Trev "Interviews" Markos Moulitsas-of-Elections-Past

Transcript and Links

TREV to audience:

Welcome back, tweeps and friends. My guest today is Markos Moulitsas-of-elections-past. Markos founded Daily Kos in 2002 as the "Net Roots" developed on the progressive left. These forces lost the 2004 elections but kept the pressure on for the 2006 races, helping Nancy Pelosi become Speaker of the House and Harry Reed Majority Leader of the Senate.

In ‘08, Kos and the rest of the Net Roots consolidated behind Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries against Hillary Clinton and helped Obama crush John McCain in the general election while also propelling the Democrats to super-majorities in both Houses of Congress.

As a first order of business in 2007, these Kos-backed Democrat majorities tried to force American defeat in Iraq and thankfully failed. With President Bush’s help domestically, however, they did grow the national debt for the remaining two years of his second term through a failed stimulus and then by passing the Wall Street bailout, which morphed into a United Auto Workers Bailout. Oh, and don’t forget the Kos-backed Democrats’ important work of banning the incandescent light bulb.

TREV to MARKOS:

So, Markos of Elections Past, following the ‘06 victories by the Democrats you blogged about "Taking a Bow." Please take us back to that moment and elaborate.

MARKOS:

...in the end, none of this would've happened without the effort all of us made. Those who think the net roots and grassroots don't deserve credit are idiots. We all had our roles to play, and we wouldn't be where we are today without all of us doing our part.
...
So I'm ready to get beyond the "who gets credit" conversation, because we all do. Take a bow. The bloggers. The grassroots activists. The field ops. The 527s. MoveOn. The party leaders...

TREV to MARKOS:

Gotcha. And Markos-of-elections-past, following the ‘06 elections, what was your take on Karl Rove’s earlier predictions of a GOP realignment?

MARKOS:

Let them reap what they sowed. They deserve every humiliation they designed for those in the minority status.

And stripped of their perks, forced to fire large numbers of staff, shunted off to the dingiest offices on Capitol Hill, let's hope more Republicans decide that life on K Street is more enjoyable than life in the minority.

TREV to MARKOS:

What a truly fascinating take from 2006, Markos-of-elections-past!

TREV to audience:

So later, following the ‘08 vote, President Obama and his Democrat super-majorities, again, elected in part thanks to Markos here, then proceeded to spend $800 billion on a new failed stimulus that bailed out state governments and protected the jobs of government workers while millions of Americans in the private sector lost their jobs. Kos-backed Obama then raped the GM and Chrysler bondholders by awarding control of those companies to the same parasitic unions that drove them to bankruptcy. Next the Kos-backed Democrats passed massive new energy taxes and pay-offs to windmill-makers through the Cap and Trade bill in the House. Then, after a year of wrangling, the Kos-backed Democrats, although they failed to establish the "public option" favored by Kos and the Net Roots, did succeed in passing ObamaCare, which so far has resulted in the largest health insurance premium increases in many years and forced many employers to devalue themselves and jettison health coverage, just to name a few consequences. To top it all off, the Kos-backed Democrats left DC to campaign while doing nothing to halt the pending largest tax increase in American history.

TREV to MARKOS

Again, Markos-of-elections-past, this was all made possible in part by your hard work for Democrats, especially the farthest Left Democrats, in ‘06 and ‘08. Take us back to 2008. Going into that election, you wrote about how you wanted to quote "Break their back, crush their spirits." Please share those insights with us again.

MARKOS:

So with conservatives bracing for the worst, they won't experience the kind of pain we did…

TREV to MARKOS:

Your pain of 2004.

MARKOS:

…Not unless we deliver a defeat even worse than their worst nightmares. And I'll be honest with you -- I want them to hurt as much as we did. I want their spirits crushed, their backs broken.

TREV to MARKOS:

Please say that again.

MARKOS:

I want them to hurt as much as we did. I want their spirits crushed, their backs broken.

