I’ve Been Banned At DailyKos Because Of John Edwards

Cool picture from florian.b who also features this quote…

“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.” — Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Please DIGG my new john Edwards piece right now

BREAKING UPDATE: I made a new name to comment on a thread someone started about me getting banned….I used my own name. 3 hours later, banned again!

Update. We’re getting a lot of traffic, so I should mention one thing - a few reports have said I was a longtime blogger at DailyKos but it’s more than that, really — if you visit my YouTube page you’ll see that DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas called one of my videos ‘the best YouTube parody’ of 2007. So this whole thing is really a pretty big turnaround.

Someone on Kos noticed I was banned and they discuss it. Short version - I had it coming! This completely get wrong what my posts were about, but it’s nice for them to be able to do that where I can’t comment. Any of you Kowards care for an actual discussion, I’m here.

Also, the Gawker wrote about my banishment and turned up the ultimate answer to the idea that I was banned for citing a tabloid — a 2005 diary someone wrote with Kos commenters praising the National Enquirer when they ran a story about George Bush. (A story that wasn’t sourced with first person accounts the way the Edwards hotel story was.) The Kos Community banned me because of the subject matter, period.

If you want the best roundup of posts, facts, and reporting about this story the gossip site Deceiver has gone above and beyond the pale in covering this.

About a week ago, I posted a piece on the Huffington Post called Say It Ain’t So, John. I didn’t think it would have much more impact than my usual posts…maybe a dozen comments or so, a couple of people linking to it. To my surprise, it became the most read blog the Huffington Post for a few days.

I cross posted on DailyKos, which is probably the best known and biggest progressive blog. I’ve been posting at Kos for a long time. As more news about Edwards has come out, I followed up with more posts which were also the subject of a large number of comments. All of them looked at the Edwards situation from my point of view; that is, a liberal who is concerned about the implications this story may have in November.

Now I’m banned. I can’t write about ANYTHING at Kos. Can’t comment, can’t post a non-Edwards piece. Nothing.

And I stand by my title - it’s largely John Edward’s fault that I’m banned. I’m now personally a small piece of fallout from the scandal. That’s because Edward’s defense is shoot the messenger, not answer the questions. The rabid response of the people on Kos is directly related to Edwards and his own response. That’s exactly why I’m saying this has the potential to hurt the Democratic brand.

So answer the effin’ questions already, John. For everyone’s sake.

I’m not sure if the DailyKos is going to take down my writing and make me a complete un-person there. Of course, real progressives are against censorship so Maryscott O’Connor’s blog MyLeftWing is my new community home. (Maryscott was the lead actress in my film Breathing Room about 13 years ago, by the way.)

Here are the pieces I wrote on Kos that caused the problems…if you look, I’m not writing about anything that isn’t being written about already.

Say It Ain’t So, DailyKos

Dissent, Disloyalty, And Disappointment

Irrefutable Proof Of The John Edwards Scandal

Erin Kotecki Vest also wrote this piece about me getting banned. Editors from Kos contacted her. I haven’t heard a thing.

111 Comments

  1. I’m pretty sure all your posts will remain up.

    Larry Johnson was banned, but all of his diaries are still there

    http://l-c-johnson.dailykos.com

    (not that I’m comparing you to Johnson - No Quarter is a cesspool).

    I don’t know if there is any procedure for you to appeal your banning.

    You could try to create a new account to post your next video. You
    may or may not be banned again (though I imagine if you were to post on Edwards again, you would be banned pretty quickly).

    Reply
  2. Thanks for the info..

    I guess I feel like I’ve outgrown DailyKos. And I think post-Obama, a lot Democrats will feel that way more and more. The responses there were truly idiotic.

    My plan is to use MyLeftWing as the intial place to post my videos from now on.

    Reply
  3. Liberals want total control of your mind and your life. Cross them and they exercise power to shut you down.

    Welcome to the Obama administration.

    Reply
  4. I’m a liberal and I don’t find this behavior on the part of Kos Obama like at all….just saying.

    Reply
  5. Well you’re a dumb fuck then. Obama bristles at any criticism of him and anyone who opposes him is labeled as racist. Same shit.

    Reply
  6. What you’re saying might sound more reasonable if you hadn’t started by calling me a dumb fuck.

    Reply
  7. Sorry to learn you were censored. There seems to be a lot of that going around these days. But the Daily Kos world is very, very narrow. Perhaps they did you a favor. Instead of swimming in a goldfish bowl, you now have the run of the ocean. Good luck to you!

    Reply
  8. What a drag-definitely not my idea of Liberalism(although rabid rightwing big mouth “Lez” seems to think so)
    Personally I never frequent Kos because it strikes me as mindlessly trendy and almost as hateful as the usual idiot suspects on the right.

    Reply
  9. Scott:

    YOu wrote:

    “Personally I never frequent Kos because it strikes me as mindlessly trendy and almost as hateful as the usual idiot suspects on the right”

    I am curious if you know any right wing sites who have done what KOS has done with this case? I am not being smart, just wondering>?

