How to build a vast left-wing conspiracy

The man behind Daily Kos talks about Obama's chances, his new book and why Palin is the gift that keeps on giving.

By Vincent Rossmeier

Read more: Republican Party, Democratic Party, Books, Activism, John McCain, Interviews, Authors, Books Interviews, Republican National Convention, Barack Obama, Daily Kos, 2008 election, Sarah Palin

Sept. 4, 2008 | "Two years ago, Palin was part-time mayor of a village of 6,000. Today, she's supposedly ready to step in to run this country in the eventuality that Sen. McCentury can no longer perform those duties? Right. This was a sop to the Right, which was unwilling to accept a pro-choice Republican on the ticket, and a pathetic and hilariously desperate effort to grab the 17 holdout PUMAs (who are fake Democrats already willing to vote for McCain anyway)."

For those even remotely familiar with the liberal blogosphere, the author of those words needs no introduction. Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, aka Kos, isn't one for rhetorical ambiguity. Since he began his blog, Daily Kos, in 2002, with the aggressively direct statement "I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies," Moulitsas has been a tireless, blunt champion of the liberal progressive movement. The site has become an online juggernaut, attracting millions of visitors each year, and Moulitsas, once an anonymous blogger and political outsider, has become a frequent contributor to Newsweek and an influential political player. Such a brand is Moulitsas that in 2006, he lent his name to the YearlyKos convention (now known as Netroots Nation), an increasingly formidable annual gathering of progressive activists that all but one of the Democratic presidential candidates attended in 2007.

"Crashing the Gate," the 2006 book Moulitsas co-authored, became an influential guide to online progressive advocacy. His new book, "Taking On the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era," exhorts readers to use new technologies to successfully effect systemic change. Today's savvy radicals realize that text messaging, meet-up groups, blogs and social networking are more effective methods of catalyzing systemic transformation than the mass street protests and "flower power" of '60s activism. While the book's aphoristic advice ("Advance and hold enemy ground"; "Work your niche"; "Aim for the gut, not the brain") can at times seem too rosy and simplistic, Moulitsas makes a compelling case for the democratizing power of contemporary technology.

Recently, Salon spoke with Moulitsas on the phone about the Palin pick, Obama's chances to win in the fall, learning from the vast right-wing conspiracy, and his new book.

How do you see McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee affecting the race going forward? There was so much discussion when the pick was first announced that McCain was deliberately going for the disenchanted Hillary Clinton voters, but do you think this pick is going to end up hurting McCain or giving him a boost?

Obviously, I'm not a woman, so it's tough for me to sort of understand the mind-set of many Clinton supporters. But I think it's telling that Gallup just released a poll today that showed Obama has done a fantastic job of solidifying his support among Hillary supporters. And my wife is a blogger, and at her site, she has definitely seen hardcore Hillary supporters so offended at the notion that McCain thought that putting a pair of breasts on the ticket was going to be enough to win their support, especially when Sarah Palin is so far removed ideologically from Hillary Clinton. Not just on choice, but she's a book burner. We just found out today, she was banning books at the Wasilla Public Library. She's virulently anti-choice. Go down the list, it's pretty crazy stuff. Clearly, if that was a ploy to lure Hillary supporters, it's not working. The data doesn't bear it out nor does the anecdotal evidence.

Do you think Barack Obama responded correctly to Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy?

Yeah, of course. It's not his job to be digging into that. If the Republicans are going to be all high and mighty about people digging into the lives of candidates' families, all I can do is laugh, given the treatment that Michelle Obama has been given by Republicans -- maybe not John McCain proper, but every surrogate beneath him.

Ultimately, when it comes to Bristol Palin, the issue isn't, oh well, she's a bad girl. We're progressives; we don't care if she got pregnant. That's between her and her family and she's got to deal with it; and in fact, progressives believe in having the services available to make her life better and to help her in what's going to be a very, very difficult journey ahead. The issue is, of course, that Sarah Palin is a strong supporter of abstinence-only education. Here we have a situation where they claim that abstinence-only will prevent teen pregnancy when her own daughter has gotten pregnant. There are legitimate policy questions that go beyond the fact of Bristol Palin to the kind of governor [Palin] would be, the way she would help govern this country were she the vice president. And I think that is obviously, legitimately fair game.

Do you think the Palin pick was a game changer, whether good or bad, and how do you think this will affect the election long-term?

There's no doubt that it was a game changer. All you have to do is go to Daily Kos and see that we haven't written about McCain in a week now, right? It's a singular obsession with Palin. She's the gift that keeps on giving. To me, it seems pretty obvious that McCain wanted [Tom] Ridge or [Joe] Lieberman but he's too weak within his own party to get the candidate he wanted, so he had to go with someone to appease the right wing.

They saw that Obama was going to be able to rally the Clinton supporters with Hillary Clinton's help. They probably saw Obama's speech and saw how incredible and dynamic and how powerful it was and realized that a safe pick wasn't going to give them any hope of victory in November so they had to shake things up. They threw a Hail Mary with Sarah Palin, they didn't vet her, so they had no clue who she was. They saw that she was attractive and very popular in Alaska -- remember, Alaska is actually a swing state. It was in play; Obama was competitive in the polls. So they locked down Alaska. And she's clearly popular with the right and they've embraced her because of her radical right-wing views on the role of religion in government, and it completely, utterly, on that Friday, took Obama off the airwaves.

Next page: Throw that Hail Mary. If it gets intercepted, who cares? They were going to lose anyway