Great job, Alegre.  And I hope your sincere sentiments are received as you intended them.

Someone posted this in the comments at dKos and it actually brought tears to my eyes!

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Kos has become a shill for Obama and it is exemplified by the fact that the twerp has not retracted his poorly researched accusations of racism on the part of the Clinton campaign.

His Web site is a hate site; there is no dialog and anyone that questions that Obama is lord is attacked. He and his admins have been complicit in it all.

His 15 minutes will be up soon, and I can smell the stench of his site from here.

My problems with Barack Obama.

He never delivers.

Barack Obama promises "change", but when you look at his record...where something more than words are important, he's MIA.

Let's start at the beginning...the one moment upon which he has built his entire campaign...his "good judgment about Iraq"...

(From No More Apples and Huffington Post)

"9/11 widow Kristen Breitweiser:

But back in '02, for those of us who dared to speak out against President Bush and his war in Iraq, we stood virtually alone. There was no resounding chorus of people calling "bullshit" on Bush's folly. No, back in 2002 you were called unpatriotic if you dared to question the president; labeled as helping the terrorists if you raised doubt about his divine call to action.

Now forgive me, but I do not recall the help (or the voice) of any Barack Obama from Illinois. Indeed, I cannot recall hearing or feeling the impact of any one speech from the Illinois Senator. Did he attend the rally on the mall in Washington? The marches and protests in NYC? Did he conduct national press interviews? Did he write any editorials? Organize any protest rallies? Mobilize the people? Did he write any petitions? If he did, I never saw any of them.

Yet according to Barack Obama, because he spoke out in 2002 against the war in Iraq, he is better qualified to be president."

ALL TALK.  NO ACTION.

And the reports of Barck Obama when he allegedly took the politcally expedient route and voted "present" on any number of issues - many of those related to women's rights and pro-choice.   (Don't get me started on him pressing the "wrong button" on several important votes, too!)

YOU DON'T WIN WARS BY TAKING A SOFT POSITION.

And his non-support of Ned Lamont.  Sorry, but I was in CT and we were looking for strong Dem support.  What did Obama do?  He hid.  That's right.  He had a book signing in NY one day, with a free day inbetween a campaign stop in Mass for his good friend and speech coach, Deval Patrick.  The last time I looked, CT was inbetween NY and Mass., but Barack Obama stifted CT Dems and never stepped foot in CT.  Why?  Because he would have been pressed for an endorsement of Ned Lamont and not his mentor Joe Lieberman.  

BARACK OBAMA HID INSTEAD OF TAKING A STAND FOR DEMOCRATS IN CONNECTICUT.  

And now, his desire for people to stop thinking about his involvement with Rev. Wright.  He says he wasn't in church when those vile anti-American rants were spoken...OK, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say, that's nice.

BUT, for me the issue is all of the rest of those twenty years.  On one hand he says Rev. Wrong is his spiritual advisor and through him "found Jesus" (that would mean they were pretty close, don't you think?).  But now he dismisses him as an old man who is now retired.

And what about Obama's two beautiful daughters - sitting there, absorbing all of the anger - and, well, hate - through which Rev. Wrong spouts his sermons.

And, good heavens, his campaign has "spiritual advisors" but it's just a laundry list of people who don't do anything?

PLEASE!

In 2004 I was one of those who thought wonderful things about Barack Obama after his stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention.  But this guy needs a lot of work.   I truly believe that he knows that but his ego got the best of him and he decided now was his time.

I pray that it won't be.  We need strong, consistent leadership and experience to get us out of the mess that George W. Bush has gotten us into.  And Barack Obama is NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.

IMHO

I'm with all the fine writers here who have finally taken enough abuse.  I sincerely hope that MyDD can handle all of the traffic that is now heading its way.

Izarradr

It has become a common practice to dehumanized Hillary Clinton at dailyKos. The insulting started by targeting Clinton, and then spread to targeting the writer of any pro-Hillary diary. The last straw for me is the insulting on the Hillary voter's intelligent.

The following comments are sample of the insulting to voters' decision that were allowed and praised at dailyKos.

=============
The Supers can see with their own eyes ... (0+ / 0-)
Hillary got the under-educated - poverty - latino and old women vote.
Obama has the higher - educated - grass roots - money vote and youth vote.