    Reply
  10. The Daily Kos is another 911-Lie Gatekeeper site.

    Any site that is based on this lie is all lies.

    Any government based on this lie is all lies, also.

    Now, when they play the national anthem, I turn-off my hearing aids.

    Wake-up folks!!!

    Reply
  11. I never got banned at Kos because I never joined. Left wing fascism is no better than right wing fascism.

    Reply
  12. Thanks for the shout-out, Lee. Between you getting banned, the Wikipedians trying to delete any trace of this story, and pretty much all information about Rielle Hunter mysteriously disappearing from the Internet (including one such disappearance just yesterday)… If Edwards has nothing to hide, there sure is a lot of hiding going on.

    Reply
  13. Lee, you’ve outdone yourself. This is BIG. Getting kicked by Kos… Man, I never thought you’d outdo your LightWave 3D infamy. Keep on keeping on.

    Reply
  14. Before the right gets itself in a self-congratulatory mood, nothing less than Lucianne.com openly censors legitimate criticism of George Bush. When I protested that the several criticisms were valid, not personel, and appropriate for publishing, “we’re no worse than the left when we do this,” As I was told to that observation via e-mail - “we own the blog site!”

    Reply
  15. Sorry, I forgot to identify myself as a conservative who is very unhappy with the party’s move to the left and it’s throwing conservatives under the bus.

    Reply
  16. Of course, because only right-wingers are talking about this.

    Reply
  17. Keep up the good work Lee. As we’ve seen, a gag order on the web is meaningless. Tony Pierce found that out. DKos will too. Sad it has to be this way.

    Would you be interested in collaborating on a larger piece that examines the evidence a little more closely?

    Reply
  18. Suggestion:

    That littlr pic of you at the top of the page?
    Put a little lightbulb over your head.

    ~A

    Reply
  19. Well, Lee, I’m subscribed to you at youtube. Generally I know within hours if you’ve posted a video. You’re that talented. “Punch a baby in the face” is still a line that draws laughs in my home thanks to your Hilary parody (cuz I have tween and teen boys).

    I wonder, if you were autobanned…From DKos FAQ at wiki:

    “If enough of a user’s comments are hidden, the site will automatically ban that user. Banning means that a user can no longer post diaries or comments, or give out recommends. The exact algorithm for determining how many comments are enough to trigger autoban is not publicly known. Kos has, however, stated that the determining factor is the number of comments that are hidden, not the number of troll-rates that each individual comment receives. In other words, once a comment has entered the Hidden Comments section, additional Hides have no effect. Since Trusted Users are limited in the number of hide ratings they can issue per day, it is recommended that they refrain from “piling on” additional Hides to an already-hidden comment.”

    Reply
  20. I left one none liberal comment on the dailykos and was banned and all of my comments disappeared - it’s like 1984.

    Reply
  21. DKos has completely gone down the tubes this election. At this point, if you’re not blindly support of anything and everything Obama/Edwards does, you’re persona non grata.

    Their treatment of Hillary and Hillary supporters was incredibly poor, and now they’re trying to censor talk about a possible scandal involving one of their darlings.

    A site you can’t trust to tell you the whole truth, no matter how ugly it may be, is not a site worth visiting.

    Reply
  22. “I’m not writing about anything that isn’t being written about already.”

    I hope you don’t mean to imply that if you HAD been, your banning would have been justified? Oh, and people who get banned from Lucianne.com usually have engaged in rude behavior. That concept still exists there and at many conservative sites. Almost every conservative site I visit has resident liberal trolls who are tolerated, if not liked. I see nothing like the enforced ideological purity encountered frequently on leftist sites. If you can cite counter-examples, fine - I am speaking in generalities - it is not necessary for conservatives to be perfect to be demonstrably more tolerant on-line, and they are.

    Reply
  23. I think politics is really important, but your experience reflects why I try to ignore it until absolutely necessary. Left and right extremes want to control thought, speech and action, and are afraid of the truth if it might make their side look bad.

    Reality is not left or right. Perhaps one side or the other seems to have a better grasp- I have my opinions, but I don’t think they are germane here- but even people who want good things for the country, and have good policy ideas, seem to have no problem becoming enemies of the truth if it doesn’t fit their needs.

    A pox on all of it. I hoped the web would be a great tool for political organizing and activism. All it does is cast in stark relief just what a horrible mess politics makes of otherwise good people.

    Reply
  24. How dare they treat you like an evil Rethuglican!

    Don’t they know you’re better than that? Well, better get to the self-denunciation, comrade. Sooner is better than later.

    Reply
  25. “Man, I never thought you’d outdo your LightWave 3D infamy”

    As a 3d nerd, I have to know what your talking about.

    Reply
  26. I was banned from leaving comments at DK over five years ago and I’ve been banned from other sites and had many comments deleted and even edited without notice since then. Details on the DK issue at my name’s link; see the category (link just above the comments at that page) for details on the other sites.

