CASH FOR COMMENT

Via Instapundit, a revelation from Zephyr Teachout:

In this past election, at least a few prominent bloggers were paid as consultants by candidates and groups they regularly blogged about ...

On Dean's campaign, we paid Markos and Jerome Armstrong as consultants, largely in order to ensure that they said positive things about Dean. We paid them over twice as much as we paid two staffers of similar backgrounds, and they had several other clients.

While they ended up also providing useful advice, the initial reason for our outreach was explicitly to buy their airtime.

For the record, I will not discuss my role within the Dean campaign, other than to say it's technical, not message or strategy. I will also not discuss any of my other clients, including their identities ...

That's hillarious.

Until names are named, we can assume every conservative pundit is on the White House's payola rolls.

The consultant class' role in the collapse of the Democratic Party is clearly a pet topic of mine -- I'm co-writing a book on it -- and it's one that will get plenty of attention over the coming year as we, as a party, work on reforming the way we do business. And the first step toward reform is acknowledging and understanding the problem.

Are we sure that Karl Rove isn't paying Markos as well, given Daily Kos' propensity for speaking its version of liberal truth?

Just goes to show that Markos has mastered the primary mode of leftist political action: Projection of one's own failings onto the opposition.

Anyway, what the Dean campaign bought wasn't exactly air time...it was more like airhead time.

Charles at LGF has this little tidbit: Because he's a paid hack, Markos also assumes everyone else is, too.

Until names are named, we can assume every conservative pundit is on the White House’s payola rolls.

Whoops, nevermind; already pointed out.

Feel free to delete that, Andrea.

This actually improves my view of Dean. Of course, after the scream it would have been tough for me to think much less of him, politically.

I can just see the Deaniacs today wimpering into their fair trade, shade grown, soy lattes 'It's just that..sniffle.. well, I never thought ..wimper.. he was a ..sobbing.. captialist.'

"The consultant class' role in the collapse of the Democratic Party is clearly a pet topic of mine"

Priceless.

Dean becoming DNC President (with 'consultant' sidekick Zuniga reporting for duty) would be Rove's most delightful wet dream.

Quite Interesting. Didn't recall who Markos was until I reviewed the LGF entry. My opinion of him can't be any lower, even knowing what we know now.
However, my opinion of Dean CAN be lowered and just has been. (My opinion of Dean wasn't too high anyway.)

I assumed that paid consultants were posting on various blogs and that blogs may have been started by paid consultants. So I'm not shocked.

Bloggers should disclose such information (that they are paid), but I'm not going to join a crusade or campaign to demand this.

(Demanding such a disclosure can't be enforced. If it *could* be enforced I'd be against whatever measures that would be necessary to ensure this anyway.)

Did Dean pay Markos with federal tax money? No. Did Markos make his affiliation with Dead clear in a disclaimer? Yes. Is Dean a sitting president? No. You people are funny -- delusions and all.

Is anyone taking up a collection to pay Mr. Zúniga in the next election? If he is as helpful then as he was this time, I'll contribute.

Great, next we'll have lots of boring legal disclosures in fine print on every blog.

Goddamned lefties fuck up everything they touch. The dishonest sacks of shit can't keep themselves out of mischief. It's pathetic.

Did Markos make his affiliation with Dead clear in a disclaimer?

Freudian slip of the month.

Basil got to it first. I'd be very interested in a detailed list of this "useful advice," because I could do with a good laugh right now.

Mr. Zuniga was PeaPod to Joel Trippi's Webvan, and, in the end, President Bush's Safeway ended up with all their delivery trucks. When will these paradigm-shifters ever learn?

Ms. Teachout's statement above that the Dean campaign paid Zuniga largely to say positive things about the campaign largely contradicts the disclosure on Zuniga's site that he was being paid to provide technical -- not message -- advice.

--furious

Steve Dave, insulting people who post to this forum is a great way of getting your brand-new account shut right off.

So, Kos say's it alright for him to take money because he a "Fanboy" for the Democratic Party. How sad and pathetic.

Bonus!

What I liked best about Kos' "declaration" is that he doesn't get how and why he was used, despite Zephyr explaining it in baby steps.