Tell me .... which holds the best and brightest future for America .. ?
============
can you even imagine (1+ / 0-)
the sort of person who would actually vote for clinton at this point? kind of makes you rethink universal suffrage, doesn't it? maybe hungry people have too little oxygen in the brain. on the off chance that the narcissistic senator from NY wins the nod, i don't even know how i'll find the strength to vote in the general.

=============

Every American citizen own this country. Every man are create equal, and everyone is entitle to their own right, young or old, rich or poor.

dailyKos has allowed this kind of insulting comments to go unchecked. As we cannot have a civil conversation at dailyKos anymore, I see no point to waste my time there. I seek to have my discussion about our country stage of affair elsewhere.

Howdy all!

I support this - Kos has become the worst example of political mob mentality. I'm new here but I hope that this is the kind of place I want to hang around.

I'd like to see the discourse on myDD as an example of how people can support a candidate, passionately, and disagree, passionately, yet not resort to mudslinging and name-calling and attacks. I saw a lot of comments over there equating the behavior on this site to the worst behavior on the Great Orange Satan.

Let's show them that they are wrong about that.

I so agree Alegre.  I wrote my GBCW diary at Kos last night, and the responses were just, incredible - in the most negative way, except, for course for those of Hillary supporters.

Count me in.  I've had it with that site that reminds me of the youth movement back where I grew up.  We need to do better than that.

And it starts with true dialogue, which no longer has a place at that site.

I'll join you Alegre.  
Obama is not the only one who can vote Present.
I'm present, willing, and able.

hopscotch1997(Scotch)

Put me on your strike list.

I'm in. 'deleted my Kos bookmarks.

I'm on board with this strike. It isn't a discourse at kos anymore, it's a slug-fest, and I don't think I'm helping either candidate or the Democratic Party, to which I've belonged more than forty years, by contributing my thinking. I dislike reading hateful remarks about any of our candidates, and I really don't like being personally cursed out and bullied, even in writing.  I find it threatening and it's distressing, and I don't predict any improvement. Maybe if Obama's supporters just talk with themselves they'll be happier and less inclined toward hate speech.  I can't correct every Hillary smear anyway, there are far too many.  Apologizes to Obama supporters who aren't nasty and brutish, there is too much for you to clean up too.  No one owns enough doughnuts to do the job.  

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh146 /NewHampster/noKosno.jpg

(This is supposed to be a picket sign, but I have NO idea how to make the image show up!)

This site is to Obama supporters as DailyKos is to Clinton supporters. How deliciously ironic.

I was fairly new to DailyKos but while I was there, it felt like whenever I said anything pro-Clinton, people were there to attack only.   It was apparent there was really no desire to engage in a real discussion of the issues, it was a just re-hash of hateful statements.

Hopefully, this action will be noticed far beyond the boundaries of Daily Kos, and that people will realize that this sort of behavior has no place in civil discourse and will not be tolerated.

At DKos, I a, Calgirl

Thanks Alegre!

Alegre,

Thanks for your courage in posting so many wonderful diaries there -- and thereby subjecting yourself to so much abuse.  This is long overdue.  I'm so disgusted with the atmosphere there I couldn't even bring myself to comment in your diary there.

MyDD and other sites will thankfully continue to benefit from your contributions.

I'm through posting on dKos too.

I came to this blog, after getting sick of Kos. I've only been here one day and this is a level headed paradise. Kos's site is responsible for the division currently in our party, but it seems like the Arkansas Project has taken it over, and has so for years. They've been hating on the Clintons blindly because they weren't liberally perfect in office. It is sickening, how some of them will not vote, or even vote for the enemy should Jesus Hussein Christ not get his crown.

alegre, I'm with you.  I joined MyDD and TalkLeft today, and already I feel a bit better about having places to post where I won't be immediately trashed for raising reasonable questions about Obama, electibility, etc.  I'm not even a Clinton supporter, yet I feel pushed off of Daily Kos, a place where I've been posting regularly for four years.  It is hard to break away - but I too have some hope that things may get cleaned up once the nomination is decided.

I think it's been invaded both by 20-somethings with too much time on their hands, AND possibly by right-wingers masquerading, in an effort to create mischief.  And they've succeeded.

I also think Kos, much like Keith Olbermann, has become enamored of his own perceived influence - he sees himself as a kingmaker now, and he's jumped to Obama.  The result is that DailyKos is really an unbearable place right now.

I still post a comment now and then, just to amuse myself, but nothing of substance until there's some sort of balance restored.

Thanks for this diary - it's just what I needed to read tonight.

