Is Markos Moulitsas our Dear Leader?

Among bloggers, I'm kind a cross between a white South African and Oscar the Grouch (I'm not what people think of when they say "blogger," and I just might be a recluse who grumbles in a trash can all day). I don't often post on major blog sites like Kos or TPMCafe, preferring to lurk there and then spout my noahpinions over here.

But I've been paying lots of attention to the netroots movement, because these liberal bloggers are more than just a bunch of people who like to talk politics online, they're a budding political movement. They get pooh-poohed a lot by some of the more traditional liberal media (see articles in TNR and Slate), but many people, including me, are starting to take them seriously. Even the conservative Weekly Standard gives them grudging respect:

Visit Daily Kos or any of the other top liberal blogs, and you are struck by the rhetoric, which is heated and more often than not profane, and the partisanship, which is unyielding. Visit YearlyKos or any other gathering of liberal bloggers, however, and you are struck by the fact that most of the authors of such blogs are personable, polite, articulate, intelligent, well-read, and humorous. I spoke to more than half a dozen bloggers...and each was welcoming and eager to chat...[R]ather than a convention of the "losers" of the global economy, YearlyKos was attended, for the most part, by the "winners." Newberry, the economist, described the bloggers as "meritocrats." More than half the people I met had a background in, or are actively working in, the technology sector.

These sound like the kind of people I want to see in the new liberal Renaissance! Intelligent, thoughtful individuals who want what's good for our country and realize that liberalism is the best way to get it.

I'm starting to realize that I only have one misgiving about the whole thing - and his name is Markos Moulitsas.

Markos (or "Kos" to the blogging community) is, of course, the founder and webmaster of the Daily Kos, and organizer of the Yearly Kos convention. He has some good ideas (read this post for one of his best), which is especially important given that the Daily Kos is often short on ideas. But often he seems too drawn to the limelight, too obsessed with his own fame and importance. He enjoys launching into petty, foul-mouthed, rapper-like feuds with other journalists, politicians, and bloggers (examples: 1. calling Maureen Dowd an "insecure, catty bitch", and 2. saying of Hillary Clinton, "[B]ullshit is bullshit. She is tragic.").

And he seems to view himself as the designated leader and representative of everyone who visits or comments on his site, declaring that "We" like Russ Feingold but are too doubtful about his electability to back him for President in 2008.

In the immortal words of Tonto, who's "We," paleface? Daily Kos has over 600,000 unique visitors every day, but are they all bound to support whoever Markos tells them to support? Pardon me, but I happen to be one of those 600,000 visitors, and I'll support Russ Feingold if I damn well please. But Markos is the webmaster of the king of blog sites, so for better or for worse, many bloggers regard him as their Dear Leader. Plus he can boot you from the site if you get on his nerves.

Now, word has gotten out about a scandal involving Markos and mentor/coauthor Jerome Armstrong (founder of MyDD), in which politicians who hired Armstrong would receive support from Markos (and thus, through Markos' star power, the support of much of the netroots). While not illegal, this is hardly ethical.

And what's worse, Markos, supposed standard-bearer for openness and free discussion, is urging his fellow influential bloggers to keep the scandal story mum. A quote from a memo sent out by Markos to "Townhouse," a closed mailing list for top bloggers:

My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I'll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on. If any of us blog on this right now, we fuel the story. Let's starve it of oxygen.

In the same memo, Markos even trashes Glenn Reynolds, the glib, impartial writer of the popular news blog Instapundit, for providing links to stories about the scandal. Heaven forbid that blogs should be used against Markos, king of bloggers!

I don't like this one bit. First Markos basks in fame, trashes prominent Dems that he doesn't like, and assumes that he gets to decide what candidates his readers will support. Then he tries to hush up a scandal that may have been seen him trading influence for cash. Is this the kind of person we want leading all those smart, committed, idealistic liberal bloggers?

Profane, partisan, and diffuse as it is, I'm a fan of the liberal blog movement. I may even be counted as one of them. But if we're going to have a Dear Leader, Markos Moulitsas clearly flunks the test.

P.S. - For a close and balanced look at the feud between Markos and the New Republic over the pay-for-play allegations, go here.
For the liberal Democratic Daily's take on how Kos arrogantly believes himself to be the human embodiment of the entire liberal movement, go here.