For me now two of the great Mysteries of 2004 is starting to become clear. How the "blank" did Dean become the front runner in the first place. & What happen to all that money raised on the internet ? The campaign needed to keep a tighter grip on those payo.....Consulting fees

But isn't it amusing, Andrea, that Steve can't even figure out why it is that we are ridiculing Kos et al?

To simplify matters for Steve, I'll try to explain hypocrisy in words of few syllables:

Steve, Kos would say things that he did not intend to live up to himself. And he would say those things very nasty. And Kos would lie about what others were doing, and yet amusingly they were not lies if you thought he was describing himself instead. So we don't like him and we don't think his thoughts are worth listening to.

Was that simple enough for you, Steve?

dear "steve dave,"

You people are funny
thank you! [we] aim to please!

delusions and all
they're the only thing that keeps [us] sane!

[your name here], insulting people who post to this forum is a great way of getting your brand-new account shut right off

...

...(!)

...

please amplify "brand-new"

dear andrea,

please salutate (?) "dearest hammer," to above post.

thank you in advance,
gP

While I was still blogging, people used to ask me why it was that I ran no advertising and had no tip jar and didn't even accept contributions which were offered via email.

Now you know.

Actually, Steven, I'm sure that Kos would have sneered that you were "obviously" paid a fat sum by the RNC. The evidence being that you did not bleg for penny ante amounts.

QED.

Test problem for liberals: prove that I am not really Karl Rove.

I've been receiving cheques from Rove for years...unlucky!

Steven Den Beste,

I, for one, never doubted your integrity. And I certainly miss your insight. I hope you are doing well.

Test problem for liberals: prove that I am not really Karl Rove.

There's a little bit of Karl Rove inside everyone of us. No wonder Kos and cohorts have been doing the headless chicken run since last year. Everytime they see a conservative, they're reminded of The One Who Drives Them Batty.

Not one of you addressed my questions. Did taxpayer funds go to Kos? Did Kos dislose his affiliation with the Dean campaign? Here's a new question: since when can primary candidates propose legislation to Congress?

Also... It's JOE Trippi, and Markos MOULITSAS.

My my, someone's quite the little scold. Well children, answer teacher's question! And make sure you spell everything right! Especially the names of Our Betters.

Do people actually find Kevin Smith's films entertaining?

Sorry Steve. Assumed you could google those answers for yourself.
1.No
2. Yes
3. you are refering to introducing a bill? No.
My questions for you:
What is your name?
What is your favorite color?
What is the capital of Assyria?
What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Jim: absolutely. But maybe that's just me.

Just answer the questions, Andrea. They're very simple. Or are you afraid to admit that the charges against Kos have little or no correlation with the charges against Williams and the White House?

Jeff... Thank you. Do you recognize now the point that the accusations against Kos/Dean bears little resemblance to the charges against the administration and Williams?

If you guys thought this stuff through instead of knee-jerking, then you'd have a stronger case. Instead of investigating Dean, why not investigate a politician with an elected position who is using taxpayer money to pay journalists to promote their agendas. But Kos and Dean? Come on.

Steve: Why one or the other? Why can't I have a problem with both? And where are the answers to my questions?

Oh, and who said there was a resemblance to the two events? I dont see anything here other than your comments comparing the two. Bit of a strawman don't you think?

Steve Dave,

Are you two people?

Kos supported Dean. Dean lost every single primary. Kos also supported 12 Democrats by placing ads on his blog. Not a single one of them won a seat.

Having said that, I strongly believe there were indeed two operatives being paid by a major party. Markos Zuniga and Michael Moore, both being shills for the Republicans.

I'm being serious. Both said incredibly dumb things that could only help swing over undecided Democrats. But I do know Kos and Moore are not stupid.

Hugh Hewitt got it right. Every time we got another tidbit from Moore he posted stuff like, "Thanks for keeping things clear, Michael." If only he knew.

Steven den Beste,

I didn't get time to thank you on the thank you thingamajig, but I'd like to thank you here, if tim and Andrea don't mind.