This is my first post on myDD, but it felt like a good cause.

I've been on my own private strike for a couple of weeks now.  I found out last week that I'm not alone.  On March 4, Kos acknowledged that Februry was his worst ad revenue month since he started dKos.

Leave it to Alegre to turn this disorganized group of dissatisfied bloggers into a union and a strike.  I love it.  I've never been part of a job action before!

Kind of sad, really.

In your heart do you agree or disagree with these words (regardless of who said them):

It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work.

It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family: "E pluribus unum," out of many, one.

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.

Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America.

There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.

The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.

We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

If Barack Obama is destroyed as a candidate, THESE WORDS will die for a generation. And you will have helped to kill them.

Alegre, Thank you!  I'm with you.

You have written truly wonderful diaries at kos, and one of the reasons I'm leaving is because of the personal vitriol that's been directed at you.  I've been at kos almost since it started, and I've seen it change overnight into something I want no part of.    

... on attending Yearly Kos Netroot Nation this year. I attended the Las Vegas and the Chicago meeting the previous two years. However after seeing what has become of the Daily Kos blog and too much of the rest of the progressive blogosphere I will not be going to Austin.

Given what I have seen this primary season I have no interest in going to a meeting that will undoubtedly be overwhelmingly hostile to my candidate Hillary Clinton.

D-Kos is far more diverse than you give it credit for. With the high traffic volume you see a wider range of views on D-Kos than you discribe in this diary.

The Hillary-bashing by fellow progressives has been, to put it mildly, disheartening to me. It's partly why this campaign has led me to question why I've been a registered Democrat 27 years. I've had to put an effort into distinguishing between Obama and some of his rabid supporters, as they're putting me off to the candidate himself.

Well said and I sure am joining you.  I was pretty much there, but took the lies and personal attacks to still get my voice heard, but they just aren't worth it.  

sweet.  Dkos has a little less silly refusal to see reality now if only by 1.

alegre, your dk diary is getting close to the number that KO had last night, when they closed the comments and hid them.  Supposedly that number blows up the sight.  I was having a hard time loading it just minutes ago.  Are you going Scortched Earth there purposely?  LOL>

By the way, there is an opposing diary on the rec list there now.  They are insulted about your strike analogy, and they are feeling freer to get back to bashing Hillary and the rest of us.  They are so delicate there........

Conveniently, you ignore the attacks on Obama.

There is simply nothing wrong, I'll assume, that a Democratic leader reduced his candidacy to a fad, a fatuation with him simply because he's black.  Do you understand how horribly racist and condescending that statement is?

So, maybe Clinton supporters, instead of whining, should hold their candidate and that campaign's surrogates accountable for what they do and say, instead of crying about the backlash to the negative, divisive and nasty gutter politics of the Clintons.

Frankly, this is somewhat disingenuous coming from a person who has been running a daily attack and smear campaign on MyDD and Daily Kos against Obama.  So, it's clear that it's only wrong if it happens to Clinton.

No surprise - even her supporters have double standards.

I feel for you, alegre.  I wrote a few diaries of my own at DKos, even pro-Obama diaries, for that matter.  I used to really enjoy the community, as crazy as some people might be.

Now I really don't know if I will ever go back, even after the primary is settled.  It just seems like such a mob scene now, and whether your argument is correct is determined not by facts, but by whether enough people can troll-rate you down the memory hole.  Very sad.

The Union of Pro-Clinton Bloggers, the Union of Give Fl & MI Their Votes, and the Union of Just Say Uh-Uh To Kos, that is. Pass the picket sign, Ma! I'm on strike! Thanks, alegre!

Do you guys and gals feel like you've gotten the monkey off your back? I do. I think we owe it to ourselves and the Obama supporters here to make MyDD a more civil place. We don't want MyDD to become a inverted mirror of dKos. We are nearing a line that I think we all need to be careful of. Let's remember how it felt over there and be more mindful of how we treat our brother and sisters here.

Yep - And with the help of Hamps patches I made a decision to join Alegre on the picket line. " No justice, no diaries" for that toxic waste dump until the epa or somebody cleans it up.

Tolstoy,
aka Lying eyes, uid#49600.

Alegre,

It's bittersweet for me, I probably wouldn't have discovered MyDD, if the tone over there hadn't driven me here.

I appreciate all the heart and soul you pour into the issues important to all progressives.

...two observations: one, you're right that people who prefer Hillary have a very hard time on Daily Kos. No question.

