The problem with dailyKos is that there are a couple of dozen sensible front page posters who are overwhelmed by tens of thousands of idiots. The site gets huge amounts of traffic and is obviously one of the principal political sites on the web. Unfortunately, the idiots have taken over and as a result, DK is in my opinion now a force that damages the liberal agenda in America.

Basically, it's a mob. "Get out the pitchforks and stick them in Joe Lieberman!" "Burn Rove at the stake!" "Hillary must die!" "THIS crisis will FINALLY be the END of BUSH and his NAZIS!" It's idiotic.

The result is that productive, long-standing liberal policies like Gerrymandered voting districts to insure minority representation, get unthinkingly painted with the same tarbrush as the Iraq war. Note the complete lack of participation by elected officials? That's because when one of them sticks his head into the room for a minute to see what's going on, the beer bottles come crashing down on his head. Barack Obama being a recent example: He puts in a very well thought out, sensible position statement and the mob throws it back at him for not being extreme enough. No elected official will put up with such nonsense.

It's not a productive environment, it's a place where the mob is whipped into a fury against the establishment. All it does is make it harder for reasonable people--including officials who have actually been elected to office--to make a practical effort to make progress on liberal issues. Kos has gathered a mob, it's out of control, and it is a divisive force in the liberal community and the Democratic party.

I pop in there once in a while when the debate is about a technical topic that I'm interested in, like hybrid cars or wind power, but the widespread "Burn the Vichy Dems at the stake" sentiment leaves me cold.

Kos needs about a hundred full-time moderators and a clean sweep of the nutcases.