Crashing the Gate
The Daily Kos' liberal namesake, Markos Molitsas Zuniga, is making the media rounds after releasing his new book, Crashing the Gate (co-authored with Jerome Armstrong). Here is a recent interview of Kos by funnyman Steve Colbert on Comedy Central.
Believe it or not, I actually bought of copy of Crashing the Gate. I anxiously purchased it, hoping for a book that would solidify the liberal/progressive base, put fear into both parties, and perhaps drive the GOP to its more fiscally conservative base (where it belongs).
I know, I know, it's a stretch, but that's what I was hoping for. And, as you can suspect, I was let down.
In the Colbert interview, Kos is furiously upset at the Democratic Party for two reasons which he and Armstrong go into excruciating detail in their book. First, the Dems keep losing elections. Second, they don't have a set of ideas like the GOP has (low taxes, strong national defense, etc.).
Fair enough. Those are two complaints that have merit, but do Kos and Armstrong offer a solution to these problems in their book? Not really. In fact, if Crashing the Gate ever becomes a book-on-tape, it would sound like one long, isolated, frustrated whine.
Their complaint about losing elections is remarkably hypocritical considering the Daily Kos' own 0-for-18 record on federal congressional endorsements (Here's the math: it made 16 endorsements in 2004. They all lost. It endorsed Paul Hackett in OH-02 last year and lost. Last and arguably least, it endorsed Ciro Rodriguez in TX-28 last month and lost.)
Given this abysmal record, Kos has the temerity in his book to bag on liberal campaign consultant Bob Shrum for losing 8 presidential elections. Pots and kettles, pots and kettles.
Equally remarkable was their other complaint about the Dems lacking a set of ideas. Absurdly, they don't offer any in response. The best they could do was make this weak appeal at the end of their book: "We like to believe that ideas that will lead the Democratic Party to a new governing majority already exist, but they need to be articulated clearly".
That's a startling admission, isn't it? How can you articulate something if you're not even sure it exists. How can you rally support for ideas that can't be identified?
You can rest assure that if the GOP loses seats or even loses the majority in Congress this November, it's not because of the Democrats' cohesive and positive agenda. And it certainly won't be because of this book. It will be the GOP's own undoing, instead.
UPDATE (3:27pm): Unions are supporting an independent candidate in IL-08 instead of traditionally supporting the Democrat, which is Congresswoman Melissa Bean. Kos calls this "extraordinarily stupid", but had no problem supporting Rodriguez in TX-28 against sitting Congressman Henry Cuellar, who is very similar to Bean ideologically. The hypocrisy just keeps on comin'!