Two, frankly, the situation is exactly the inverse here, only frankly more so. The entire rec list is seeded with one angry anti-Obama - not pro-Hillary, anti-Obama, and there is a difference - diary after another, in a way that Daily Kos is not. And some of it is awful, hateful, Freeper tripe, nothing more.

What we're seeing, speaking merely as a Democrat, is a segregation and polarization of the Progressive blogosphere that is neither healthy nor desirable. It's all going to be over soon, and at that point, we're all going to have to work together again. I happen to think there's not going to be as much friction as present circumstances indicate, but still, I wonder whether some people will ever be able to work together again.

For all of our sakes, I hope we'll find that common ground when it's all over. I fear we won't, but one hopes for the best.

I've had that song running through my head all week as I thought about whether to go through with this ;o)

Gotta love Pete Seeger!

Threatening to interfere in people's real lives is so wrong.  I am so glad you posted this.  I stopped going there a few days ago (not that I was ever active) but I wont' go back for sure now.  :(  That is just plain scary.  Stalking is never funny.  

You condemn it at DKOS, but you are OK with the abusiveness of the Hillary supporters at MyDD.  That is pure Hypocrisy.  Condemn the Hillary people and then you can make your statement... otherwise, you are a hypocrite... pure and simple.

Is there anyway to delete my now 'un-used', 'un-needed', 'un-desired', 'un-fill-in-the-blank' Kos account?

I have read only one post by this author and it was pure garbage.  The post had to do with popular vote totals in the democratic nomination campaign.  It was based on outdated and distorted information and it was intentionally misleading.  

I am a long time reader of MyDD, Daily Kos, etc...  I appreciate quality, thoughtful posts.  Biased, misleading posts that rely distort facts to make a point are   frustrating, regardless of viewpoint the author is promoting (that's why I don't frequent RedState or whatever it's called these days).    

Based on my experience with the post on the popular vote, I will not be sad to see fewer posts from  this author. Hopefully, it will improve the over all quality of the posts on Daily Kos and here on Mydd.      

I no longer visit dailykos regularly. The place has become an online smear arm of the Obama Campaign. I wonder if kos' traffic is flat or down due to the site's inherent bias. I've noticed the growth of comments and diaries from mydd grow throughout the year.

oh get over yourself.  this site is a nightmare for obama.

of course dailykos is tilted towards obama to an extent, but at least he's upfront about it.  honestly, i find dk and openleft to be the most civil sites.  this place is getting down in taylor m territory recently.  

this is the only supposedly progressive blog that i've ever been on where i've witnessed the "n word" in comments (which were deleted, of course) and had a long-winded argument with a guy who told me that gay people are disgusting and we're dragging down the dem party.

this is the first blog i started visiting regularly.  i've still got a soft spot.  but listen, primary season's got to come to an end some day.  if you lay down with dogs, you're bound to get fleas...

You are one of the sane voices in Dkos.

Sometimes I think many of those Obamamaniacs are really trolls out to disrupt the Dem community.  Their purpose is not to elect Obama in the General Election,  but to let Hillary lose so Dems can be beaten in the General Election.

I hope administration will get hold of the site and do what MyDD does,  ban people who are overly critical and spreading fabrication of a candidate and the Dem Party.

For Example,  Geraldine Feraro--if I were Obama,  I would defend Feraro because it is to his interest to show he is not racially sensitive and that he wants to be president of both whites and blacks and above racial politics.  But these trolls are pushing it in Dkos --- which has the effect of antagonizing non blacks --since it is saying whites are bad and if I open my mouth I will be branded as racist.

Those of you who don't want to join the exodus.. then don't.  Bully for you.  Why come in and add to the rancor by chiming in and being jerks?

Deaniacs and Clarkies got along with each other in Daily Kos and they dont get overly sensitive or write inane diaries against the other candidate.  Other Kerry Edwards, Gephardt supporters also get respect and listened to.

But what is going on there is not natural.  It is like there is a conspiracy or trolls to disrupt the Dkos community and make sure Hillary does not get nominated no matter what.

Does Algere also plan on striking MyDD for the hatred and nasty attacks Clinton supporters aim at Obama supporters here?

Yay Allegre.  I am with you all the way.  Kos has become toxic.  No more good ideas, no more civility, no more fun.

At least here the criticisms are almost always accompanied with actual FACTS!  It's an important distinction.

