passionate intensity are not notable events—but the ferocity, the bellicosity, the violent imputations were, well, shocking. This went on without a break for a minute or two. Then the aide slipped out looking a bit ashen, and Rove, his face ruddy from the exertions of the past few moments, looked at me and smiled a gentle, Clarence-the-Angel smile. "Come on in." And I did. And we had the most amiable chat for a half hour.

But that's not "hateful" or "vitriolic." No sirree.