    Reply
  27. Nothing like a site composed of colonized minds, is there?

    Reply
  28. Not to rain on your parade, but what Markos did isn’t censorship.

    It’s editorship.

    And as the publisher of the Daily Kos, it’s his right.

    Censorship is what governments do to opinions it doesn’t like. Editorship is what editors and publishers do. You have a right to your opinion, but you were a guest at the Daily Kos, and that means you play by his rules.

    This is true in the MSM as well, and if you don’t get it, try writing for a newspaper, any newspaper, and put forward something the editor doesn’t want to publish. Guess what — it won’t get published.

    None of this takes away from the idiocy of the progressive Left in trying to ignore the Edwards story: if the story is true, Edwards is a) a douche-bag for cheating on his chronically-ill wife and b) unqualified to hold political office ever again.

    But the correct way to handle this is what you’re doing now: print your stories on your own website (where you are the editor) and on websites that are friendly to you (where the editor won’t, um, edit you out of the site). If your stories are clearly-written, level-headed, and scrupulously based in fact, you’ll have a following.

    By the way, I’m a Republican, and I was banned from the Daily Kos a long time ago. Welcome to the club.

    Reply
  29. Lie down with dogs, get fleas.

    Reply
  30. I saw your name on Instapundit today and thought “Video Toaster Lee Stranahan?” Your cousin Kermit introduced us in, oh, probably 1996, and I was impressed with your Toaster skills. Now I’m impressed with your skills at pissing off the Kossacks. I used to read DailyKos for my share of left-wing oriented takes on the news, but the group think dynamic continued to get stronger and stronger towards the end of 2004 and I just couldn’t force myself to read it anymore. You’re lucky to have broken free of the hive-mindedness there. Oh, and good to see you again.

    Reply
  31. I guess someone at Kos found all those Ayn Rand references in the Video Toaster docs.

    Reply
  32. Being banned by a liberal website for speaking the truth about an issue of morality is, unfortunately, unsurprising. Peter Schweizer recently wrote a book using social psychological and survey data to demonstrate that liberals suffer from a variety of personal failings, such as being less honest, more materialistic, more into drugs, have more distant family relationships, etc. My personal experiences with such liberal weaknesses is part of why I am a conservative today. In a tough situation, never think that a liberal has your back covered.

    Reply
  33. Why is anyone surprised that this happened? If you’re not in lock step with what they want to hear at DailyKos, you’ll be banned. This time it happened to a higher profile person than usual. The others that were banned don’t have a platform to speak out.

    I find the ease at which they suppress opinions and speech pretty chilling. What did this turn into, “Free Speech… Unless We Don’t Agree”?

    Reply
  34. So…the Enquirer “reporters” left their cameras at home? Forgot to load film? And you feel this is “irrefutable” because some people you don’t know swear to it?

    …might you be interested in a very nice, refurbished, large and old bridge? It’s located in Brooklyn, NY, too!

    Reply
  35. You need to look into this more. The Enquirer reporters - according the third parties - had cameras, used them, and the NE said they’ll release them. In a conversation I had the with NE’s editor David Perel, he said they are on their own timeline. I take that to mean he knows that once he releases the photos, the MSM deluge begins in earnest and the NE loses their lead on the story.

    Reply
  36. Stranahan, you hold yourself in much too high regard.

    Markos didn’t ban you; he’s busy these days pimping his new book.

    I doubt that he has even noted your slander campaign against John Edwards.

    In fact, it was scores of troll-ratings you received from disgusted Daily Kos regulars that kicked in the site’s autoban. I dare say, you set a new record.

    Daily Kos trusted users can see the list here:

    http://www.dailykos.com/search?offset=50&old_count=50&string=Stranahan&type=comment_by&sortby=time&search=Search&count=50&wayback=20160&wayfront=0&hidden_comments=show

    Love it or hate it, it’s democracy in action.

    Reply
  37. I felt like I was the only person there who thanked you for your post. I think it’s plain Kos Histrionic bullshit. Those people want a cozy neighborhood thrash fest and get all worked up over the stupidest shit, and then they respond by putting little pictures of sparkly kitties trying to get a goldfish with some non clever font: FAIL!

    I cannot believe they call themselves progressive… or even focused at all on anything much other than a little lame virtual gated community whose favorite thing to do is hunt for “trolls” and knock down serious news.

    I mean… The guy tried to be our president while starting a new family as his angel of a wife lay dying!!! what the hell.

    Reply
  38. Of course, real progressives are against censorship

    *guffaw* Since when?

    Reply
  39. What I can’t understand is why sites like Kos and Democratic Underground ban those people who are not in line with their particular ideological viewpoint. Are there conservative sites that ban those they do not agree with? I know Conservative Underground does not ban folks with a liberal viewpoint - they debate them.

    Do they not even allow for a dissenting opinion? A discussion? A debate? Seems antithetical to what they profess to stand for.