Alegre,

I join you in this writers' strike. I used to post at DailyKos, but gave up because of the attacks. In some ways, DailyKos is the reason I became a HIllary supporter.

I'm not striking DailyKos.  I have no intention of going back.

And my UID over there was REALLY low.

Great post. I have stopped going their. maybe if their bottom line is affected some more they will take steps to correct the abuses.

You people are all hilarious. It's a blog. Get a life. You sound like teenagers who take video games too seriously. It's cute.

Thank you Alegre. Solidarity.

I'll be happy to join your strike (although to be honest, I already did months ago).

I just want to say to you how much I respect your candidate advocacy. I was a hardcore Edwards supporter for all of last year, and yet even while I was in an opposing camp, I truly came to respect Hillary supporters such as yourself, who never enjoyed a surfeit of popularity at Daily Kos, even in the best of times.

I'm sure you'll never remember an exchange we had last year, after I waxed indignant because one Hillary supporter wrote a particularly obnoxious comment and someone else uprated it. In any case, you said something to me that turned out to be prescient.

Hey Inky - Stick Around & Keep An Open Mind (6+ / 0-)

Recommended by:
Inky, oysterface, campskunk, trashablanca, cpresley, phoenixdreamz

It's all I can ask of anyone here.

I'm convinced that the more you (and others) know about Hillary's record and the things she's proposing, the more you'll come to like her.

DONATE! / HillarysVoice

by Alegre on Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 08:00:26 PM PDT

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/10 /8/175127/325/195#c195

I was as much of Hillary basher as anyone last year, and I never thought I'd come around. But writers like you and several other fine bloggers did indeed help me come to like her (although in my heart I'll always be an Edwards Democrat).

so will lend my support here which is probably best since I had already quit going there.

Through most of this campaign I've been fairly complacent about being able to support either candidate. But since KOS was my primary blog what I have seen there, the hatred, vitriol, lack of rational thinking have had the effect of really souring me on Obama which is kind of ironic since usually supporters actually want you to like their candidate.

There must be some kind of cautionary tale there. How a big D progressive blog turned almost overnight into a rancid stew of hate speech directed not at Republicans or the Bush administration but other democrats who have the, dare I say, audacity, to not have succumbed to undying devotion to THE ONE. It's like a bad Stephen King novel.

I left DK over the pie fight but really had begun to be uneasy about the site when he bragged about Terry McAuliffe taking his calls and posted an anonymous hit piece on Donna Brazile. I felt he had a hidden agenda and decided I didn't want to support it.

But I went back tonight to recommend your diary. Way to go!

You rock,Alegre! Please ad me to the list. I'm kind of new and only rec and comment...but I big time support those who have been in the trenches. Right on! Hillary rocks, too!!!

Is this a complete strike, or just a diary strike?

Will HRC supporters keep commenting and posting even if they do not write diaries?

Part of me feels sorry that it got so hot over at Big Orange, but if you can't take the heat you do have the choice to get out of the kitchen.

Some of you will be sorely missed.  Others, not so much.

Woohoo!  I keep drifting back to Le Grand Orange to fight the good fight, not necessarily for Hillary Clinton (I voted for Obama and want him to win, but would be more than fine with HRC), but just for basic fairness, honesty, and comprehension.  

It's pretty much a lost cause now, and what broke it was the demagoguery over race.  Because once someone is labeled a racist, and it sticks, they might as well be vermin.  That's why there should be an extremely stringent standard of proof for any charge of racism, and that was never upheld; neither was any awareness of the differences between kinds of supporters and (my new least favorite political word) "surrogates."  

After that, the place reached critical mass, and now the feedback reaction ain't gonna stop.  It's nuclear.

While I agree totally that the blogosphere has gone totally toxic.  I would be careful to just place the blame solely on Obama supporters.  Funny thing is, as soon as Hillary is trashed a few of the posters on here act as if they've never distorted Obama.  That includes Obama supporters as well.  There is such double standards most of the people sicken me.

may your "strike" last a thousand years.

thanks alegre!

ohlone

I came to the same conclusion about a week ago.  I'm not much of a diarist so I left no GBCW, just a couple of comments that were mostly read by the nutsos who troll the candidate diaries for Obama.

I used to love DailyKos because it gave me a perpective I couldn't get elsewhere.  However, during this primary as the Kossacks have been marching in lockstep with the establishment media, I've found the opposite -- that now it just warps my perspective.  

