Making Kos toxic — because he took a vacation

August 23, 2006

The Republican National Committee, which has generally perfected the fine art of the smear piece, published a very odd attack on Markos Moulitsas Zuniga today, referring to him as a “nutroot” who runs a “hate-filled” blog.

Whether you’re a fan of Kos or not, the very first item on the RNC’s list of complaints is one of the strangest complaints I’ve seen in a long while:

Daily Kos Blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga Back From “Relaxing” [tag]Vacation[/tag]:

Moulitsas Just Got Back From Summer Vacation: “I got back from El Salvador really early this morning, so I’m still catching up on the last week’s news.” (The Daily Kos Website, www.dailykos.com, Accessed 8/22/06)

Moulitsas: “I’m still playing catchup after my very relaxing, very nice vacation.” (Daily Kos Website, www.dailykos.com, Accessed 8/22/06)

Maybe I’m missing something here. Are we supposed to be disgusted with Kos for “relaxing”? Are vacations now bad? Or is the point that Kos is somehow suspect because he went to El Salvador?

I understand the broader point. The Republicans like to make certain progressive figures so toxic, Dems will want to keep their distance (see Moore, Michael). In this context, the RNC doesn’t want Dems to advertise on Daily Kos, and wants to lambaste anyone who does for contributing to a “hate” site.

But what in the world is the point of blasting [tag]Kos[/tag] for taking a “relaxing vacation”?

This reminds me of the standards an ex-wife used to enforce. One set for herself and another set for everybody else. One of the reasons she has been an ex for a long time.

  • “But what in the world is the point of blasting Kos for taking a “relaxing vacation”?” – CB

    Would that be because we all rip on Boy George II for taking vacations? Perhaps the Republican’ts forgot to say that Kos is a hypocrit for taking a vacation and saying that Boy George II shouldn’t.

    Or maybe they are just idiots?

  • I think it had something to do with his vacationing in El Salvador.

    To the uneducated GOP minnions, anything south of the border is necessarily evil and bad. The RNC is playing the fear card again to keep its base emotionally charged — this time, it’s xenophobia.

  • Oh, sweet Aunt Veronica’s bunions!

    I’ve seen some pretty psychotic sites in my life, but this one takes bad composition to a new low! I second Lance’s vote…they’re just idiots.

  • What I think is more disturbing are the following two things:

    1. Putting his full name in big type to highlight that he sounds like a fuzzy little foreigner, possibly even al Qaeda; and

    2. This passage in their attack:

    Moulitsas Called Sen. Lieberman “Selfish” And “A Sore Loser.”

    Hmm. There goes the RNC again defending their candidiate Joe Lieberman (R/D/I – Conn.)

  • So the republicans don’t think he should go home? From his bio:

    “While born in Chicago, I was raised in El Salvador and lived there until civil war forced our family back to the states in 1980.”

  • My sense, for whateverver it’s worth, is that the vacation thing is supposed to make Kos seem somehow like an unserious playboy, a frivolous dilettante, and so someone who’s views on anything important need not be considered.

  • The purpose is to juxtapose his name with the fact that he went to one of them Hispanic countries. I’m surprised they don’t ask for his green card and call him macaca.
    I can’t believe this is the official RNC website- it looks like some third-rate rightwing blogger, with the use of the terms “Islamofacist”, “Defeatocrat”, and “Nutroot”. It’s just embarrassing.

  • It’s just more right wing racism (racism being an essential item of right wingism)

    Interestingly enough, allow me to point out this is good news for Kos.

    In dramatic writing, there must be a sense of balance and harmony – specifically, in creating the hero and the anti-hero, the one is heroic to the degree the other is anti-heroic, and vice-versa (think Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader as the most obvious example). So, this only demonstrates that Kos is doing good, that those scummy wannabe-goosestepping slimeballs feel they have to do this to him.

    Their shrillness – which will only get moreso in the next 66 days – is the evidence of their panic. Their little Confederate-traitor conspiracy is about to fall apart. The Empire shall be defeated and the Old Republic restored.

  • I agree with #3 and #9 – it’s the El Salvadore/brown people connection. Plus, what would a lefty like Kos be doing “relaxing” in El Salvadore? Maybe he hooked up with some of those old Marxist revolutionaries?

  • Well, gosh golly gee, Mr. RNC—at least he’s not screaming “Air Assault” from atop one of those really fake 200-foot “mountains” in Crawford. They’ve got “real” mountains in El Salvador. And, unlike Herr Bush, Kos reads “real” news. Kos has probably read “real” Shakespeare, too—not the special, fully-color-illustrated, GOP “tract” edition.

    But then again, we’re talking about the bloatheads over at the “R”idiculous “N”azi “C”oalition sleaze-site—so I don’t think Kos has much to worry about. They’re running scared now; the Reich is crumbling about their pitious ears; the “end of ends’ is in sight for them….

  • I like the idea that it’s to make us hypocrites for our criticism of President Bush’s vacation-taking. It’s really important that we hold the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military and the head of a large blog to the exact same employment standards. Kos gets payed $400K a year and took an oath of office, too, wasn’t he?

  • Geez, why don’t they just call him Macaca Moulitsas Zuniga on their web site and get it over with?