    Reply
  40. Please spare us the ego trip, Mr. Stranahan. You didn’t get banned because of John Edwards. Markos Moulitsas hasn’t got a personal vendetta against you. You’re not a victim. You repeatedly, insistently made salacious allegations about an already incredible scandal with nothing to back them up but promises of vaporous forthcoming proof traded on your own inflated sense of credibility, and after making it clear time after time that they weren’t interested in what you were selling, the *community* voted you out. If you had waited to write about it again until you actually had proof, I think the outcome would’ve been different. You didn’t. It wasn’t.

    And about this allegedly imminent photographic proof, by the way, what third party confirmation do you mean? The Fox News report of a security guard who didn’t even know whom he’d seen until he was shown a photograph of John Edwards by Fox producers? I think you’re overvaluing credibility again.

    Reply
  41. Darrell,

    I’m working on another piece about the Kos banning but clarify one point - I’ve never said Kos banned me himself. The mob at Kos (aka ‘the community’) did. That’s worse, in my opinion.

    And your understanding of the purpose and value of free speech is just as muddled as your understanding of the concepts of ‘evidence’.

    Reply
  42. Disclaimer: I’m conservative.

    It’s really childish that you’re being banned over for covering a story that has actual evidence to back up the allegations. I’m so tired of the people who cry the loudest that their voice is silenced on talk radio or other outlets being some of the quickest to run out one of their own if they point out something stinks in their own fridge.

    Good on ya for standing up for your beliefs and sticking to the story even when those that you thought were your brothers-in-arms stabbed you in the back.

    And then you get people like Darrell who are so driven to push their agenda that they will slander and smear anyone who gets in their way. When you can’t refute someone based on the truth, just attack them personally.

    You’re getting a little taste of what some of us in the middle-right get almost every day from those on the far-left.

    Now, I will say that they own the site and can do whatever they want with it including banning you from the site. It doesn’t mean they’re trying to hide truth from the people there and in that makes them as bad as any other group (like Fox News) that they accuse of the same thing.

    Reply
  43. I was a libertarian in college, so I’ve been shouted down by left, too. But it’s no more or less fun than being shouted down by the right.

    I think the main problem here is commenters more than ideology. It’s interesting to watch the discussion this morning on Kos - where even the front pagers like KangroX and BarbINMD are arguing that I deserved what I got because I was wrong. After all, they don’t ban people who are right!

    Reply
  44. If John Edwards has nothing to hide, why does information about Rielle Hunter and her friends keep disappearing from the Internet?

    Reply
  45. You should not have been banned, that is just plain stupid.

    That being said, why are we covering this story? Did Edwards cheat on his wife, it does look that way but why does he need to apologize to us?

    He is not a public citizen, and contrary to Kausfiles, he never was going to be VP or have a major position in the Obama administration.

    He has to live with himself, which must be pretty awful facing your cancer stricken wife who must endure the jokes of Leno and others.

    Reply
  46. He is not a public citizen

    You have got to be kidding.

    Reply
  47. To suggest that you were more than just a typical member of DKOS, is, I think, misleading. You were never on the front page - and I don’t remember you ever making the reclist. I have been there since Oct 2002, and I wouldn’t have said you were prominent (I wouldn’t say that about me, either, btw).

    In fact, I don’t consider anyone but the front pagers bloggers, as it suggests a formal association with DKOS that does not exist.

    I should congratulate you, though on helping right wingers make an idiotic point. The fact that a post about Larry Craig would not survive 5 minutes on redstate without being deleted notwithstanding.

    Reply
  48. When the rules that you are supposed to follow are a bunch of morpheous dictums established by peer pressure and groupthink, that is injustice. That is a scary situation that leads straightaway to show trials and purges. If it were possible, my estimation of the Kossacks has decreased. Like the animals in Animal Farm, they have become what they despise.

    Reply
  49. I didn’t suggest anything - I stated factually that Markos posted my video to the front page of Dkos and said it was the best YouTube parody of 2007. He repeated that weeks later in a piece on Reason’s site. I think I had a piece that made the Rec list, too

    And - so what? Is it okay to ban me because I wasn’t one of the Kos elites? I don’t get your point.

    Reply
  50. It looks like Dkos — and perhaps liberalism generally — has become a circular firing squad. That argurs poorly for its long-term survival.

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  51. Welcome to the club.
    Who said that there was Freedom of Speech in most of these blogs?
    I have been banned for good at the Huffington Post. I could change my information and get back in, but they will block me again. If you do not given them a comment that they like, you are out of there.
    That is the Freedom of Speech that they want to introduce in a Barack Obama presidency.
    Read my article: Obama proposes a Leftist Democrat Police State.
    http://www.readwhatisee.com

    Reply
  52. I apologize for my rudeness before, Mr. Stranahan. I have a deep respect for Mr. Edwards and his family, so I hope you can understand my reflexive (over)reaction to what I perceive as a libelous campaign against his character. I’m also sorry I mischaracterized your complaint. (If you’d like to delete or amend that comment, I won’t feel I’ve been censored!)