The thing that really made me realize it was time to get away was when I noticed I wasn't that interested in the diaries attacking McCain.  I found myself thinking that the attacks might not be credible -- I mean if they'd smear Hillary, how can I be sure that the information on McCain is being presented fairly.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm no McCain defender. I basically think the guy represents everything wrong with the establishment and I want to read attacks on him.  It's just that they seem empty when they come from the same people that accuse Hillary of trying to make Obama "blacker" in a TV ad.

That's why I decided I, too, needed to get away and regain my perspective.

Hey Alegre,

Been a big fan of yours for awhile. Have been on DKos for a little under 2 years, and split tonight (at least for now, if not permanently).

Consider me: IN!

Been registered here for almost as long, but not many visits in the past year, or so.

As of tonight, this all changes.

I felt I was at a point where I was wondering if I had masochistic tendencies due to still hanging around there over the past couple of months.

Kos, IMHO, has built himself a career which is at a point where it's all about his business agenda. Period. Also, the fact that he's a rethug-turned-dem (along with a few other facts about the guy, including the reality that he's much more centrist and in the tank with the DLC than most of his own community members realize--and he can be a total hypocrite about it, too) gives me at least a partial explanation, or at least some context, as to how he could let matters degenerate as he clearly has over the past few months.

The Boston Globe once wrote about myself and a half-dozen others, back in the day, that "...we were born Democrats, and sometime after that went to church and were christened into our respective religions later." IMHO, Kos has done more than almost anyone else to promote divisiveness within the party over the past few weeks; and I just was at a tipping point that was simply reinforced by your diary tonight.

I see a lot of recognizable names here--ones I hadn't seen for weeks or months. And, I'm looking forward to the repartee going forward, for the first time in awhile.

Good to be here. But, even better to be here 'cause you're here!

Keep on!

Best,
--BobSwern

Alegre - you're very passionate about your candidate, and I respect that. But if you want to be outraged about this sort of thing, it should be equal opportunity outrage, not just outrage when Hillary is the target. If I had a dollar for every Obamabot/cultist/empty words comment, or even more bizarre accusations like, "Obama spreads hate", that I've seen show up here, I could make a Perot-like run for the White House myself.

I TR hateful comments about Hillary on dKos when I come across them. I do not recommend diaries there which are Obama cheerleading.

I suggest that instead of presenting a boycott that's all about YOUR candidate, and encouraging everyone to divide into their separate echo chambers where everyone agrees with them, you propose that everyone, everywhere in the progressive blogosphere follow certain guidelines, regardless of their candidate preference.

That's something everyone can get behind. But if you can't apply a standard equitably, then you're just asking everyone to huddle up and engage in tight groupthink; it's very bad for perspective.

Three weeks ago, posters who mentioned Obama's lack of repudiation of his pastor were taken down and others banned. If KOS still allowed you free speech, unlike MYDD, what's the problem?

the cross post link to dkos in  your diary?

Fucking A! Yes!

Way to go! You hit a nerve! You hit a JACKPOT!

I blame the shit going on at dkos on KOS... MARKOS.. himself! He did it, he fed it and he fertilized it!

I was and still am a supporter of posting at dkos simply because they are the big dog, but I find that I am going there less and less and feeling less stress.

My main blogs now are Mydd, EENR and WashingtonWoman.

Did I say WOOOOHOOOO!!!!! yet?   :)

You did an AWESOME JOB with this diary!

HOW did it get on the rec list at dkos?!

I guess there are a lot more lurkers or a lot more supporters of all sides that feel the same!

I wonder if Markos will address this diary and IF he will back off what he has been doing.

I have not seen him  on the TV machine in a looong time. Id his star fading? if so.... IT IS HIS OWN FAULT!!!

I'm also with you, Alegre...even though I left once already, years ago, over another blatantly sexist incident, and only came back in the last few weeks.  

I stayed around DailyKos for a while to try to rate up reasonable Hillary supporters (like 95% of them) who kept getting TR'ed for, basically supporting Hillary, and I got into the fray in a few diaries...but the atmosphere there is just too poisonous.  

I've noticed that quite a few of the people who claim to honour your 'strike' are still posting Obama-bashing comments on DKOS.

Is there some disciplanary enforcement mechanism involved in your new 'strike'?  Perhaps you should deprive them of Kool-Aid?

Please help.  I think it best if each keeps to his or her own until after the convention.

Thanks.

Me.

