More on the Kos controversy

Michael Friedman has updates to his original post which report that more advertisers have stopped running their ads on Daily Kos, and at least one new one has joined up (at least that's how it sounds) because of the controversy. As Michael writes:

UPDATE: Jeff Seemann, Ohio 16th District, is advertising and it looks like he won't be a push over:

The Jeff Seemann for Congress campaign recently learned of the controversy brewing regarding www.dailykos.com

Blogs like Daily Kos are some of the best byproducts of the country we live in....a country that cherishes its' right to speak freely. Weblogs and other independent forms of expression are extremely important today because they allow for everyone's voice to be heard.

We were saddened to hear that three advertisers pulled their ads on the site because of the remarks posted on the blog. The comments may be controversial, but they are just as relevant. The ability to allow comments like those read on Daily Kos is a testament to the virtues this country was founded on, especially the right to free speech.

Our campaign has decided that because of the recent events we will step in and advertise on www.dailykos.com. We have made this decision for two reasons:

1) We firmly believe in the First Amendment and everyone's right to say whatever he or she chooses on their own website.

2) We refuse to allow our campaign to be bullied by the right wing like they bullied Kos' previous advertisers.

We entered this campaign for Congress based on courage and the desire to stand up to the Republicans who are destroying our country with huge deficits, unjustified wars, and a blatant disregard for Americans and the challenges they face in their daily lives.

We understand that the decision to launch this advertising campaign will attract attention, both positive and negative. We will make no statement regarding the actual content of Kos' controversial statement, but we will always stand up for his right to dissent. Furthermore, we are campaigning to return this country to a Democratic majority in Congress and we will not allow our message to be written or altered by our opposition.

But I notice that Seeman doesn't reprint Kos's statement. Let's hang "Screw them" around his neck and see how long it takes him to run!

Seeman is running against Ralph Regula. If you are an Ohio resident please start bringing Kos's vile comment to the attention of local media.

Seeman has every right to advertise on the sites of his choice. I respect him for making a stand, though I disagree with the stand he's making and echo Michael's request.

In noting that Jane Mitakides has pulled her ads, Michael comments that it was done with a "typical mealy mouthed politician's statement:"

Thank you to all who have contacted us to alert us to the unfortunate statements made on The Daily Kos regarding the deaths of the American contractors in Iraq.

Many of you know that I come from a family with deep military roots, and I have been dedicated to supporting our troops and our veterans my entire life. I also believe that whenever a life is lost to violence - American or Bosnian, Somalian or Hutu, Palestinian, Israeli or Iraqi - mankind is diminished.

We have made the decision to remove our advertising from that website, to assure that there is no confusion about my position on this matter. But I want to be clear on one point: this decision is not because of any "pressure" I have received. It is a personal decision, and one I have not made lightly.

In the past, Kos has provided a valuable forum for Democrats, for the sharing of issues and information, and I believe "blogs" such as these will continue become a real force in political communications.

Again, thank you for your e-mail, and for your interest in this very important race.

Sincerely,
Jane Mitakides

Interestingly, I disagree and here's why. Many on the left, not least among them Kos himself, are crying "censorship" over this effort to inform his advertisers of his statement, questioning whether or not they support it, and encouraging them to distance themselves from him if they do not. This is, of course, pure bunk. Censorship comes from government. All Michael and others are doing is informing the advertisers of the comment, in case they aren't already aware of it, and they are making their own decisions whether or not to continue advertising. If the situation were reversed, the left would certainly not hold back from trying to get the conservative blogger's advertisers to dump him. Remember folks, it's only censorship if it's happening to someone on the left. Otherwise it's free speech. Michael Friedman comments on it in this post:

Does anyone remember the flak Bob Barr and Trent Lott took for his relationship with the Council of Conservative Citizens? The C of CC is a talking shop - they talk and they do political advocacy. Kind of like the users on the Daily Kos. Is it any more unfair to target politicians associated with Kos than it was for the left to target politicians associated with the C of CC? I don't see why it should be.

And this is the point I think Mitakides is trying to make with her statement. She's saying that she is not bowing to pressure, but has made her own decision. She is pre-emptively countering the charge of censorship by saying that this decision was hers and hers alone, independent of any outside pressure she might have received. And I applaud her for that.

In the post linked above, Michael attempts to analyze why so much attention has been paid to Kos's comments on the deaths of these four civilian contractors. He also brings up the topic of Rachel Corrie and the comments that were made after her death. Here is part of his conclusion:

The men who died in Fallujah were on my side. They were working and risking their lives to make the American pacification and reconstruction of Iraq succeed. I think that puts them on the side of every loyal American. After all, how can a loyal American not want us to succeed in Iraq? Kerry and the advertisers who left Kos certainly understood that. Whether or not they share that sentiment they realized that the voters would and that associating themselves with Kos was a bad idea.

He also answers the question of why he's not making such a fuss over all the soldiers that have died in Iraq. I've been wondering that about myself and I think Michael gets it right when he says:

(N)o one (excluding the absolute loony moonbat left) has said "Screw them" about our soldiers.

Their deaths are tragic and unfortunate and I hope that there are as few more such deaths as possible. But no one within the US political mainstream is rehtorically pissing on their graves.