    Reply
  53. Darrell,

    That’s nice of you. Did something change your opinion of this situation? Just curious…

    Reply
  54. “the gossip site Deceiver has gone above and beyond the pale in covering this.”

    I bet they have! Well then, THAT changes everything!

    Your quote really says it all doesn’t it? You’re crying like a baby because Kos won’t let you slander someone on his site because Drudge, the National Enquirer and some P.O.S “gossip” site like Deceiver (seriously. wtf?) says John Edwards had Bigfoot’s illegitimate love baby?? Waaaah!! Grow the fuck up. And while you’re at it, dredge us up one single photo, one shred of this thing called evidence. Can’t do it can ya? Gossip, rumor and innuendo IS ALL ya got, isn’t it? Waaah! Waaah!!! Give me a fucking break.

    Reply
  55. Too bad you got banned. You were one of my favorite diarists on dKos, though I hardly go there anymore now that the primary season is over.

    It’s not too surprising that Edwards criticism got you autobanned. I wouldn’t take it as a rebuke from the majority of that community, though. A very large subset of people there abuse troll ratings to voice disagreement with an agenda. Another large subset consists of rabid Edwards supporters who fell for his slick bleeding-heart schtick. Combine those two and you’ve got more than enough people to autoban you even if a large majority of the community disgrees with the “decision.”

    I never liked Edwards much. The famous story from John Kerry about Edwards and his dead son is one big reason. If true, his character is just despicable. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt on that, his whole public persona seems too exploitative of the very people whose cause he claims to champion. His hedge fund work, his actual Senate voting record, his refusal to assist Obama against Hillary, and too much other evidence suggests that he’s an opportunistic phony. This affair story fits the pattern of the Edwards I suspected, not the Edwards half of dKos worships.

    Reply
  56. I bet they have! Well then, THAT changes everything!

    Note: This may very well be a subtle attempt at sarcasm.

    I don’t know about Edwards and Bigfoot, but there’s an ever-increasing amount of evidence that Rielle Hunter’s past is being scrubbed from the Internet. But as you so reasonably point out, this is probably just a coincidence.

    Reply
  57. Lee, I’m not sure if you or anyone else have pointed this out before, but I came across the following information listed on what appears to be a conservative-leaning website,”jre-whatsnottolike.com”:

    “September 27, 2007. Daily Kos contributor Ben Bang links to Stein’s post and viciously berates the reporter. “Are we supposed to infer something from this non-ending, douchebag?” Ben Bang asks, going on to call him a him a “no-article-finishing, character-assassinating hack fuck.””

    (Here is the link to that excerpt: http://jre-whatsnottolike.com/category/personal/family-values/)

    It seems like Kos contributors who use such language and exhibit such non-productive hostility as Ben Bang should be reprimanded (I don’t say “banned” because I don’t agree with the idea of banning, either!)

    Reply
  58. Oh, and I forgot to mention in my post that the Stein Ben Bang is berating in that excerpt refers to Sam Stein and the article he posted in the Huffington Post entitled “Edwards Mystery: Innocuous Videos Suddenly Shrouded In Secrecy”.

    Reply
  59. No, Mr. Stranahan, I’ve followed this pseudo-scandal from the time it was a facetious-sounding innuendo in a Rupert Murdoch tabloid, and watched it grow through feeble, grasping extrapolation month to month (particularly during the Sam Stein period) like a game of telephone, and judging by this, its evidence and its audience, I still think it’s as ridiculous, disgusting and baseless as I ever did.

    It’s no reason to attack you personally though, so once again, I’m sorry.

    Reply
  60. Of course it’s baseless. Rielle’s site keeps disappearing for no reason. Edwards is dodging reporters for no reason. Pure happenstance.

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  61. Someone strays from the Liberal orthodoxy and is banned .. why I’m shocked, just shocked to the core.

    This has always been the case with progressives from Wilson, to FDR, (Japanese-American internment, packing of the supreme court, 4-terms etc.), Stalin, Mao and all the way to the travel office. Liberals brook no criticism.

    So don’t whine about your banishment .. learn from it. Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism would be a good place to start.

    db

    Reply
  62. It took you that long to figure out DailyKos is run by fascists?

    Reply
  63. Well, someone’s gotta say it: JUST DESSERTS.

    Look, it’s no secret that not carrying the hard-left liberal agenda today gets your banned and shunned.

    Take Joe Lieberaman for example. This is a senator who has consistently received 90-100% ratings from left-wing groups like the Americans for Democratic Action, the League of Conservation Voters, Naral and many others. And left-wing liberals threw him under the bus faster then you can say ‘Ned Lamont’.

    All because, as Lanny Davis stated in his letter to the NY Times, “(His) sincere position that the Iraq war was justified because he genuinely believed that replacing Saddam Hussein with a democratic government would have beneficial effects in the Middle East and in the war against terrorism.”

    Let Lieberman be a warning to all liberals, everywhere; if you can’t stick to the script, you will be banned, shunned and thrown under the bus, regardless of your history, position or politics.

