Disconnected Thursday, June 19, 2008
I'm guessing Deb Kozikowski of Rural Votes is in a back room, meeting with the connected insiders to whom she feels accountable. Then again, maybe she's being held incommunicado to keep her from compounding the damage she's already done to other gasping old school Democratic Party regulars.
These are tough days for Dems who deal in money and cronies, as they brace for a tsunami of small "d" democracy whipped up by the grassroots-funded and organized Obama campaign. The last thing they need is a Democratic National Committee member like Kozikowski opening fire on the insurgents but only managing to shoot herself in the foot. Again and again and again.
Whatever the case, it's probably best for all involved that Ms. Kozikowski refrain from electronic communication. Back channel bullying loses its impact when messages meant to make one individual quake and capitulate are exposed to a broader audience. This is just what happened yesterday when Al Giordano made public McCarthyistic, misogynistic, homophobic e-mails composed by Ms. Kozikowski and aimed at Al. With comical ham-handedness, the cloddish Kozikowski even claimed to speak for the Obama campaign!
Even though he had brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to her website with his phenomenally successful blog, The Field, Deb Kozikowski made it clear that neither the throng nor Al meant diddly-squat to her. Instead, she intended to dance to a tune that was called by big-moneyed back-roomers. But a close read of the emails makes it rather obvious that the only person calling anything was Deb Kozikowski and her remarks were limited to bluster and bullshit. After this, other insiders will want to go nowhere near the now radioactive co-founder of Rural Votes so she speaks for no one but her severely discredited self.
Anyway, after you read Al's post please check out the comments from the people she's disrespected and underestimated by ignoring their desire to collectively send Girodano to be their eyes and ears at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The Fieldhands take this woman and her emails apart in an outburst of glorious tag-team articulation. Even though Kozikowski vs. Giordano was no contest in the first place, when you factor in the Fieldhands and their verbal pitchforks and torches, it gets ugly, awful, hilarious and wonderful all at once.
Rural Votes, an organization that is supposed to represent those of us who live off the beaten interstate, is now looking like an operation set up by slicks with the intent of suckering the rubes.
So long as Ms Kozikowski remains in charge of this endeavor, it will be hard for it to be seen as anything but a confidence operation. In fact, the Democratic Party really needs to look at her status as a super delegate and DNC member because she has alienated everyone including Obama grassroots supporters, Clinton loyalists, the LGBT community and even the rest of the party old-schoolers, who need her like they need C-SPAN coverage of their next penthouse confab.
If it's to regain even a modicum of credibility, Rural Votes must make it clear that it will guarantee Al Giordano the credential he earned to cover the Democratic National Convention. It also needs to guarantee that Al's travel, first-class accommodations and per diems for Denver will be covered. The $5,000 collected from Fieldhands to send Al to Denver was raised a few months back to secure Al the accommodations and travel he needed before the cost of such arrangements shot out of sight. So Rural Votes must guarantee that it will provide Giordano with arrangements acceptable to him. Just handing him $5,000 and saying "Good Luck" won't be enough. And I say this as a person who has traveled regularly for thirty years, including several trips to political conventions.
Finally, there is the future of the Field itself. Rural Votes must relinquish all rights to the name. The Field belongs to Al Giordano and the Fieldhands. Rural Votes also needs to place a very visible link on its site to redirect those looking for The Field to its new location. Without these immediate good faith gestures, Rural Votes may not last until the fall harvest.
The way things have broken, and broken down, for Ms. Kozikowski, she may finally be facing reality. The radio silence from her camp might simply represent the noiselessness that should emanate from someone who has nothing to say in her own defense. On the other hand, as recently as Sunday she was scrambling to find someone to replace Al as the lead blogger on the Field. I know because at the end of an e-mail exchange that began when she wrote to chastise me minutes after I posted an announcement concerning the relocation of the Field, she "jokingly" offered me the gig. (and if pressed I'll post the entire exchange but it's rather tepid once you've seen Al's post)
But the thing is I have been around show biz, the media and politics long enough to know that she was checking to see if I would prostitute myself and scab on my friend Al.
Had I written back and said, "Well, I always listen to offers. JUST KIDDING!" the negotiations would have been on. Even if they didn't work out, Deb would have had proof that everyone wasn't on Al's side. And because scumminess is a sign of weakness, she knew if I did take the gig, I could be pushed around. I simply didn't reply. She has her plausible deniability but believe me, she was testing me. I'd bet anything that she's looked around the blogsphere for someone who might exchange their credibility for a credentialed trip to Denver. A simple word of warning to anyone tempted by such an offer: You will be a pariah in Denver and tainted as a scab forever if you take the bait.
