Difference between revisions of "Townhouse"

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'''Townhouse''' is a closed by-invitation-only [[liberal]] [[listserv]] begun by [[blogger]] and [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] campaign consultant [[Matt Stoller]].  Participants agree to keep their information exchanges confidential or risk being banned from the private Townhouse listserv.   
 
'''Townhouse''' is a closed by-invitation-only [[liberal]] [[listserv]] begun by [[blogger]] and [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] campaign consultant [[Matt Stoller]].  Participants agree to keep their information exchanges confidential or risk being banned from the private Townhouse listserv.   
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==Background==
  
 
Townhouse provides the online equivalent of a political backroom for [[Democratic Party]]-aligned advocates, consultants and lobbyists.  On this closed listserv selected liberals -- including bloggers [[Glenn Greenwald]], [[Markos Moulitsas]] and [[Atrios]]; film maker [[Robert Greenwald]]; leaders of liberal [[think tanks]] such as [[Robert Borosage]] of [[Campaign for America's Future]]; [[Wes Boyd]], [[Tom Matzzie]] and other leaders of [[MoveOn]]; and other Democratic campaign and PR consultants -- can confidentially discuss and debate their issues, strategies and tactics.
 
Townhouse provides the online equivalent of a political backroom for [[Democratic Party]]-aligned advocates, consultants and lobbyists.  On this closed listserv selected liberals -- including bloggers [[Glenn Greenwald]], [[Markos Moulitsas]] and [[Atrios]]; film maker [[Robert Greenwald]]; leaders of liberal [[think tanks]] such as [[Robert Borosage]] of [[Campaign for America's Future]]; [[Wes Boyd]], [[Tom Matzzie]] and other leaders of [[MoveOn]]; and other Democratic campaign and PR consultants -- can confidentially discuss and debate their issues, strategies and tactics.
  
An article on Salon.com reports "Townhouse began after the disastrous [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 election]], when young Democratic activists began meeting on Sundays for beers at Townhouse Tavern, a subterranean watering hole in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood.  ...  Here was the next generation of would-be D.C. power brokers, kids in their 20s and 30s who planned to mold the political future. At some point, Matt Stoller, the preppy enforcer of liberal blogging, helped organize the group into a formal e-mail list. ... Over time, the e-mail list and the Sunday afternoon boozefests grew. ... Through it all, Stoller controlled the membership. If you stayed in his graces, and met the group's qualifications, you got yourself a ticket to both the electronic and the alcoholic conversations. At all times, the whole enterprise was declared off the record, to be spoken of in hushed tones only with others who knew the proverbial secret handshake. ... the public introduction of Townhouse now presents the big-name bloggers and online activists with a transparency dilemma. On the one hand, bloggers like to talk of themselves as a democratic, grass-roots movement. (Moulitsas often conflates himself with the entire 'people-powered movement' in his blog posts.) On the other hand, the [[blogosphere]] boasts an emerging leadership elite, which is increasingly profiting on its insider status in both the Democratic Party and among one another." [http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/22/townhouse/index.html]
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An article on ''Salon.com'' reports "Townhouse began after the disastrous [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 election]], when young Democratic activists began meeting on Sundays for beers at Townhouse Tavern, a subterranean watering hole in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood.  ...  Here was the next generation of would-be D.C. power brokers, kids in their 20s and 30s who planned to mold the political future. At some point, Matt Stoller, the preppy enforcer of liberal blogging, helped organize the group into a formal e-mail list. ... Over time, the e-mail list and the Sunday afternoon boozefests grew. ... Through it all, Stoller controlled the membership. If you stayed in his graces, and met the group's qualifications, you got yourself a ticket to both the electronic and the alcoholic conversations. At all times, the whole enterprise was declared off the record, to be spoken of in hushed tones only with others who knew the proverbial secret handshake. ... the public introduction of Townhouse now presents the big-name bloggers and online activists with a transparency dilemma. On the one hand, bloggers like to talk of themselves as a democratic, grass-roots movement. (Moulitsas often conflates himself with the entire 'people-powered movement' in his blog posts.) On the other hand, the [[blogosphere]] boasts an emerging leadership elite, which is increasingly profiting on its insider status in both the Democratic Party and among one another."<ref>Tim Grieve, [http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/22/townhouse/index.html "Bloggers' double-super-secret smoky room,"] ''War Room''/Salon.com, June 22, 2006.</ref>
  