Your discourses on physics, politics, and such always amazed and intrigued me, even though I don't really understand physics. And your forays into Japanese anime made anime slightly less confuddling for me. I miss reading your stuff! No pressure, though--you write what you like.

Oh please, Jeff. The Dean/Kos thing was a story that broke a year ago and the only reason it's being brought up again is to deflect charges against Bush/Williams. Hence, the "resemblance".

But if you want to reduce the discourse to "things that happened a while ago" vs. "things that are happening now", we can get into it. For example, Clinton was impeached for lying about an affair, yet Bush WON'T be impeached despite the fact that he's lied about WMD and torture. I don't mean to go down that road here, but you see my point?

"Steve Dave, Are you two people?"

Um. Is your name really "ushie"?

Steve,

no, the Clinton impeachment was not for lying about an affair, but for lying under oath. Also, please provide evidence that Bush lied about WMD and torture. I'd say 10.000+ journalists and attorneys would like to know, too.

(Oh, and it might earn you a Pulitzer, too, because you'd establish something our press corps failed to do so far.)

(Come to think of it, if you got a degree in Law a Supreme Court seat might also be secure due to your groundbreaking research, having discovered the final nail in Bush's political coffin that myriads of liberal court hacks could not find.)

Hey, guys, who wants to vote on whether to keep little Stevie Davy's account unsuspended? I'm feeling all democratic today. Cast your votes!

where did I say I want to "reduce the discourse to "things that happened a while ago" vs. "things that are happening now"? The topic on this thread is Kos and his possible hypocrisy. Rather than discuss that, your arguement is that someone else did something worse, AND you tell us why we are discussing this particular topic, giving no possibility that perhaps we disagree with both the Kos AND the Williams situation. As far as impeachment goes and "lying" I think we could disagree all day on that, but that isnt the topic here, nor is it connected to this topic, so why bring it up? Rather than reading my mind or introducing unconnected topics, why not address the issue? If you dont have any problem with Kos, tell us why, rather than going with the "the other side does worse" arguement. As far as the reason this story is being brought up now, I think it is because of the Teachout statement and the differences between that and what Kos said a year ago. But if it will make you happy, I fully agree that the Williams thing is bad, stupid, etc etc etc.

Steve Dave,

We find humor in Kos defense that it was alright for him to take the twenty left on the nightstand because he would have blown Dean for free.

At least with true whores they don't rationalize their actions afterwards.

Andrea... I think the appropriate line is: "Shut his mic off!" You guys are good at that.

Nickpicker:

"But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them."
George W. Bush, President
Interview with TVP Poland
5/30/2003

Sure they did. Like the anti-aircraft missiles the Iraqi said they didn't have but deployed during operation Iraqi freedom. Or the checmical plants which could be used to produce Sarin. Both banned under provisio of several UN resolutions.

(As it happens to be, even Kerry and his folks dare not accuse Bush of lying, only failing to show the smoking gun. Think about it.)

Steve Dave,

Then Clinton is a liar, too, because he also believed in those WMD that Bush did, too. And the WMD, or lack thereof, was not the sole reason for invading Iraq. But please don't let facts get in your way.

"ushie" is a long-term nickname. I was just wondering why two first names? I mean, most people content themselves with one. And not shortened ones, at that.

Nick... Sarin gas? You mean the pesticide facility in Najaf, right? Where's the evidence that showed Saddam planned to stop making bug spray and convert to sarin? Assumptions, but no "imminent" evidence.

Let's be clear... You don't actually believe Iraq had WMD, do you?

This is getting interesting. Whatever bone one throws at you you always bring us the "let's talk about the sins of Republicans" back.

"Where's the evidence that showed Saddam planned to stop making bug spray and convert to sarin? Assumptions, but no "imminent" evidence."
The evidence would be Saddam's past actions, his at that time current statements, that his army believed they had wmd as did the rest of the world. I believe that is why President Bush stated in his state of the union address that waiting until the threat was "imminent" would be a bad idea. Perhaps you missed the speech. It was in all the papers.

Troll. Getting boring.
Sic him Rex. Urghh, Andrea.

