Daily Kos Founder: No Dough for O

Influential blogger and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas caused a first-class kerfuffle on an economy-class budget, announcing that he would be withholding his $2300.00 donation from Barack Obama's campaign until he sees some "good behavior." From Daily Kos:

First, he reversed course and capitulated on FISA, not just turning back on the Constitution, but on the whole concept of "leadership". Personally, I like to see presidents who 1) lead, and 2) uphold their promises to protect the Constitution.

Then, he took his not-so-veiled swipe at MoveOn in his "patriotism" speech.

Finally, he reinforced right-wing and media talking points that Wes Clark had somehow impugned McCain's military service when, in reality, Clark had done no such thing.

Markos goes to great pains to explain that he still supports Obama, but that he won't be anyone's "water carrier."

He also tries to downplay the importance of his donation (with a 739-word story on the most popular blog in the universe.)

I applaud Markos for not being a water-carrier now, but it makes me wonder where he's been this whole campaign.

Let me start by saying that I am not trashing Markos Moulitsas. The guy has done more for progressive voices in the media than I can even dream of.

I have to confess, I don't read Kos religiously, so he might already know all of this, but he doesn't let on in his anti-donation "minifesto," so here goes, anyway.

Number one, Obama was never a leader on stripping FISA of the telecomm immunity provision. Neither was Hillary Clinton, or any other presidential candidate, save Chris Dodd. Like it or not, Obama's position on this is pretty consistent. He was more concerned with bringing the illegal program to an end. I don't like it, I think telecomm immunity is easy to defeat, but there are too many Democrats who wet themselves when a Republican says "weak on terror," so there you have it.

The "tin-foiler" in me wants him to stand fast on the Senate floor, vanquishing all comers with the lightsaber of truth, but the real guy who has lived through 7 years of disastrous Republican rule can live with Obama's position. He spoke out against it, said he'd try to get it stripped, but it didn't work out.

It's a little easier to live with knowing that criminal prosecutions for the telecomms who broke FISA are still on the table. I asked the Obama campaign about that last week, and they said, "No comment."

This is quiet encouragement. If it were really not on the table, what would they lose by saying that? They've already taken the hit for supporting the compromise.

Of course, Keith Olbermann laid out the whole super-secret plan during his "Special Comment" Monday night. Keith, next time you want to propose a stealth political maneuver, try sending an email. That's how I did it for Ron Paul.

As for the swipe at MoveOn's "General Betray Us" ad? Sorry, but he's right. They sacrificed all of the moral force of their argument for the sake of an obvious pun. It was stupid. At least when I do it, it's in service of a funny joke. ( I thought it was funny.)

On Clark, I agree with you that there was no attack, and he should be defended, but why should Obama put his hand into that dogfight? McCain already showed his jugular on that by hiring a Swift Boat Vet for Truth to be on his "Truth Squad." Why would Obama want to distract people from McCain stepping on rake after rake?

The "Babe in the Woods" routine goes into overdrive when Markos says his donation means very little. That is technically true, but when he writes about it, it becomes a hugely influential move. While his readers might still vote for Obama, it fuels the narrative that Obama is "shifting to the right," which is not helpful to him, or even true.

In any case, it is his money, but if he's not going to give his $2300.00 to Obama, why not throw some of it my way? I drive an hour each way to work every day, that would help out for a few weeks, at least.