They closed the comments over at Kos before I could expound on my comments there.  I really wanted to respond to some of the criticism - unwarranted criticism in my opinion - especially the anti-Alegre diaries that sprang up.  But it's like addressing brick walls.  Everyone talks - no one listens.  It's very frustrating.

I support your decision to strike, my friend - and I will miss seeing you there.  My way of dealing with the recurring problem is different.  I just take a vacation - which I did, for about a year, actually.  I'm only just venturing back - and now this Obama/Hillary hate fest has sprung up.  Frankly - I am appalled at some of the rhetoric.  You were right to call attention to it.  Senator Clinton has practically been accused of being the anti-Christ (hell - maybe she was - god knows they've accused her of everything else!).

I just don't post political diaries over there any more.  I save them for My Left Wing (god bless Maryscott and her policy of inclusion).  I do post personal observance diaries - and I will continue to do so.  Yes, I know you hoped your absence (and that of all the other fine writers who left) would spur change.  I'm here to say it won't.  Markos is the only one who could put a stop to it - and he refuses.  All your leaving will achieve is to deprive those of us who are left of your wit and intelligence.  I started posting there again because of writers like you, you know.  Your absence will leave a sizeable hole.  It's like letting the inmates take over the asylum.  Chaos will ensue.

Again - I understand why you're leaving.  I just wish you did not deem it necessary.  In the mean time - I guess I will be spending more time here and at all the other blogs where diversity of opinion is welcomed.

Take care, my friend.

I don't spend much time on DKos, but I have to say that every thing you say about it is true about this sight, it just happens to be about the other candidate.

I think we should start a fund to help pay your lost wages and medical care while you're striking. Where will you be picketing so I can bring you donuts and coffee? This is the most important thing ever. You are full of awesome.

I am more of a "reader" than writer on these blogs, but the hostility on DailyKos for the last 6 months towards Hillary has made it unreadable.  I dont bother to go there anymore.  Its a shame since I used to enjoy it extensively.  Oh well, thank you for exposing it.  It echos my thoughts exactly.

This strike will be healthy for me. The abusive misogny tone over at dkos kicks in my PTS and raises my blood pressure-just like my old life with an alcoholic- one cannot reason with insanity and that's Daily Kos in a nutshell.
No reasonable discussion about Hillary allowed over there.

Kiss my ass Kos!

This isn't a strike.  No one to my knowledge pays people to write diaries at Daily Kos and if the atmosphere is that abusive, chances are there wouldn't be too many "consumers" either.

In the end, all that you are acheiving is making Daily Kos more of a pro-Obama echo chamber, since all you are doing is silencing your own opinion.

I'm still thinking about it, but what follows might have put me over the edge.

You all know who Adam B. is, right?  He's an admin, and I have supported him for a long time, even early on when My Left Wing was going insane over Daily Kos, and blaming a lot on him.  Well, in yesterday's diary he wrote:

 One note.

   one of my fellow Kossaks (someone with whom I thought I could agree to disagree) went so far as to suggest that others try to dig up real life information on the pro-Hillary members of our community.  To what end?  Was his aim to find enough information on us to try to get us fired from our jobs and leave our families homeless - or worse?  Suggesting that they dig up real life information on us is the lowest form of intimidation and goes way beyond the limits of all things civil and reasonable.  It's nothing more than the worst form of thuggish, hateful and intimidating behavior toward other members of our community.  

Indeed, that would be reprehensible. Let admins know if you see such behavior.

Support Barack Obama. Join the Obamathon NOW.

by Adam B on Fri Mar 14, 2008 at 06:50:00 PM PDT

I responded (referencing the "Keith Olbermann, Hypocrite" diary that was cross-posted here):

 Why bother?

the admins here have supported the environment that fosters such behavior.  They have done nothing but stand silent or actually pile on as it has become uglier, day by day.  Go  here  and see what happens when somebody not enamored of Obama writes a diary.  Know, please, that what you see there is only the tip of the iceberg. In the last week I also received email at my home, taking the argument from the blog to email.  It is but a small step to my work, and I have no doubt that was the intended threat.

You can not foment a mob, then be surprised at mob behavior.  You can not incite to riot, but say "tell me when somebody actually gets hurt."

If you refuse to vote for OUR PARTY'S nominee in November, the blood of a thousand back-alley abortions will be on your hands.

by dhonig on Fri Mar 14, 2008 at 07:00:49 PM PDT

His response?

