Credibility

Posted By Blackfive

I get a lot of questions about a donation button for Blackfive.  Don't have one.  Don't plan on having one.  Thanks, but here are better people that need your hard earned money.

Most of you have probably read Orwell's Animal Farm.  Remember this line?

"Some pigs are more equal than others."

It is always interesting to me to see the failings of the left - those so-called champions of the downtrodden, those self-proclaimed fighters for good...

Why is it that it's the guys on the left that are almost always on the take?

I'm talking about the Kos-sack.  I was not surprised to find that he was paid $3000 per month to be a hack for the Dean campaign.  I am surprised at the utter lack of indignation on anyone's part on the left.  There's nothing.

The Kos-sack can be bought.

I've often thought about the good that I could do for our wounded and our military if I had the Kos-sack's readership level.  Some days, he has one hundred times the amount of visitors of Blackfive.

Then, again, after his readers attempts at trying to cheat in the 2004 Weblog Awards, maybe he doesn't have that many readers and someone is boosting his numbers digitally.

But that's what happens when you shake hands with the devil.  Everything becomes an argument about relevancy and areas that are grey.

And did the Kos-sack do anything for anyone but himself?

Ask Howard Dean.

And ask yourself everytime you hear about one of his articles, "Who's paying him now?"

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» Why is it that it's the guys on the left that are almost always on the take? from PPK Blog (Priest, Prophet, King)
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Comments

[Ben Bauman]

Your HONOR is hard to regain after it is lost. A man with out integrity is not a man, he is an animal.

[jtb-in-texas]

B5, I went to that "gentleman's" website once; but having seen it once, I recognized it as trash.

I have another barnyard saying that's more relevant; but out of concern that there might be children present, let me just state that what the sack of Kos pumps out isn't even good for fertilizer...

I don't think George Bush walks on water; I never did. But how the Left could be so indignant that--even after they cheated so hard--a self-confessed traitor couldn't be elected is beyond my understanding.

After Soros and Lewis spent so much of their money (>$20 Million each) on an anti-Bush campaign, I feel like decking the next Libtard that opens his mouth about feeding the poor or health insurance for children...

But I won't. My parents didn't raise me to run around hitting handicapped folks...

Now if we could just get back to protecting our borders again...

[Patrick]

Don't read KOS but I know he has at least disclosed the Dean money.

But the Right shouldn't be throwing stones after Armstrong Williams and his little payola stunt for the Dept. of Education.

[Donnie]

Problem is, his disclaimer maintains he was paid for "technical consulting", whereas Zephyr Teachout says he was paid to "say nice things about Dean".

Dishonest disclaimers are worse than no disclaimers at all.

[Bill Smith]

The way you cry-babies on the right bitch and moan about the Left/liberals, the way you act like victims and blame them for everything...it's like I was listening to Hitler Youth. You know, the right-wing state lovers, the other right-wing socialist, and make no bones about it, todays right-winger is a right-wing Socialist the way you have become whores for the state.

Get over it. The right-wing buerocrats in charge screwed up. They lied about the war and you are aiding and abiding sin. Like it or not, whether from the left or the right, those who blindly allow the State to get involved in needless wars are whores.

[JoeS]

Man to woman...
"Would you have sex with me for a Million Dollars?"

"Wow, that's a lot of money... yes."

"Would you have sex with me for a quarter?"

"No, what do you think I am?"

"We know what you are, now we are just setting the price."

[Teresa]

Trust is an easy thing to lose and nearly an impossible thing to regain. For my part, I've never been a Kos reader - but anything he says now is completely suspect. The damage he's done to his reputation may be irreparable.

Oh and Patrick - I don't read Armstrong Williams either - but I didn't notice anyone giving him a pass for what he did - many many stones have been thrown in his direction. So, are you saying that to make things equal we have to do MORE to Williams than we do to Kos? I think the two of them are equally wrong and have little or no chance of regaining credibility with most intelligent people... now do we have to lynch Williams to make you feel we treated him as badly as Kos?

