Voice Critique

The blog DailyKos is well known in political circles as one of the foremost progressive and liberal blogs out on the Internet.  They're also known for their unabashed dislike of everything conservative and Republican, as well as their willingness to let their opinions be heard, unfiltered from the constraints of objectivity that is expected in the mainstream media. Even within in the vast liberal blogosphere, DailyKos has a distinct voice that simply hasn't been recreated by anyone else.  

So what is this voice?  Is it sarcastic?  Witty?  Just downright mean?  Lets just go with a combination of all three, as seen in the title of one of their most recent posts...

Pull The Plug On Chuck Grassley

Not only is the title downright hilarious, at least from my point of view, but it's witty and relevant to the topic being discussed in the blogpost.  The writer's metaphor of 'pulling the plug' works well in the context, since not only do they want Democrats to stop negotiations with Senator Grassley on Health Care, which lends itself to the pull the plug reference as well, but Chuck Grassley is also one of the key players in spreading the lies about phony death panels that would 'pull the plug on grandma' which hijacked the health care debate and sent it off into the land of the wing-nut.  

The post itself has some gems as well.

Really, Chuck? I thought we saw "democracy in action" last November when more than 125 million Americans voted, not when a few hundred extremists that the media chose to highlight screamed at town hall meetings.

The poster doesn't try to feign some sort of formality, he instead attacks Senator Grassley head on, referring to the Senator colloquially by using his first name and using his own words, saying that the town halls filled with demagoguery and corporate influence were real democracy in action, against him.  Due to this extreme stance taken by town hall goers and the corporate influence on the 'grassroots' movement itself, the blogger doesn't refer to the town hall goers as such, instead he labels them 'extremists,' which not only evokes an entirely different emotion in the reader, but gives the reader an idea of which end of the ideological spectrum this blogger belongs to as well. 

Terms like 'extremist' and 'fear-mongering' are often used by DailyKos bloggers to describe their opponents, typically Republicans and conservatives.  This confrontational style and word choice is a key element of the blog's voice.  DailyKos bloggers aren't pretending to be anything less than lion-hearted liberals, and the word choice is crucial in narrowing down their audience. Conservatives, and possibly even moderates, probably wont be the followers of a blog disparaging the conservative take over town halls, and likely don't want to hear about the metaphorical plug pulling of a Republican Senator.  DailyKos is unabashedly liberal and wants the reader to know that. Therefore, DailyKos isn't catering to those who aren't somewhat sympathetic to progressive and liberal causes, in fact, liberals are their core audience.

And sometimes even Democrats and liberals are taken on by DailyKos.

It's hard not to compare the two -- last Saturday, Ted Kennedy spoke from the grave in support of real health care reform:

"I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I'm committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life."

And today, the President let us know what he thinks about access to health care for everyone. From senior advisor David Axelrod:

As to the fate of a government option plan to compete with private insurance, Axelrod suggested the controversial concept is gone but not forgotten: "The spirit that led him to support a public option is still very much at play here and so you know he wants competition. He wants choice."

The voice is unrelentingly sarcastic and satirical, especially when given the correct context. President Obama is being compared to the Liberal Lion, the Late Ted Kennedy, in his commitment to Health Care Reform.  

Speaking of Senator Kennedy, this comparison and context of the blog, this is yet another way that the writer narrows down his audience.  One must not only be concerned with liberal causes that were advocated by Senator Kennedy throughout his illustrious career, but the reader must be informed about politics and the day to day aspects of governing and political discourse. Without being aware of the context, the reader is likely to be lost in the shuffle.

But back to the comparison. Obama is painted by the blogger as a typical politician who is willing to compromise on his core beliefs in order to appease Republicans, while Ted Kennedy is idealized as a champion of progressive Health Care Reform and a true believer in liberal causes.  What is also important about this comparison is that it further narrows the audience from simply Democrats to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.  The blogger is criticizing the President for being too conservative!  Seriously...this isn't a joke.  The President who's being painted as a socialist by the right wing is being attacked by the left for not being liberal or progressive enough.  

The end of this entry gets back to the satirical and sarcastic nature of the blog.

Isn't that special? That spirit and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee, but it sure as hell won't do a damn thing to help you pay the medical bills.

I may be reading too much into this, but I'm pretty sure DailyKos just referenced Dana Carvey's Saturday Night Live sketches as the Church Lady with that rhetorical question.  He also uses an analogy in some sense by explaining that the spirit of the desire for a public option, along with a dollar, can get you something simple like coffee, but in the real world of governance and in the reality based world we live in, 'spirit' for the public option isn't going to get you very far, or much health care for that matter.

Lastly,  there is one thing that ties all of these posts together with one unifying voice.  They're all short sentences within short paragraphs.  The blogger doesn't go on about the same topic, instead he keeps the post succinct and relevant.  This direct style adds to the confrontational, aggressive, and sarcastic voice of the blog DailyKos.