TNR/Kos dustup continues merrily apace

Has TNR’s Lee Siegel gone too far with his “fascist” smackdown of Kos?

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo — I was going to call him more moderate than Kos, but since Kos is about winning elections and his power thereof rather than ideals, I really can’t say that — thinks Siegel has gone way too far.

To which, I replied via e-mail:

The tenor there HAS gotten more quasi-fascistic, if you will.

Look at how many people got BANNED from the site for pointing out that a majority of Democratic Senators voted FOR Hayden to run the CIA, including Majority Leader Reid.

Look at the others, including myself, who got BANNED for commenting on the “self-outing,” NOT the NRO “outing,” of Armando.

Before getting banned, I regularly got flamed whenever I mentioned the actuality, or even the idea, of voting Green.

Sorry, Josh, but PB is wrong. Kos and his website are NOT “a kind of democratization of political discourse.” It appears PB is not a total Kool-Aid drinker, to be sure; but, his skeptical antennae still aren't high enough; I’ll suggest that maybe neither are yours.

Earlier, with a simple “yep,” Meanwhile Josh signed off on at most a mild slap on Kos’ wrist primarily for Siegel’s comments, but also, I infer, for Zengerle’s. (I may have inferred incorrectly, as Josh has not touched Zengerle’s comments yet; if/when he does, I will follow up myself. As I do below; see end of post.)

So, I followed up my first e-mail with a second e-mail specifically about the four principals involved with/in TNR’s sniping: Siegel, Zengerle, Kos and Armstrong:

Siegel overstates his case somewhat, or hyperbolizes it, but Zengerle's particulars about Armstrong sound spot-on.

No, Kos doesn’t want money; he wants Jerome's candidates steered his way so he can “consult” without “consulting.”

Markos' coin, if you will, is fame and power. Assuming the e-mail about his offer of help to Sweden's Social Democrats is true, we have an obvious example of that.

That, in turn, makes the question of whether Kos is on an ego trip about any of this. That, in its own turn, makes some major parts of his past relevant for discussion, such as calling the Salvadorean rebel left “Maoist” or giving divergent reasons for why he joined the Army.

Josh then e-mailed back, and said there’s nothing to infer about his ideas on Zengerle from his comments on Siegel. Fair enough.

He then said there’s no linkage between the two. I disagree. Both, in different ways, have raised the “fascist” idea, though Zengerle never actually uses that word or anything derivative from it.

And, both bloggers were attacked not just by Kossacks, but by Kos-connected (or should that be Kos-konnected) blogs in the same way, even though the substance of their arguments is different.

So, Josh, I reiterate what I said to you in my first e-mail on this subject: I suggest you raise your skeptical antennae higher.