And Bill Smith outside of the fact that you think we're all whores (gosh such a gentleman aren't you) your comment makes absolutely no sense at all.

[hi there]

just so we're all clear:

armstrong: took your money (taxpayer funded fees) for the service of pretending to be an impartial "expert" while in fact speaking publically in support of a partisan, bush policy. never told anyone until he was caught.

kos/jerome: took money (that people willingly gave for the purpose of them taking it) to do a service that dean needed (IT stuff). they two occasionally write on matters relating to dean, not always positively. they disclose AT THE TIME THEY TOOK THE MONEY that they were paid workers in the dean campaign.

people here get the difference, right?

[Donnie]

Again, "hi there" - Kos says it was "IT stuff", Teachout says it was to "say nice things about Dean".

Who to believe?

[Arthur]

Quote:
"The way you cry-babies on the right bitch and moan about the Left/liberals, the way you act like victims and blame them for everything...it's like I was listening to Hitler Youth. You know, the right-wing state lovers, the other right-wing socialist, and make no bones about it, todays right-winger is a right-wing Socialist the way you have become whores for the state."

Right wing socialist? Does this guy even know what he is talking about?

[Mr. Bowen]

Well Arthur, looks like "Bill Smith" is just another garden variety Libertard, so wrapped up in his Ayn Rand and L. Neil Smith novels that he's forgotten (or never knew, perhaps) how to tell reality from fiction.

They're fiction, Mr. Smith. Back away from the bong. Put down the keyboard. Go outside for a bit. When you get a sense of perspective, come back and join the adults. Until then, go away. We're trying to have a conversation here.

[Mike Openshaw]

Good thing Bill Smith wasn't around 65 years ago, or we'd all probably be speaking German right now.

Good luck to all in Iraq; this election has come paid in blood of America's finest and Iraqi patriots. Make it worthwhile!

[Casey Tompkins]

I was going to point out that Kos did disclose his financial connection with Dean, but someone beat me to it. :)

While I am in no way a Kos fan -his brand of liberal/left commentary left me cold even before the infamous "screw them" remark- perhaps we should try a little calm fact-checking? From Teachout's blog Zonkette:

"On Dean’s campaign, we paid Markos and Jerome Armstrong as consultants, largely in order to ensure that they said positive things about Dean. We paid them over twice as much as we paid two staffers of similar backgrounds, and they had several other clients.

While they ended up also providing useful advice, the initial reason for our outreach was explicitly to buy their airtime. To be very clear, *they never committed to supporting Dean for the payment* -- but it was very clearly, internally, our goal." (emphasis added, sort of; apparently html tags don't work)

So Teachout and company *hoped* to entice good comments, but said bloggers never committed to doing so. Before anyone says Kos was dishonest, let's look at a copy of the actual contract made. Even Teachout admits that goal of "nice comments" was implicit, not explicit.

And, considering their politics, why shouldn't they support Dean? Is that any more surprising than Blackfive supporting Bush?

I repeat: I am not a fan of Kos in any way; but shouldn't we be more careful about such accusations? That just gives twits such as "Bill Smith" a sense of validation, although I think that Kos could have been a bit more proactive in letting folks know. Apparently his disclosure was a one-time comment, which doesn't retain very well, especially on a blog as active as his.

JoeS: I believe George Bernard Shaw came up with that quip, a while ago. Heh...

Patrick: I don't know if you noticed, but "those on the right" (bloggers) have been very, very hard on Williams, and that idiotic contract in the first place. I don't think I've seen a single column in support of what he did.

[Donna]

Several commenters above have hit on a key point, especially about Kos - readers can tell whether his opinion is worth anything without knowing who paid him, or for what. Armstrong's case is different, because it was taxpayer money and because of his incredibly stupid statement that "everybody does it". I'm seriously ticked at him and at the Dept. of Education.

The two situations aren't comparable.

