alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

June 22, 2006

The Cool Kid’s Club

by AltHippo @ 1:26 pm. Filed under Uncategorized

There’s a number of reasons that I rarely if ever spend time at Kos. First, I find his personality grating. Second, he tends to express himself in terms that are, how do I put it… Napoleonic. Third, I don’t care for elitism, whether it’s conservative or liberal, corporate, artistic, or grassroots. As far as I can tell Kos is a grassroots elitist.

This is why this business about the “Townhouse” bugs me. I’ll let Kos describe it in his own words:

People talk about the need for the left to work together and have a unified message in the face of a unified conservative noise machine. So a google group was created called “Townhouse”, and it included many bloggers and other representatives of the netroots as well as a large number of partisan journalists and grassroots groups. It allowed us to discuss policy, issues, tactics and coordinate as much as you can ever get a bunch of liberals to coordinate.

There was one big rule for this list, an important cog in the growing Vast Left Wing Conspiracy — everything discussed was off the record.

A few points up front. First, groups can’t function if there isn’t a basic level of understanding and trust, and certainly confidentiality violations make any kind of off-record discussions impossible. Whoever agreed to confidentiality, and then violated that agreement so they could “get” Kos should be outed, or better still, identify him or herself. (Say, it would be interesting if it turned out to be Zephyr Teachout, wouldn’t it?)

The New Republic is on rocky ground when it uses someone’s leaked confidential email to attack their ethics. If there was a way that I could read TNR less than I already do, which is never, or cancel my non-existant subscription I would do so.

What mitigates the ethics in this case is that Kos was using the “Townhouse” for things other than grassroots organizing, or as he puts it: “the need for the left to work together and have a unified message.” Apparently, Jerome Armstrong, his partner in writing (the underwhelming, IMO) “Crashing the Gates” plead out on an SEC charge from 2000. Kos was asking other bloggers who participated in the “Townhouse” not to write about it, at least for a while:

So far, this story isn’t making the jump to the traditional media, and we shouldn’t do anything to help make that happen.

My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I’ll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on.

Why did Kos ask the “Townhouse” not to write about it? Because it would be bad for the progresive blogosphere? No. Because it would hurt the Democratic Party? No. Kos asked them not to write about it, because it would make Jerome look bad, and detract from his promotion of “Crashing the Gates.”

Unfortunately, none of “Townhousers” wrote about it. I say, unfortunately, because it’s not clear whether they didn’t write about it because they didn’t see it as an important issue, or out of allegiance to the Cool Kid’s Club.

I do hold major progressive blogs to a higher standard than Malkin, Powerline, Insty, and NRO. Why? Because I suspect they are essentially Republican message vehicles. Because we’re trying to be the truth tellers here. Because replacing the Right-Wing Noise machine with a Left-Wing Noise machine, doesn’t solve the problem: The Noise.

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3 Responses to “The Cool Kid’s Club”

  1. alternative hippopotamus » Blog Archive » Blog Wars III: Revenge of the Popcorn Eaters Says:
    June 24th, 2006 at 5:31 pm

    […] That rubbed me the wrong way, as did the leak of Kos’s email (see here). But, I figured, time to drop it and work on this very interesting blog post I’ve got that proves conclusively that the disciple pictured in The Last Supper was actually Dick Cheney. Working title: The Shooter Code. Interesting stuff. […]

  2. alternative hippopotamus » Blog Archive » The Ante Room Says:
    July 7th, 2006 at 1:57 pm

    […] I’m not sure if this has as much to do with Reynold’s giving up Liberterian ideals for the hard-right. It’s more about being part of a club that gives him access and visibility. It’s Insty’s version of the Cool Kids Club. […]

  3. Rugby Fan Steve Says:
    August 1st, 2006 at 2:34 pm

    Rugby players spend a lot of time physical training Compared to other form of sports.I have read the
    Rugby laws mentioned on this site. It’s a gripping sport which targets the grip strength and the active mindedness of a player. American football and rugby league are also primarily collision sports, but their tackles tend to terminate much more quickly. For professional rugby, players are often chosen on the basis of their size and apparent strength and they develop the skill and power over the passage of time. In modern rugby considerable attention is given to fitness and aerobic conditioning as well as basic weight training.

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