Contemplating a Kos Crack-Up

Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters writes up a long, thoughtful piece on what the heck is happening over there.

If
Brooks, Heilemann, and Gingrich are correct, it is quite possible that
the leaders of the Democrat Party are watching the goings on at Daily Kos
the past four weeks secretly enjoying the carnage while hoping that the
wheels totally fall off the psychedelic VW bus. After all, the
MoveOn.org/Michael Moore left certainly didn’t help the Democrats in
2004. Maybe the powers that be are wisely starting to recognize how
similarly damaging the Kossacks are to a successful campaign.

Of
course, it is also possible that Kos – who is clearly no dummy – is
starting to recognize this same inconvenient truth, and is indeed
letting youthful idealism be replaced with a more ripened pragmatism:
if the real goal is to get out of Iraq at all costs, some compromise on
other issues might be appropriate in the grand scheme of things.

Check out Jim Geraghty's go-to timeline for Armstrong/Kos/candidate interactions for background.

There's a legitimate question about who the Kos machine crack-up would be good for. Keeping it intact and in charge of the Democratic Party is undoubtedly good for Republicans at the polls, but it's not good at all for national political discussion or maintaining a vibrant two-party system. I'm torn, I tell ya.