These are tough days for Dems who deal in money and cronies, as they brace for a tsunami of small "d" democracy whipped up by the grassroots-funded and organized Obama campaign. The last thing they need is a Democratic National Committee member like Kozikowski opening fire on the insurgents but only managing to shoot herself in the foot. Again and again and again.
Whatever the case, it's probably best for all involved that Ms. Kozikowski refrain from electronic communication. Back channel bullying loses its impact when messages meant to make one individual quake and capitulate are exposed to a broader audience. This is just what happened yesterday when Al Giordano made public McCarthyistic, misogynistic, homophobic e-mails composed by Ms. Kozikowski and aimed at Al. With comical ham-handedness, the cloddish Kozikowski even claimed to speak for the Obama campaign!
Even though he had brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to her website with his phenomenally successful blog, The Field, Deb Kozikowski made it clear that neither the throng nor Al meant diddly-squat to her. Instead, she intended to dance to a tune that was called by big-moneyed back-roomers. But a close read of the emails makes it rather obvious that the only person calling anything was Deb Kozikowski and her remarks were limited to bluster and bullshit. After this, other insiders will want to go nowhere near the now radioactive co-founder of Rural Votes so she speaks for no one but her severely discredited self.
Anyway, after you read Al's post please check out the comments from the people she's disrespected and underestimated by ignoring their desire to collectively send Girodano to be their eyes and ears at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The Fieldhands take this woman and her emails apart in an outburst of glorious tag-team articulation. Even though Kozikowski vs. Giordano was no contest in the first place, when you factor in the Fieldhands and their verbal pitchforks and torches, it gets ugly, awful, hilarious and wonderful all at once.
Rural Votes, an organization that is supposed to represent those of us who live off the beaten interstate, is now looking like an operation set up by slicks with the intent of suckering the rubes.
If it's to regain even a modicum of credibility, Rural Votes must make it clear that it will guarantee Al Giordano the credential he earned to cover the Democratic National Convention. It also needs to guarantee that Al's travel, first-class accommodations and per diems for Denver will be covered. The $5,000 collected from Fieldhands to send Al to Denver was raised a few months back to secure Al the accommodations and travel he needed before the cost of such arrangements shot out of sight. So Rural Votes must guarantee that it will provide Giordano with arrangements acceptable to him. Just handing him $5,000 and saying "Good Luck" won't be enough. And I say this as a person who has traveled regularly for thirty years, including several trips to political conventions.
Finally, there is the future of the Field itself. Rural Votes must relinquish all rights to the name. The Field belongs to Al Giordano and the Fieldhands. Rural Votes also needs to place a very visible link on its site to redirect those looking for The Field to its new location. Without these immediate good faith gestures, Rural Votes may not last until the fall harvest.
The way things have broken, and broken down, for Ms. Kozikowski, she may finally be facing reality. The radio silence from her camp might simply represent the noiselessness that should emanate from someone who has nothing to say in her own defense. On the other hand, as recently as Sunday she was scrambling to find someone to replace Al as the lead blogger on the Field. I know because at the end of an e-mail exchange that began when she wrote to chastise me minutes after I posted an announcement concerning the relocation of the Field, she "jokingly" offered me the gig. (and if pressed I'll post the entire exchange but it's rather tepid once you've seen Al's post)
From: DebbySKoz@cs.com
Date: June 15, 2008 1:24:21 PM EDT
To: bfcrim@barrycrimmins.com
Subject: Re: Ah geez ...
OK Barry, I appreciate your understanding ... but please no more from me. I am in lawyer land over Al's recent and public blow and should have just kept my mouth shut. Plus it's Father's Day. Oy.
Want a job blogging? LOL I AM JUST KIDDING!
Deb Kozikowski
RuralVotes
PO Box 108
Chesterfield, MA 01012
ruralvotes.com
But the thing is I have been around show biz, the media and politics long enough to know that she was checking to see if I would prostitute myself and scab on my friend Al.
Had I written back and said, "Well, I always listen to offers. JUST KIDDING!" the negotiations would have been on. Even if they didn't work out, Deb would have had proof that everyone wasn't on Al's side. And because scumminess is a sign of weakness, she knew if I did take the gig, I could be pushed around. I simply didn't reply. She has her plausible deniability but believe me, she was testing me. I'd bet anything that she's looked around the blogsphere for someone who might exchange their credibility for a credentialed trip to Denver. A simple word of warning to anyone tempted by such an offer: You will be a pariah in Denver and tainted as a scab forever if you take the bait.
