Before finding this Ron Paul forum however, I do recall one post by Kos himself after supporters of Ron Paul raised 4.3 million on November 5th. Kos was impressed and said that they were only talking in a vacuum over at their site, where as the Ron Paul supporters were forced to disperse out into the real world and bring attention to their cause. The Kos people were clearly jealous that none of their beloved democrats could garner such passion, and that they were supposed to OWN the anti-war vote, along with the energy of the younger generation.
The truth is, they had their chance and they blew it. And they continue to blow it with comments like those you see now. 2006 came, their democrats were voted in, and they were exposed for being no different than their neo-con counter parts.
Ron Paul is the only hope for this country, and if we continue to push hard, I truly believe that we will win. The peeps at dailykos will be furious when it happens, but it doesn't matter. Let them cry. They are a small minority and they'll continue to shrink, along with the neo-cons.
I basically agree with what you're saying, I've been in the same boat. I'd read some Kos and a little more Crooks and Liars, and I still read some C&L. But I've given up on the Kos website as anything more than a curiousity. They're imploding, and I don't think they see it. They are stuck in standard boxes of Right vs Left arguments, and RP has I think transcended that. He's shown us its possible to have a 3rd viewpoint, and I think a more valid one. His momentum is undeniable.
I still wouldn't push so hard back on Kos, and I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. I see some of their members struggling with purpose, and this post on their site in support of RP, as misguided as the reasoning is, shows that they aren't yet done with this issue. Is their purpose to elect only Democrats? Or could their purpose be to elect honest public servants that truly serve the people?
On some issues, Kos could still prove to be an ally. Why drive them away? Politically, I'm not sure where I belong. I don't fit the nice little structures of these sites... if I were to post at Kos I'd get derided. When I post at C&L if I say anything even hinting at RP support, even when he's clearly right, I get labelled as a neocon shill. I think RP ought to have a very big tent because Constitutional issues cross party lines, and I think there could be more people like me floating around sites like Kos who just need to be shown the way.
I'm worried about partisanship and I don't think its a solution to anything. Kos drove to get the Democrats into congress in 2006 and for good reason, the Republican congress had proven unreliable. This is where we almost agree with a site like Kos- the dems were supposed to end the war and restore fiscal responsibility. That latter one sounds silly now, but just a year ago the Republicans were the party of "spend and spend" and the Democrats were viewed as the answer to their mad spending. They were also the candidates to restore honor and integrity to politics, with all the gay/underage/porn/prostitution scandals going on with the Repubs.
And a year later, things haven't really changed. The people at Kos, I think, are still trying to figure out what the hell happened. They put all this effort into the '06 Democrat resurgence, and they were backstabbed. The Dems haven't restored fiscal responsibility, if anything, they proved as bad or worse than the Repubs. They've done nothing to end the war, if anything escalate it. I actually think on the war issue, if you look at how Dems vote, they're very split on this. Too many of their own are falling into the neocon trap. I can only imagine how frustrating that failure must be (a microcosm of this Democrat identity crisis can be seen in the threats made by Sheehan to run against Pelosi).
The people at Kos have a great, honest candidate they could help propel into the front if they really believed in the courage of their convictions: Dennis Kucinich. But for whatever reason, they can't seem to make it happen. There's no real momentum, no real grassroots behind him, and they know it. It must be maddening. He's their only real anti-war candidate, the only true liberal, the only one calling for impeachment, and he's one of the few who actually reads and supports the constitution. His interpretation is populist and socialist, but at least he has an interpretation of it. So as flawed as this is, its still far ahead of the neocon agenda.
I still see potential for common ground here. Remember what they wanted was an end to the war and an end to crazy spending. Well, RP offers that. Everyone has to compromise a little, but I think RP ultimately appeals to rational people who aren't so partisan. And who wants to be partisan really. If you dig into their goals a little bit, you can usually discern the key issues that make them believe what it is they think they believe, and then you can begin to help them out of this insane partisan quagmire they've gotten themselves into.