(I loved that advert with Rex the spiny ant eater)

O'Reilly is going to do a story on Koz tonight on his television show. This should be interesting.

Now I'm confused but the story was about a blogger shilling for Dean. That would be markos. Or, maybe O'Reilly is confused. Anyway, it's hard to keep the lying leftys straight.

I give up. I heard the Dean part and I thought I heard him say atrios.

"Hey, guys, who wants to vote on whether to keep little Stevie Davy's account unsuspended?"

Aw, he's not bothering anybody. Besides, maybe Silent Bob and Jay will show up.

Jim: If silent bob and Jay were to show up, that would rock.Would appreciate it if they left Afleck at home though.

"You mean the pesticide facility in Najaf, right? Where's the evidence that showed Saddam planned to stop making bug spray and convert to sarin? Assumptions, but no "imminent" evidence."

Saddam and Co. were prohibited from having the *capability* of producing Sarin and the like. Intent to do so was not an issue. The same goes for certain other toys.

"Let's be clear... You don't actually believe Iraq had WMD, do you?"

They used to have them, and used them.

They have been shown to have been in the process of asssuring that they could start up production within a short time after deciding to blow off the U.N. and its inspectors.

Again, they were not just prohibited from having/using WMDs, but also prohibited from having the capability of doing either or both.

For that matter, there seems to be some confusion over who exactly bloggers are annoyed with. (On the original subject.)

The Kos/Dean situation and Bush/Williams situation are comparable because we're not "charging" Dean; politicians are more or less expected to pay people to get their message out; it's part of BEING a politician. You are correct, Dean is dead and done as a Thanksgiving turkey and we don't really care about him anymore. We're annoyed with Kos (and Williams) for failing to disclose upfront that they were paid political shills. Kos disclosed affiliation with the Dean campaign, but went to some pains to give the impression that it had nothing to do with what he wrote- and then had the balls to go the moral-outrage route on the Bush/Williams story when he hadn't a leg to stand on.

Incidentally, could you give me a source on the allegation that Bush used taxpayer dollars rather than campaign funds to pay Williams? I hadn't heard that part.

Andrea, I vote to spare Steve Dave and let him keep his privileges.

What good is being Her Serene Highness, Empress of the Blog-o-Sphere if you can't make a big show of being whimsically magnanimous once in a while?

OK, that's two in favor, one against -- it might be SteveDaveSteve's lucky day!

I say let him stay, but change his account name to Strawman Dave. Or Strawman Steve. Or Strawman Steve Dave Larry.

Or Gladys.

Besides, think of the fun you'll have banning him again... as the old Irish joke goes, "you don't eat a pig like that all at once!"

Andrea. that's three in favor and two against, so it would seem it's still Steve and Dave's lucky day.

SteveDave, do you realize quite how lucky you are? You are the beneficiary of a spontaneous ejaculation of goodwill on the part of Andrea and, in this rare case, several concerned posters. I have no doubt that an intellectual wanker such as yourself can fully grasp the implications of such good fortune.

a spontaneous ejaculation

"SteveDave, do you realize quite how lucky you are?"

Er, you DO realize that this is just an attempt to draw attention away from the REAL issue, that Bush is SATANHITLERBAD. You people make me sick! /SteveHarryBarryDaveJohn


This guy feels like a warmed over Nemesis!

let me be perfectly clear.
i voted against unsuspending "steve dave" before i voted for his remaining unsuspended.

Please forgive me, but why are the liberals upset that Bush reached across the aisle to Ted Kennedy to create another entitlement program, and then spent taxpayer dollars to promote said program?

What is their real gripe here, that the money wasn't spent to hire a liberal talking head instead of a conservative one?

The most interesting thing I've noted about these dueling stories in the blogosphere at large is that liberals seem only upset about the conservative guy taking money, while the conservatives are irritated at both sides, and if possible, more irritated at the conservative for compromising morals we expected him to have.

One would almost be tempted to opine that conservatives care more about integrity than liberals.

Who knew?

Is your financial outlook less than rosy?
Be like the DailyKos - get nice and cozy
With someone running for president.
Three thousand a month will pay the rent!