    Yes, KOS has every right, as editor, to publish what ever he wants, but it’s bad form and hypercritical, to say the least, to claim to ‘open-minded’ then ban someone for rightly criticizing a fellow liberals obvious failings.

    Criticize right-wingers all you want, but I can still post ‘BUSH SUCKS’ at FreeRepublic.com and not get banned.

    Reply
  64. John Edwards is not a candidate running for office. So what is the point of muckracking a rumor unless you want to hurt him and his family, or make a name for yourself?

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  65. John Edwards is not a candidate running for office.

    Well, not now. But up until 15-16 days ago, he sure was jockeying for the VP slot. Or maybe you don’t follow the news?

    Reply
  66. Nice try - I follow the news.

    Not closely enough, apparently, or you’d know about Edwards keeping himself in contention for VP. He probably didn’t have much of a shot, but it sure wasn’t for lack of trying.

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  67. To quote Obama’s role model Malcolm X and his racist pastor of 20 years jeremiah wright, your chickens have come home to roost.

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  68. When Moulitsos was asked whether he regretted banning Stranahan, he was quoted as saying, “Screw him! I feel nothing.”

    Reply
  69. Let’s see: You hype what is essentially an unsourced rumor and you wonder why your posting privileges are revoked?

    As Steve White pointed out, that isn’t censorship. That’s being a good editor. No, “Everybody’s talking about it,” is not sufficient justification for you to talk about it, too. “Al Gore said he invented the internet!” Well, no, he didn’t. “But everybody’s saying he did!” So? Just because two million people do a dumb thing, it’s still a dumb thing.

    You did a dumb thing. You did no investigation (you do know that the baby’s father had come forward to say he is the father, yes?) and yet you are upset over having to find another place to spread rumors?

    You made a mistake. The words you are looking for are, “Oops. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to let it happen again.”

    Reply
  70. When the Nazis came for the communists,
    I remained silent;
    I was not a communist.

    When they locked up the social democrats,
    I remained silent;
    I was not a social democrat.

    When they came for the trade unionists,
    I did not speak out;
    I was not a trade unionist.

    When they came for the Jews,
    I remained silent;
    I wasn’t a Jew.

    When they came for me,
    there was no one left to speak out.

    Reply
  71. If they don’t want you, then they certainly don’t want me. I’m removing the the link to their website from my blog.

    Reply
  72. Schandenfreude

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  73. Lee,

    I have read the comments to your piece on Huffpost and will venture a guess that you will be dumped there too.

    Yes Lee, they shoot the messenger. Even the type O’s will not raise a question mark about Edwards.
    That has never been more true that right now. Ok, maybe I am bitter at Huff, a lifelong, fighting liberal and I dare question anything about the Most Holy O, not coicendentally a major advertising sponsor of Huff post. Note the Mao-like portrait upon entering.

    Hey, I admire Edwards for visiting and hope he will continue. I have been there, well I wasn’t married but still know the risks he took to see his child. I would hope that his wife and family will exercise a huge amount of forgiveness and work through this situation. Funny but, when everybody comes clean, love overcomes and things can turn out well.

    Reply
  74. I agree - the best thing for everyone, Edwards especially, is for him to come clean as soon as possible…

    As for HuffPo, I’ve had nothing but support - they frontpaged both my pieces on Edwards and also the last three comedy pieces I did.

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  75. Thanks for the link! I guess those of us who have been banned can all join together and form a truly “people-powered” movement. I don’t know if the Enquirer story is true or not. But the fact that someone can’t talk about it on a blog is pretty amazing.

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  76. Forgive me if I’m saying obvious things but I just think people at Kos have so much invested in Edwards that it just hurts too much right now. They’re acting like the spouse who gets angry at the friend who reveals that the other spouse is cheating. They’re so political over there. It’s like Heaven’s Gate or something. I think that it has not escaped their notice though that this story will kill Edwards and may hurt Obama.

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  77. And now the clusterfuck ensues, just as prophesied…If Edwards doesn’t clear this up, no speech at the DNCC.

    “If there is not an explanation that’s satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards, the answer is ‘no,’ he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention,” said Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chair.

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  78. I put up a blog last night at DK saying I was leaving the community and my reasons why: banishing posters for writing about le scandale, and the hypocrisy of my fellow Dems, which is sickening. Within minutes I had a slew of rude posters lambasting me for being a troll, a sock puppet, and lots of stupid comments…only a handful had the courage to agree with me. After a hundred or so of such moronic remarks, I deleted the diary, and I’ve sent DK admins two e-mails asking them to tell me how to delete my account. I just can’t take this double standard. Let’s be serious: if JE was a Repub, DK and DU would be wallowing in it.

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  79. Melissa, yeah unfortunately it is rolling out that way. Two weeks from the convention, an uncomfortably close race, a big distraction and a lot of Democrats giving the wrong answers still…like WHO CARES?