So the way we do that is we deliver a defeat worse than they ever imagined. We do that by winning states that have no business turning Blue. We do that by electing a 60-seat super-majority in the Senate. We do that by defeating their leadership, like Mitch McConnell in the Senate. We do that by defeating their heroes, like wing nut…hero John Shadegg. We do that by making sure a record number of Americans reject conservative ideology, leaving it utterly discredited.

The day after the election, I want to see an electoral battlefield littered with defeated Republicans, their ranks demoralized, their treasury in heavy debt, and no real leadership to take the helm. I want a vacuum so complete, that a bloody leadership battle between the neocons, theocons, and corporate cons shakes the GOP to its core, and leaves it fractured and ill-equipped to stymie the progressive agenda, much less ramp up for an even bleaker (for them) 2010.

TREV to MARKOS:

Go on, Marcos Circa 2008.

MARKOS:

We're not out to win this thing. We're out to crush them!
...
There's a lot of us, and a lot of little gestures adds up to a whole lot of action. We are approaching a historic night, and one that can radically transform the direction of our country.

TREV to MARKOS:

Excellent round-up, Markos Moulitsas-of-elections-past. After the elections tomorrow, maybe you should write about how the Democrats' big mistake was not being progressive enough. That will provide great post-hangover laughs for the rest of the week.

TREV to audience:

Tweeps and friends, Trev went door-to-door in 2006 in a Republican district the Democrats took from us that year by less than two percent of the vote. Later, that district's new, Kos-backed, Democrat congressman went on to vote for an agenda that prolonged America’s economic crisis and further indebted us to Communist China. That year, dozens of Republican and generally freedom-loving voters turned down my face-to-face entreaties to keep a Republican majority in Congress. I had the same reservations as they, but I did not think America deserved to be tyrannized by Kos-backed Democrats.

Many Republicans and conservatives also stayed home in 2008 as they had in 2006, or gave into the eloquent temptation of Barrack Obama. And let’s be honest, John McCain did not give us much to vote for.

So here we are in 2010 and some of the Republicans who lost Congress in 2006 and then lost it again in ‘08 along with the White House are still in leadership positions in the Republican party and will be next year. In a moment of crisis, many also voted for TARP. RINOs still inhabit much of the GOP’s upper echelons and will remain there after tomorrow.

But that does not mean they will be in charge.

You see, Markos was wrong about a very important point – America did not reject conservatism in 2008, because conservatism was not on the ballot, conservatism had not guided the leadership of the Republican party for a long time, and many conservatives knew this. So make no mistake and let me be clear: after tomorrow, the Republican Party works for us. For the conservatives, libertarians, constitutionalists and yes, the Tea Partiers, who have stood against a progressive statist agenda foreign to America’s founding principles. Many called us bigoted or crazy, and in the case of a "conservatarian" like Trev, "self-hating."

In closing, freedom-loving patriots, I ask that you recall the treasured memory of United Flight 93 as judgment day is upon us. Remember, not so long ago, when ordinary Americans realized that their nation was under attack from an alien ideology, they fought back against tyranny. The brave patriots on Flight 93 did not want to make the ultimate sacrifice, yet they were willing to risk such sacrifice for their freedom and for the lives and freedom of others. If such patriots and our brave military can risk so much for our freedom, how could any of us fail to risk so much less between now and the time polls close tomorrow?

First, please vote if you have not already. Second, contact your local candidates’ offices or local Republican Party to see if there is anything more you can do. Or contact a group like Freedom Works, Americans for Prosperity, American Crossroads, or your local Tea Party organization. Our voters need rides to polls. Polls need to be watched to counter Obama Justice Department-backed fraud. Signs need waving. Absentee ballots requested need to be returned. Phone banks need callers. Make sure your friends are voting or have voted.

The country is on the line here, patriots. Let us put on the full armor of God. Let’s win one for the Gipper. Let’s water the tree of liberty by firing as many Kos-backed, Obama-backed Democrats as possible.

Patriots, LET'S ROLL!