 You wrote to inflame.
You forget that the other candidate in the race is a Democrat.

Support Barack Obama. Join the Obamathon NOW.

by Adam B on Fri Mar 14, 2008 at 07:19:34 PM PDT

WTF??!!?  There was certainly nothing more inflammatory in that diary than in hundreds of pro-Obama diaries every day. The only thing that made it "inflammatory" was that it was a pro-Clinton diary in the midst of a pro-Obama feeding frenzy.  When the moderators are that entirely full of shit, or that willfully blind, then maybe it is time to go.

First, calling this a strike is insensitive to the difficult times that real union members must endure when they go without a paycheck to improve their working conditions*.  

Second, walking away from dKos because you believe you and your candidate are being unfairly treated  is tantamount to surrender.  If you want to change minds about Clinton then you need people to respect you.  There isn't much to respect about running away from your problems. dKos won't go away because of your "strike" and Kossacks will continue to bash Clinton whether you are there or not.  The only thing that won't happen on dKos now is that fewer people over there will defend Clinton.  

*I just reread your diary and the fact that you call this a strike truly sickens me.  My grandfather, a proud union member since he started working, risked the well being of his six children to go on a real strike.  You really should rethink the idea of calling this a "strike" because those of us who have seen a strike in real life resent your use of the word.  

I support Hillary Clinton. Although Americablog never gave an official Obama endorsement, they never posted a negative "opinion" of Obama. However, they never missed an opportunity to "report" every negative issue about Clinton. And, when they couldn't steal a story from some other blog, they'd simply make up crap.

In their comments section, the Obama supporters enjoyed free reign and resorted to vicious name calling and abuse anytime a Hillary Clinton supporter expressed an opinion or pro-Clinton fact. Often, pro-Clinton comments would just "dissappear" from the system. After a while, Americablog employed unidentified "site monitors" to police their comments

Seriously people, it's a BLOG. People that participate in REAL strikes lose money, their jobs, insurance, friendships, and in the past their lives. It's really not that important. The beauty of the internet is that if you don't particularly care for the way a site is run, then start your own or go elsewhere.  

If you hate the Obama echo chamber at Kos - something that I have noticed and don't support (even as an Obama supporter) - then you will be more than welcome at the Hillary echo chamber here on MyDD.

I support you 100%. You have presented a well written and well supported case for the Strike. You are a leader who uses your head as well as your heart. Sure wish we had more like you.

So all of you believe that this site is somehow free of the heat and invective that one can find at the other?

in a sense everyone who clicks on Kos, regardless of whether one writes anything, generates revenue for the site. Hence, everyone who visits Kos works for Kos. Both the words "strike" and "girl/boycott" I think are applicable.  

I support this completely. I won't even go to DKos to read the site anymore. It's definitely a blog-swarm that's ugly. I wouldn't want to be associated with any of it. Markos should be ashamed of his "meta." It's hate-speech, pure and simple.

all the way. What a shame.  I have not gone to the dailykos in well over a month.  And now have become set in my ways to never check it at all.  I really blame Kos for this.  He can control this but clearly has no intention of doing so.

Tom P (not TomP) on DailyKos...socalvet here.  

When I tried to set up Tom P...it took it, but I never got a confirm letter...so I will be SoCalVet.

And for you people like homogenius and HarveyMilk that I like on Dailykos...I noticed you posted comments today on DailyKos when I was checking out the effectiveness of the strike....isn't this a strike on posting comments too?  C'mon guys!

wrote my GBCW all about freedom of speech- asking whether or not it is hypocritical to censor on dailykos and then be recognized as an outspoken advocate for such.

It didn't go over well.  

This is a little silly, isn't it? Just write elsewhere.

Mark Ambinder at the Atlantic is reporting on the strike.  Here's the link:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2008/03/prohillary_writers_on_strik e_a.php

And so is Jake Tapper at ABC news.  Here's the link:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/ 2008/03/clinton-obama-w.html

DKos number 22174 supports this strike. And strike is a good term for our action. That site has become toxic for Hillary supporters. Better we post here or at Goldberry's The Confluence:

http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/

I will miss Gillian and A Siegal and Stranded Wind. Maybe they can be convinced to cross post. Good point about the environmental diaries, I had missed that. And Jerome a Paris.

What always struck me as odd was the small number of gay and lesbian posters at DKos. Surely a progressive blog should have had more.

Bless you Alegre.