Daily Kos

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Close to the Democratic Party power structure. Founded in 2002 by former CIA operative Markos Moulitsas

Daily Kos new logo.png
Website.png http://www.dailykos.com   SourcewatchRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Started: 2002
Founder: Markos Moulitsas

Owners: Kos Media, LLC.

Daily Kos is a group blog and internet forum focused on the Democratic Party and American politics. The site features a participatory political encyclopedia ("DKosopedia"), glossaries, and other content.

Since its founding in 2002, Daily Kos had became largest liberal community blog in the country, with some 8 million unique viewers per month and 2.3 million registered users.

Markos and the CIA

Markos Moulitsas

Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga is the founder and public face of Daily Kos since its founding in 2002. Within two years, Moulitsas attracted a large readership and made blogging his full-time occupation. The site name comes from the last syllable of his first name ('Kos'), his nickname while in the military[1].

A gifted organizer, Moulitsas used his blog to mount fundraising drives for Democratic candidates around the country[2], and aligned himself close to the Democratic Party power structure while dislodging older "stakeholders" like labor unions, “[the] ineffective, incompetent, and antiquated Democratic Party establishment”[3], making the party what it is today.

During a confessional moment at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club in 2006, Moulitsas acknowledged that at some point following his discharge, he enlisted in the CIA, entering the agency’s rigorous training program, hoping to become an undercover spy: “So, I applied to the CIA and I went all the way to the end, I mean it was to the point where I was going to sign papers to become [part of] Clandestine Services.”[4][5]

Like many journalists who began their careers working for the CIA, Moulitsas claims to have left the agency before turning to activism and journalism. Moulitsas contends that he abandoned his CIA dreams because the job would have required him to live, at least briefly, in Washington, D.C.[6]


“And it was at that point [in 2001] that the Howard Dean campaign took off and I had to make a decision whether I was gonna kinda join the Howard Dean campaign… or was I going to become a spy. (Laughter in the audience.)”[5]

Dean was later hounded out of the campaign. Moulitsas went on to describe the CIA as “a very liberal institution.” He said:


And in a lot of ways, it really does attract people who… want to make the world a better place… Of course, they’ve got their Dirty Ops and this and that, but as an institution itself the CIA is really interested in a stable world … And stable worlds aren’t created by destabilizing regimes and creating wars...Their [sic] done so by other means. Assassination [of] labor leaders … I’m kidding! I don’t think it’s a very partisan thing to want a stable world. And even if you’re protecting American interests, I mean that can get ugly at times, but generally speaking I think their heart’s in the right place. As an organization, their heart is in the right place. I’ve never had any problem with the CIA. I’d have no problem working for them.[4]

Funding

According to Daily Kos, its finances are sustained through lead generation, sponsored content, fundraising, and donations from readers and supporters.[7]. Not much more is known about its funding structure.

Further reading

CIA’s Extraordinary Role Influencing Liberal Media Outlets

 

A document sourced from Daily Kos

TitleTypeSubject(s)Publication dateAuthor(s)
Document:Leaked Karl Rove emailemailPropaganda27 August 2011Karl Rove


Rating

5star.png 11 November 2021 Terje 
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References