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  80. PJ - sorry it’s effecting you, too. The conventional wisdom will change pretty quickly, I think….the dam is starting to burst…

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  81. Lee, I think this thing is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. Look, if this story is true (and based on what I’ve seen so far, it sure looks like it) it’s just rephrehensible. If it’s not true, I don’t understand why JE hasn’t sued. Period. So DK shoots itself in the foot, and MSM ignores the story until it blows up in their faces.

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  82. When the story hits the MSM, I think it’s going to be nothing one day and wall to wall the next. And they will have to answer the ‘liberal bias’ charges by being tougher on Democrats. Perfect timing!

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  83. These uber-liberal websites ban simply because they can. Remember, these are the pantywaists who were picked last for every game at every recess of their entire lives. These Milquetoasts finally have a protected, third-person forum in which they can flex their cyber-muscle against the bully hoards of reality. Should someone disagree or stray too far from their private club ideology they get electronically picked last - BANNED.

    I would not worry too much about it. I would chalk it up as good riddance to the Kos-ilk.

    Reply
  84. Did you say “banned?” I hate that shit. Don’t even get me started. All the verbosity regarding “bannings” and all the debate and all the banter will always be brought back to the same place. Banning is just a form of control by people drunk on their own internet power. And the only forum members they appreciate are the lemmings. The Pavlov dogs. The marionettes. And fighting it turns you into a Don Quixote.

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  85. I left a comment and it did not appear…. hmmmmm.

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  86. You’re surprised the same people bent on telling you what to drive, how to eat, how your money should be spent, where you can smoke, what you can and cannot say, etc…..you’re surprised such hipster control freaks might insist you too behave in a particular way? Dude, it only becomes more apparent the older you get. Sorry to say, but this is your first foray towards the “dark side”. Soon you’ll hate yourself for discovering how much more fulfilled, secure, independent, plainly happy and self-satisfied those knuckle-dragging troglodytes “on the right” are. Worse, you’ll hate yourself for what a group-think follower, thought-police enabling tool you once had been. And, how you’ll cringe with embarrassment at the thought you too once smirked at childish, uncreative taunts like “chimp” and “The Bushitler”. Man, there is nothing more liberating than in no longer being a liberal. You seem too honest with yourself not to let it happen to you. Sorry. Oh, and enjoy the ride. Really appreciate the venomous hate that will be coming your way from your open-minded, cosmopolitan buds. You’ll die an old man thinking it was still the best thing you ever did.

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  87. Boy, are left wingers the most fascist people or what?

    Free speech unless they don’t like it.

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  88. Well, the shit may have hit the fan finally. The NY Daily News has a front page story on their website about JE’s dilemma, and the NY Post features it as well.

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  89. NY Post is running that Edwards has now admitted to an affair with RH, but denies fathering child…but no paternity test done. Sorry John, don’t believe you.

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  90. Hey Stranahan, I read your Edwards stories and liked them. Would have given you more mojo if I knew what would happen.

    Now that ABC has proven you right, there are folks at dKos calling for you to be reinstated. You should try to contact Kos and get yourself a new lease on life. Maybe we’ll start a diary in defense of you. Anyway, keep up the good progressive fight!

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  91. And Lee was right. Am I a “concern troll” if I worry that the Kossacks won’t admit they were wrong? {ProfJonathan}

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  92. Well, well, well. Looks like you were right, Mr. Stranahan. I defended you both on KOS and HuffPo when you wrote your piece. I found it disgusting how ridiculed you were for simply having the guts to talk about the possibility of the affair and suggest the Democrats stay on top of the story.

    It sucks that it came to this, but at least you’re vindicated.

    Kudos to you for speaking up even when you were pelted with insults.

    -Zoey

    Reply
  93. It’s a perfect day to confess infidelity! A Friday; so nobody cares. Olympics begins..so nobody cares!

    Reply
  94. You first discovered that Markos is really all about him so anyone who might threatened his “credibility” with the corporate people he is kissing ass to will be censored? This has been going on for years. Or they get called “tin foil hats” if they talk about controversial but true subject matter.

    Susan, his editor and one of the front pagers, has a history of this. Her ego is so huge it is laughable. In 2006 someone posted a photo of three monkeys: the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. In the comment they said something about Susan because she was so anti anything election integrity and they said something about her getting off her butt and going UT and working in the community and she would see what a problem it was. So the comment got no troll ratings and was rated up.

    Nothing in there was against the policies and certainly there are daily personal attacks that don’t even get troll rated much less deleted.

    Not only did she delete the post, she deleted the users access. So she showed it was really about her ego and she can dish it out just fine but cannot take it. THey are like a bunch of immature middle schoolers out on a power trip. Plus this whole YearlyKos/Netroots nation thing they stole from a woman who did the first real bloggers convention in 2004 called DemocracyFest. In 2005 Markos was there as was Gina. Markos didn’t like that he wasn’t the center of attention. He and Gina observed how the Texas folks did DemocracyFest than in 2006 copied it nearly verbatim for their own event in Vegas. It wouldn’t have been such an issue but they never once gave credit to the folks who started it and lied to the media repeatedly. Both of them made careers out of it though. They would fit in very nicely in the Republican party.

