A couple of the Democratic blogospheric titans seem to be clashing in a way that directly mirrors the preferred candidates of those blogs. The vitriol seems to be spewing back and forth between Daily Kos and MyDD. The former seems more supportive of Barack Obama while the latter seems more supportive of Hillary Clinton. I am hedging a bit because these blogs have numerous front page authors and legions of commentors. They aren’t monoliths. But, I think I’m being fair when I say that Daily Kos tends toward a pro-Obama tone and MyDD tends toward a pro-Clinton tone. But, more and more, I’m seeing less pro-their-candidate and more anti-the-other-candidate.
I have less direct contact with Daily Kos than I do with MyDD — I tend to wander around the comment sections at MyDD because it’s less populated and the discussions tend to be more manageable. There is some strong anti-Obama sentiment going on in the comment section which in turn has resulted in frequent anti-Daily Kos sentiment. My guess is that similar stuff is going on at Daily Kos.
At the very least, it reminds me of the power of group think. Going to a forum where, traditionally I have found like minded people, and finding sentiments that are strongly in opposition to my own, is jarring. Where did these frothing maniacs come from? Have they always been here? I think those divisions will return to manageable after the primary fight is through. But, it’s good to be reminded that you can’t be sure of your own reasonableness just because a lot of like minded people agree with you.
Actually, Doug, I frequent DailyKos more.. and while there are occasional spikes of anti-hillary on there, they are usually beaten down by people who say something like “We’re FOR our candidate (Obama) and therefore we don’t have to rip on the other candidate. Go somewhere else if you want to do that.” That’s also the tone I get from the http://www.barackobama.com website.
I may be a little too tilted toward Obama to be objective though.
Thanks for that report. I figured that if I went and perused Daily Kos, I’d see what you described. But, I know I am biased toward Obama at this point.
Usually in these situations, my head makes a decision, my heart follows, and then objectivity gets really difficult.
The actual diaries do run heavily in favor of Obama though. So, maybe that’s the tenor you are picking up over on MyDD.