[MJLange]

Problem is, here we are after a contentious election fighting for respectability and attempting to prove our cause is just, and this kind of thing rears its ugly head and makes our arguments look shallow and contrived.

Seems like every time the conservative movement seems to be making headway, someone does something so remarkably dumb and gives ammunition to the trolls.

[Blackfive]

Kos did not "exactly" disclose his connection with the Dean campaign - as Donnie points out above.

My point is that no one on the left has exhibited any indignation to the Kos-Dean connection. Non-Left-Wing-Whacko bloggers have been all over the Education issue...

The Daily Kos-sack is a BUSINESS, not a blog.

That's the disclaimer that needs to be made.

[Wind Rider]

Kos?

They're just a bunch of mercenaries.

I feel nothing for them.

Screw them.

[Rosemary]

First, Armstrong Williams is a COMMENTARY person who was always introduced as a conservative.
Second, he believed in the "no child left behind" before the Education Dept. (which should be terminated) sought out his PUBLIC RELATIONS firm. The Military does the same thing to advertise opportunities. So does Kellog's corn flakes.
Third, he has rightfully been fired from the papers for whom he wrote.

Mr. Kos is still in business. We are going to have to let the market take care of him. Unfortunately, too many ppl that only see life out of one eye *right or left* will not hold him up to the same standard they want Republicans to live under.

My, my. What a dilemna. I am so grateful to be a conservative. Go ahead and judge me. I don't care. I do care, however, what God thinks. If you only knew how silly your arguements are to my ears (eyes, actually, but for poetic license sake). Everyone, every American, have a great day.

[cheryl]

Matt,
First off don't envy Kos for his traffic. I've visited his site a couple of times and the level of intelligent conversation you find on this blog is non-existent.

The comments I've read remind me of a bunch of pre-teens who found out they can cuss, smoke cigarretts (or pot) and they feel like grown ups now, their cool.

The left is suppose to stand for the under-dog, the poor and needy, but near as I could tell and I may be wrong, the right side of the political spectrum and blogsphere donated far more dollars than the left in the Iraq Challenge. Wouldn't surprise me if it is the same with the Tsunami victims. They may yap a lot about helping the poor and needy, but rarely do more than make accusations.

Second, I think I have a pretty good handle on what kind of man you are and my guess is you'd rather have your integrity in tact, your moral compass working properly and the ability to hold your beautiful little angle without the least bit of shame. And I just bet that is worth all of Kos' traffic times 10.

Matt, you would continue this blog if only 5 people visited per day because you are doing something you believe in, something you believe is right and something you care about.

Don't ever compare yourself to that level of the left -- there are other left blogs more worthy of comparison than Kos, I just can't think of one, but I'm sure someone can.

I hope you and yours are doing well.

Best,
Cheryl

[Harvey]

On the other part of this post...

How are your devoted readers supposed to buy you a beer if you don't have a damn tip jar? :-)

[sheepdog]

Bill Smith: "The way you cry-babies on the right bitch and moan about the Left/liberals, the way you act like victims and blame them for everything...it's like I was listening to Hitler Youth. You know, the right-wing state lovers, the other right-wing socialist, and make no bones about it, todays right-winger is a right-wing Socialist the way you have become whores for the state.

Get over it. The right-wing buerocrats in charge screwed up. They lied about the war and you are aiding and abiding sin. Like it or not, whether from the left or the right, those who blindly allow the State to get involved in needless wars are whores."

Bill what do your above opinions (not facts) have to do with kos scandal? What does it have to do with anything?

You liberals are all the same. Anytime you get caught with your pants down its always "right-wing buerocrats" (whatever a buerocrat is) that are to blame.

Heres a concept, how about being responsible for once like an American, instead of the eurotrash blamegame.

[Donnie]

Interesting followup: http://wizbangblog.com/archives/004810.php

[Fred Schoeneman]

Matt,

I know some pretty intelligent liberals; I'm just glad that most of the left doesn't listen to them, preferring to read Kos, which would make my job much harder.

The glass is half full.

f