    Oh wait, Kos really IS a Republican. Now I remember. ;P

    Reply
  95. Well, now that you are vindicated, you might want to know that another blog whose organization works with Kos and serves on the Board with him for Netroots nation, has gone to delete and ban members. They are doing this to monthly donors. None other than Democracy for America/Blog for America. They are the ones Markos stole the idea from for Netroots Nation but it was different staff then. Now they all are on this ego trip and sending these letters out to people first threatening them for disagreeing, then if you defend anyone or say boo you get deleted too. If I can find the letter I will post it. Rather hilarious actually. I am not a member but my Father is and he is laid back but stumbled into their little blog war.

    What kind of morons threaten and delete donors? At least with Kos he isn’t losing any money deleting people. The DFA people have lost thier minds.

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  96. This long time activist quit her DFA group over the issue. She was an organizer. Here is the letter DFA sent http://hannah.smith-family.com/?p=2527#more-2527 (the bold parts are the activists comments to the letter).

    This is the organization founded by Howard Dean and run by his brother Jim Dean. So much for progressives. Even Republicans have more tact that to write shit like that.

    Note, DFA does not have over 700,000 members…they spam lists that no one replies to and their fundraising and declined dramatically since their first year and continues to decline. If you have over 700k members as they claim and can only raise $2 million a yar or less in a presidential year, something is seriously wrong. Mismanagement at the top is obvious. These are the parts people are most pissed off about:

    “We will not be making this request again. Please consider this your last warning. If you fail to comply with the Democracy for America website policies, we will be required to delete your DemocracyforAmerica.com profile and no longer allow you to post blogs or comments anywhere on the website.

    This decision is not up for discussion. That time has passed. We hope you will understand why we are asking you to do this and choose to work within these parameters. The Blog for America is there for all 725,000 DFA members and millions of progressives across the country. We hope we are able to continue to include you as well.”

    So if you disagree, you are erased.

    Reply
  97. Liberal fascists up to their usual tricks. Newsflash: usually the Left screams about their “open-mindedness” because they are actually so close-minded.

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  98. Daily Kos is hardly progressive. No one but the most naive sees it as anything other than wannabe (now part time) apparachiks.

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  99. As a self-proclaimed liberal, I hope you’re happy that you’ve provided tons of gloating material for right-wingers and Kos-bashers alike.

    Hey righties - Kos is hardly an exemplar of the wide field that is the left. At best, they are Democratic party intelligentsia (and their blind followers). Stop pointing out that they are a regular feature of the left wing.

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  100. You err in calling Daily Kos a “progressive” blog. Kos made it clear when Cindy Sheehan was banned (along with any mention of her campaign to unseat pro-war House Speaker Pelosi) that Daily Kos was a Democratic Party outlet, not a progressive outlet. In other words, you may not criticize Democrats in any way, even the most rabidly anti-civil liberties and pro-war ones.

    At least Kos was fairly honest about where his loyalties lay - maybe he’ll become Obama’s press secretary.

    Reply
  101. Heard you on TYT yesterday and can’t tell you how annoying I find such practices. I know it is DK’s right to do whatever the hell they want, but as as Nick Swardson once said in the Oscar-winning Grandma’s Boy- “shitz weak!”

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  102. Interesting that DailyKos also squelches free speech without warning or reason. I was blindsiaded by being banned from SmirkingChimp amd another site. I didn’t realize then that mentioning virtually anything related to America’s support for Israel - a crucial discussion that should be front and center in our discourse - would be enough to do me in on any number of sites. So much for any type of intellectual challenge and to free speech on the internet. Many, many, website editors should be ashamed of themselves.

    Reply
  103. LOL.
    You seriously are blaming John Edwards because you were banned from a leftist website? You blogged about him and now it’s HIS fault?

    It couldn’t possibly be because you pissed off your friends on the left and now they are censoring you, could it? I mean, calling your friends sock puppets and trolls does nothing to promote free speech and civil debate. When they all leave because of this kind of treatment, who’s left? The lemmings who can ditto and ^5 each other over every post and thread.
    What a fun place that will be!

    Reply
  104. Oh wait… LOL I happened to notice that this all took place back in August.
    What’s the update? Did they let you back into the inner circle? Or did you find a more accepting leftist home?

    Reply
  105. Interesting thing about getting banned. Are you even able to see access the site? I made a post about the nastiness of some Obama supporters and about the way this drives others away. Within five minutes, I cannot access http://www.dailykos.com. Does this mean I’ve been banned too? Or is the site just down?

    In any event, I think Daily Kos is one of the nastiest forums I have ever seen. The posters there are often just vicious and mean. There is no sharing of opinions on Daily Kos-just nasty brawls.

    Daily Kos has a terribly sick culture.

    Reply

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