In a split-screen interview, Josh Marshall treats Markos Moulitsas Daily Kos as a kingmaker and Kos doesn’t demur. Marshall quotes Kos saying that he wouldn’t issue an endorsement but then Kos goes ahead and hands down his tablets.
True to the netroots m.o., he starts with the negative. Kos has completely eliminated Biden and Kucinich. He’s “skeptical” about Clinton. Cough Cough. He has ruled out Edwards over taking public funds, capping his campaign spending. And that leaves Dodd — whom he voted for in a straw poll because “it was a way to reward his behavior in the Iraq debate” — and Obama. “I like Dodd better,” he says. He says he wants Dodd’s rhetoric in Obama’s body (if he ever said that the other way around, there’d be a firestorm). He says Dodd is running on a platform of restoring the Bill of Rights — “I mean, how much more inspiring can you get?” He acknowledges that “a vote for Chris Dodd would probably be a wasted vote.” Sounds like a tapioca endorsement of Obama. He complains that Obama is playing it safe, “which you only get to do if you’re the frontrunner.” And he’s not. “It’s very uninspiring,” Kos complains. He contrasts it with the Howard Dean campaign, which “empowered people.” Ah, those were the netroots days.
Kos acknowledges that Clinton has “run the perfect race.” Even as other candidates are getting known, she’s still surging in the polls “and that is pretty damned impressive.” He says she is “ruthlessly on-message.”
Barack Obama answers a question about science policy with a simple answer: “I believe in science.” He also calls for more investment in science and technology education and research.
Josh Marshall’s Veracifier reports from the Yearly Kos convention, bane of Bill O’Reilly, in Chicago. Here’s a quick hit with John Dean, who calls himself a Goldwater conservative, which he says makes him center to left today.
Every appearance by a top Republican official or candidate should be recorded. Every one of them.
All it takes is one “Macaca” incident to transform a race or create one where one didn’t exist. As the Montana incident blogged earlier today showed, a video can knock out prospective candidates before they even enter.
And this is no longer about finding one big blunder to put on a campaign commercial. It’s about using video and (free) technologies like YouTube to build narratives about opponents, using their own words, at their own events.
It’s never too early to start.
We’ve got a long, difficult slog ahead of us next year. The more material we amass today, the better we’ll able to use that video to support our efforts next year.
Well, I’d say he should also be ordering them to shoot every moment of every appearance of every Democratic candidate — for why not create your own narrative rather than leave it to a bunch of GOP shooters? (via TechRepublican)
