Eyeing Obama Era, DailyKos Launches Blog to Press Congress

Prominent writers for DailyKos, the country's top liberal blog, are launching a new site to scrutinize and pressure the Democratic Congress.

This week, as most politicos focus on appointments in the incoming Obama administration, DailyKos bloggers began a "soft launch" for Congress Matters, which promises a "community-based political watch party" for Democrats on Capitol Hill.

"It'll be a place where we'll try to explain Congressional rules and procedure so that the netroots community gets a better handle on it and can become more effective advocates for their priorities," said David Waldman, an attorney and former Congressional aide who blogs on the front page of DailyKos under the name Kagro X.

While netroots activists often call Congress, Waldman explained, "the reality is that by the time a bill gets to the floor, it's almost too late to have any real impact by calling." The new blog will tap DailyKos' audience and brand, he told The Nation, with the aim of "getting people involved earlier in the process, teaching them about committee markups and the amendment process to eventually put them in a position where they can intervene at the critical points in the process -- the way lobbyists have learned to do."

Another Hill staffer turned blogger, Joan McCarter, penned an open letter to the Democratic Congressional leadership after the election, and posted it on DailyKos' coveted front page real estate. Even after election fever subsided, the site remains the eighth most popular blog in the country. (It beats techie favorites like the Google blog, better-funded news sites including CNN ticker, and even the traffic powerhouse ICanHasCheezburger, which posts pictures of cats.) McCarter pressed for Iraq withdrawal, economic renewal, health care reform and dismantling the unitary executive. "We've been in election land for so long on the blog that the community needs to regroup and change gears," she told The Nation.

The new blog arrives at at time when the traditional media is questioning the netroots' influence after the Democratic Senate Caucus embraced Joe Lieberman, and as some bloggers worry that Obama's initial appointments look more like a third Clinton term than bottom-up change.

This venture rebuffs Washington's penchant for measuring clout and the (understandable) urge to assess a new president. Instead, the Kossacks are bearing down further on legislative activism. In the end, it might even be a good route to influence, too.

Comments (22)

1. If Congress pays any attention to the cesspool that is DailyKos, we are all doomed. Most of the comment threads are on the same level of significance as YouTube comments on Hillary Duff.

   Posted by sntauri at 11/24/2008 @ 8:10pm

2. Posted by sntauri at 11/24/2008 @ 8:10pm Posted by john lowell at 11/24/2008 @ 8:13pm |

   Kos haters. LOL. Shouldn't you guys go away for about 8 years.. To the underside of the damp rock that spawned you?

   Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 03:25am

3. As a liberal myself, I resent that term being applied to the people at Kos. They are progressives.

   What's the difference? Well, liberals can read.

   Posted by RAGGEDSTEP at 11/25/2008 @ 07:19am

4. Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 03:25am

   How should one interpret your statement? We won't go away for 8 years, sorry to disappoint. You seem very concerned about spawning, almost obsessive I would say. Go over to Kos and have a nice discussion with the elites, and report back in about 8 years. And socialism sucks!

   Posted by sntauri at 11/25/2008 @ 11:38am

5. Hello my name is Captain Alfred Escoto, USA, Command and General Staff College

   I would like to take this opprotunity to talk a little bit about the Army with which i serve.

   The Army of today is a LEARNING organization. The institutions within the Army and the training and leader development schools function to ensure that the Army remains the premier fighting force in the world today.

   We readily, albeit slowly at times, adapt to the current operational enviroment and work to overcome the obstacles that the enemy tends to put in our way. We have no better example than in Iraq and Afghanistan today....two counterinsurgencies that do not play to what we were designed to do, but we have adapted lessons learned and intergrated them into our strategy and operational tactics.

   The success we have today is a direct result from our ability to learn on the fly, so to speak. We have done this and you may rest assured that the Army will continue to adapt our strategy, tactics and policies to win any war that our nation embarks upon.

   Sincerely

   CPT Al Escoto USA, CGSC

   Blog Requirement

   Posted by CPT at 11/25/2008 @ 12:11pm

6. Posted by CPT at 11/25/2008 @ 12:11pm | ignore this person | warn this person

   nice blog entry, cap. glad to see you back.

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/25/2008 @ 12:54pm

7. Go over to Kos and have a nice discussion with the elites, and report back in about 8 years. And socialism sucks! Posted by sntauri at 11/25/2008 @ 11:38am

   I understand your comments given that every marxist govt model we have to-date are govt's that do not allow dissenting voices to be heard.

   Posted by lvliberty1 at 11/25/2008 @ 11:41am

   Don't get me wrong I enjoy your "dissenting opinions". Gives me something to do and much laughter. But you have nothing relevant to say and nothing new to discuss or debate. Just the same tired old talking points and failed right wing ideological garbage.

   If you don't come up with something new and original soon you may be languishing under that damp rock for much longer than 8 years.

   I have no power to not allow you to do or say anything. I may be a Socialist or to some extent a Marxist. But I support the Constitution as written by the founding fathers. Unlike some right wingnuts who want to dispose of it.

   And although in the words of the Constitutuion you share the same rights as myself. I don't have to like you..

   Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 12:58pm

8. Posted by CPT at 11/25/2008 @ 12:11pm

   Thank you for your service.

   Posted by Extraneous at 11/25/2008 @ 1:04pm

9. Posted by CPT at 11/25/2008 @ 12:11pm

   "I, ________ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I bear true faith and allegiance to the same..

   So the first duty of any American serviceman be he/she an officer or enlistee is to defend the Constitution. Then comes the part about obeying the orders of the President.

   Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the Constitution prohibit the waging of war without a declaration of war by congress?

   Should not the military refuse to participate in an illegal war given their solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution?

   May the enemy in this case be Domestic?

   Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 1:30pm

10. And isn't it Treason to violate that oath?

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 1:32pm

11. Posted by CPT at 11/25/2008 @ 12:11pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    That the above blog is my personal opinion and does not reflect on the US Army or the Command and General Staff College. Thank you

    Posted by CPT at 11/25/2008 @ 1:56pm

12. Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 03:25am

    Upset you, have we, filth. Let me suggest self-defenestration, a suitably permanent and, in times like these, historical remedy for someone with your kind of limitation. And, since you won't be missed, let me suggest that you proceed with all possible energy.

    Posted by john lowell at 11/25/2008 @ 2:49pm

13. Posted by lvliberty1 at 11/25/2008 @ 2:34pm

    It matters not how you eschew the Constitution or how you carry the word "inherent" in your vocabulary and try and apply it to the very lifeblood of our Democracy. It is still and will forever remain "Treason".

    That is the trouble with feces like you. You want to undermine the very meaning and purpose of the separation of powers. You worship a Unitary Executive. A Dictator. A Fascist. You are as foul and diseased as the very depths of your Hell. May you rot in it. Fools.

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 3:32pm

14. Posted by john lowell at 11/25/2008 @ 2:49pm

    True Patriots will seek out the likes of you..

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 3:33pm

15. The enemy is not in Iraq or Afghanistan or Iran, but right here in our own backyard. The enemy from within is the only enemy that can bring down our great experiment in Democracy.

    The enemy from within is the enemy that must be defeated.

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 4:13pm

16. Why don't you instead address the fact that I have cited the law of the land?

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 11/25/2008 @ 5:03pm

    The law of the land is the Constitution. Any other laws that have been "enacted" in controversion to the letter and the spirit or intention of the Constitution are invalid. Because they are Unconstitutional.

    I apologize if I am unable to hide my contempt for those who would deign to undermine the only Law I recognize. And the only Law I would die for.

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 8:53pm

17. The true enemy of Democracy and the United States of America spreads their lies and deceptions here daily in the form of Limbaugh,Hannity doublespeak.

    These surrogates of subversion are allowed to undermine and subvert our Democracy on a regular basis.

    That is the price we pay for free speech. The price is high and not without peril. But a price we must all be willing to pay.

    But we don't have to sit on our hands and give them any quarter or polite response. The enemy is within..

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 9:15pm

18. Although somebody (Nice Government Men?) painted the tape brilliantly yesterday to make metals' performance look worse than it was, their strength could not be hidden. The gold price rose $80 in two days, the silver price over $1. Most of the day the gold price was circling around $830, and the silver price $10.50, although the closes came in much lower.

    Today they eased off a little, the gold price down a dollar to $818.50 and the silver price down 8.5 cents to $10.27. The real hurdles now are $850.00 for gold (25 year resistance) and $10.50 for the silver price, but they ought to be surpassed quickly.

    Silver and gold prices have made their lows and now are climbing in a rally that will last until well into next spring. If you were waiting for a "sign" to buy, you got it yesterday and Friday.

    The US Dollar index is collapsing, literally. Yesterday it dropped 280 basis points. I kept looking at that figure, unable to grasp it. Thought it must be a misprint. Today the dollar index fell another 104 basis points to land at 84.769. Looks like the liquidity squeeze -- and the panicked demand for dollars -- has ended. Down 380 basis points in two days? This is not alarming, it is humiliating. The dollar is trash, and will be trashed.

    STOCKS probably have yet one more downward spike, but may have already bottomed. Still looking for a bottom by the end of the month and beginning of 3 - 4 month rally, before stocks fall off the face of the earth into the black hole of a bear market.

    Reading back over a few commentaries from the last few months, I realize I may sound fairly, well, sarcastic toward the monetary and governmental powers that be. I confess that I hold them all in contempt, as clowns too ignorant to recognize what damage they are doing, or as mercenary

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 9:23pm

19. traitors willing to destroy the lives of millions. In any event, they are not serious people. Serious people don't do such things; they take heed of their actions' consequences.

    And I realize that I am always urging you to buy silver and gold. There's a reason for that. It will be a long bear market in the economy and stocks and the dollar, and a long bull market in silver and gold. It's hard enough for people to grasp that, harder still for them to act on it. Rather, they will watch like a mouse fascinated by a dancing snake while their capital is gobbled down by a bear market. I trust y'all understand that and have acted -- or will act -- soon.

    Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

    - Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 9:24pm

20. Your cash ain't nuthin but trash. -Steve Miller-.

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/25/2008 @ 9:30pm

21. Without using schoolhouse language, luv liberty, I agree that the War Powers Act should be amended. Having said that, however, I hope that the Unitary Executive goes down the tubes in January. The Constitution is still our ultimate law and still gives warmaking power to Congress, if Congress takes its power back in the new session. ..to me, the difference between liberals and progressives (both read) is that liberals generally take bandaid approaches to national problems while progressives ask more structural questions. That's probably what Phil Ochs was thinking when he wrote "Love Me--I'm a Liberal."

    Posted by mimsky at 11/25/2008 @ 10:03pm

22. Wrong. Our laws are deemed constitutional unless ruled otherwise by the Supreme Court.

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 11/25/2008 @ 11:11pm

    Thats what happens when you have a Supreme Court stuffed with shills and lackeys.

    Posted by chaoszen at 11/26/2008 @ 2:35pm