    I see the concern that they are trying to Michael Moore him, but Moore was much more prominent and well known than Kos when they did the “make Moore toxic” bit. The RNC runs some real risk here — not unlike why incumbents often won’t debate challengers — of greatly raising Kos’ credibility and visibility. He now is such an institution that a party national committee has to go after him? Doesn’t that elevate his status pretty close to that of a party national committee? How is that not great news for him?

  • Gosh, I used to read Daily Kos all the time, and now the GOP tells me (again and again) that his “real” name is Markos Moulitsas Zuniga!!!! The guy’s a God-damned foreigner! Somebody call the DHS.

  • This is just bizarre and incoherent. I’m supposed to think he’s bad because he’s a wealthy blogger? I don’t understand the inside baseball talk either. Do wingnuts really care that Kos dislikes the DLC and their candidates? I can’t say I do.

  • Bizzare indeed. Maybe they think that when a nation is at “war,” vacations should be spent mountain biking, clearing brush and milking male horses?

  • Nah, they just couldn’t come up with anything better to smear him with. But I’m sure they’ll keep trying.

  • I’m actually a little jealous of Kos’s “attack”

    What could be more patriotic and American than to be essentially labeled an “Enemy of the State” by the GOP?

    My favorite charges:

    “Moulitsas Denounced Four American Contractors Who Were Mutilated By Terrorists In Fallujah, Iraq.”
    on the other hand, had they been blacks in the 9th Ward, or American civilians caught in the crossfire in Lebanon, then a comment like “Screw them” would have been acceptable by the GOP.

    “Moulitsas’ Posts On President Bush Include Profanity And Call Him A “Moron.”
    You mean like this?:

    http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/08/15/scarborough-is-bush-an-idiot/

    And then:

    “Moulitsas Blasted The American Public For Their Lack Of Concern For American Troops Dying In Iraq.”
    yeah, God forbid Americans be reminded that soldiers are getting killed, especially when people need to be more concerned about a ten-year-old murder case.

  • Markos should take take this as a compliment. The RNC wouldn’t be on the attack if they weren’t in a dither over the increasing influence that liberal bloggers possess.

  • Maybe they are trting to suggest Kos took a Limbaugh style vacation to the tropics? Of course Kos was not stopped by customs with a super secret prescription for ED pills so maybe thery are not on the right track.

    This story reminds me of a lesson/trick I have taught my kids. We have two dogs and I was trying to explain that the dogs did not understand what we said to them but were able to understand by non-verbal clues and tone of voice (thus the sitting and staying when told – etc.). To demonstrate I used my nicest highpitched voice to call the dog a bad dog and told him he was really really in big trouble. The dog of course flopped over to me with tail wagging happily.

    The point is that this story is lacking in content demonstrating Kos did anything wrong or even questionable. The tone of the article, however, suggests he should be sent to Gitmo. Maybe the RNC realized the hard core Republicans are best communicated to as if one is talking to a dog. Personally I like dogs too much to sign on to that idea.

  • Perhaps the repugs are merely upset that people other than the rich still take the odd vacation in our work-mad “paradise.”

  • SP: it looks like some third-rate rightwing blogger, with the use of the terms “Islamofacist”, “Defeatocrat”, and “Nutroot”.

    And yet… Kos is labeled as nutty because he calls Lieberman nasty names: “selfish” and “sore loser.” Ooh!

    I find it odd that the site includes attribution for the description of Kos as “liberal,” “angry,” and “vile.” First, why should what other people say about Kos tell you anything about Kos? Second, there are two separate quotes for the uncontroversial “liberal” tag, while “vile” and “angry” are from the same one. Third, it’s from Donald Luskin, who is the Stupidest Man Alive. I know so, because Brad DeLong calls him that.

  • #9 is dead on. This is such a juvenile attack, filled with childish name-calling. I’d expect to hear about “defeatocrats” and the “nutroots” from some third-rate right-wing blog with a dozen readers, not an official research document from one of the most powerful political organizations in the country. Back in elementary school, I would have thought this sort of wordplay was hilarious. Like most of us, however, I grew out of it. Apparently, the few who didn’t have now been hired by the RNC research department.

  • This is actually kind of funny. I was reading their screaming headlines and then the quotes they are based on and thought to myself in all but one instance “Damn! Good point!” And here I am a moderate who rarely reads Kos because the commentariate really does annoy me. Maybe I should swing by there more often.

  • The only thing that surprises me is that the smear of Kos fails to point out, even parenthetically, that Michael Moore is fat.

  • Send all queries to Ken Mehlman (, douchebag:)

    chairman@gop.com

    Don’t forget to ask when he is going to ‘step down for personal reasons’ as it seems that honorable conservative constituents are joining the ranks of the opposition.

    :::

  • I agree mostly with those who have pointed out the subtle juxtaposition of liberal and foreign/Latin America. Serving as the banner headline is simply his name. ‘Markos Moulitsas Zuniga’ this is enough for many to write him off.

    This statement is veiled only by the suggestion that the blogger might be hypocritical or uncommitted, something that perhaps a significant portion of “the base” might also be moved by. However, I believe the widest swath cut here is to the xenophobes among them.

    Never underestimate the simplicity with which the average person can be manipulated. They’re simply throwing words out there that they know are guaranteed to elicit a certain response in certain people.

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