Yesterday it was disturbing to see Senator Russ Feingold post a diary at Daily Kos. However it was enlightening to see that fewer than 3,500 people viewed the diary given that a Feingold diary on the top of the rec list is going to be read by almost every active Daily Kos user.  This is further evidence that Jotter's numbers about active users is closer to the truth as opposed to Sitemeter.

The reasons why Senator Feingold (or a staffer most likely) posted a diary at Daily Kos is because the Senator actually believes the marketing myths that Daily Kos is a community blog, a Democratic/liberal blog, and that half a milllion people visit the site per day.  There is no doubt that if Senator Feingold was aware of why and how Kos is bad for Democrats, the tens of thousands of solid Democrats the site turns off, and the activities of the Kos Kops and most front pagers than Senator Feingold himself would be repulsed and he would repudiate Daily Kos in no uncertain terms.

There are myths out there about Daily Kos perpetuated by Daily Kos that, if rebuked, would close the site down.  Daily Kos is not a premier liberal blog, it has little influence over anything, and the people who run Daily Kos are fringe lunatics who have no credibility within the Democratic Party, much less the larger American electorate.

This is not to say that I oppose the concept marketed by Daily Kos, I do not.  These concepts include a place for Democrats to civilly discuss issue, a place for ordinary diarists to gain recognition based on merit, a place where peoplel are treated civilly if they follow the posted rules, and a place that welcomes the free flow of ideas within mainstream liberal and progressive thought.  If a site with this concept and the hundreds of thousands of hours of technology that Kos put into it can be replicated, Daily Kos ceases to exist overnight.  Believe me, if I had the time and money to put it together, I would.

The problem is that the practice of DailyKos is one of Stalinism, gatekeeping, Ann Coulterish keyboard banging, Malkinish bigotry, Hannity style insanity, dishonesty, oppressiveness, kookery, etc.. It's a site where liberalism withers at the vine and progressive thought dies.

The problem is that everytime Kos goes on television or radio, he hurts Democrats merely because average Democrats, independents, and moderate republicans can see right through him and he's just not likable nor a good communicator of progressive thought or policies.  The problem is that everytime the "netroots" are associated with Kos, we all are tainted by the association because Kos is, in his own words, an asshole.

Daily Kos, as currently managed, needs to be destroyed because the ONLY way Republicans will regain the White House or Congress anytime in the next 10 years is if Obama completely screws up or if Democrats allow themselves to be viewed as being held hostage by undesirable elements like Kos.  The biggest reason why we Democrats are in power right now is not because we are so wonderful, it is because swing voters got turned off by seeing the Republican Party being held hostage by the likes of Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, etc...  The fact that Republican politicians never denounced them meant they owned these nuts.  Let us not make the same mistake with people like Kos.  We destroy him because doing so helps Democrats and thus helps this country.