One leading member of the group, Markos C. A. Moulitsas Zúñiga, has admitted that [http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/10/02/markos-moulitsas/the-case-for-the-libertarian-democrat/ he was a Republican for many years] before he started his blog, DailyKos.  While at Northern Illinois State University, [http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/08/kos-acknowledges-truth-about-kos-at.html Moulitsas Zúñiga acknowledges], he helped Republican Congressman Henry Hyde get elected.  [http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/08/kos-acknowledges-truth-about-kos-at.html He also acknowledges] that he wrote a letter to his college newspaper entitled [http://www.northernstar.info/article.php?id=16416&old=1 "Military Right" ], opposing all gay service in the U.S. military.  And on June 6, 2006, in an [http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/06/06-06zuniga-audio.html address to the Commonwealth Club] in San Francisco, Moulitsas Zúñiga said that he started his DailyKos blog during a two-year period when he was training with the US Central Intelligence Agency, preparing to become an undercover agent of the CIA.
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==Articles and resources==
 
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===Related SourceWatch articles===
One blog, [http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/08/indictment-of-markos-ca-moulitsas-ziga.html The Truth About Kos], which has been critical both [http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensuring-orthodoxy-among-netroots.html of the secretive Townhouse Group] in general, and of Moulitsas Zuñiga in particular, [http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/08/how-to-distinguish-kos-colluding-blogs.html raises questions] about the Townhouse Group by pointing out that at least one of the group's leaders admits that [http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-discredit-mamz-marcos-ca.html he was trained by the CIA for undercover work], [http://www.northernstar.info/article.php?id=16416&old=1 opposed all gay service in the military], and [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0601.wallace-wells.html was a devoted Republican] before starting a blog intended to offer leadership to Democrats.
 
 
 
In the past, Moulitsas stated in writing for is college newspaper that, as concerns identifiable minorities, including Latinos, who suffer discrimination, Moulitsas' attitude is one of [http://www.northernstar.info/article.php?id=31464&old=1" detached selfishness"], [http://truth-about-kos.blogspot.com/2009/09/is-markos-moultisas-kos-of-dailykos.html Truth About Kos]
 
==Related SourceWatch articles==
 
 
*[[Bloggers]]
 
*[[Bloggers]]
 
*[[Jerome Armstrong]]
 
*[[Jerome Armstrong]]
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*[[The Daily Kos]]
 
*[[The Daily Kos]]
  
== External links ==
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===References===
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<references/>
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=== External resources ===
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=== External articles ===
  
===2005===
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====2005====
 
*Matt Stoller, [http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoller/52422348/ Photos of Townhouse bar] at ''flickr.com'', October 2005; also posted by Mark Spittle [http://www.spittleandink.com/isis/?p=519 here].
 
*Matt Stoller, [http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoller/52422348/ Photos of Townhouse bar] at ''flickr.com'', October 2005; also posted by Mark Spittle [http://www.spittleandink.com/isis/?p=519 here].
  
===2006===
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====2006====
 
*Jason Zengerle, [http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=21574 "The Blogosphere's Smoke-Filled Backroom,"] ''The Plank'' Blog / ''The New Republic'', June 21, 2006.
 
*Jason Zengerle, [http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=21574 "The Blogosphere's Smoke-Filled Backroom,"] ''The Plank'' Blog / ''The New Republic'', June 21, 2006.
 
*Jason Zengerle, [http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=21637 "The Power of the Purse Strings,"] ''The Plank'' Blog / ''The New Republic'', June 21, 2006.
 
*Jason Zengerle, [http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=21637 "The Power of the Purse Strings,"] ''The Plank'' Blog / ''The New Republic'', June 21, 2006.
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*Mark Spittle, [http://www.spittleandink.com/isis/?p=519 "More Kos Messages Leaked!"] ''Spittle & Ink'' Blog, July 30, 2006.
 
*Mark Spittle, [http://www.spittleandink.com/isis/?p=519 "More Kos Messages Leaked!"] ''Spittle & Ink'' Blog, July 30, 2006.
  
===2007===
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====2007====
 
* Daniel Shulman,  [http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/07/meet_the_new_bosses.html Meet the New Bosses: After crashing the gate of the political establishment, bloggers are looking more like the next gatekeepers], Mother Jones magazine, June 20, 2007.
 
* Daniel Shulman,  [http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/07/meet_the_new_bosses.html Meet the New Bosses: After crashing the gate of the political establishment, bloggers are looking more like the next gatekeepers], Mother Jones magazine, June 20, 2007.
 
* Jonathan Stein, [http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/08/5078_the_new_bosses.html The New Bosses Congregate at YearlyKos], Mother Jones blogsite,  August 3, 2007.
 
* Jonathan Stein, [http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/08/5078_the_new_bosses.html The New Bosses Congregate at YearlyKos], Mother Jones blogsite,  August 3, 2007.

Latest revision as of 06:55, 19 September 2009

Townhouse is a closed by-invitation-only liberal listserv begun by blogger and Democratic campaign consultant Matt Stoller. Participants agree to keep their information exchanges confidential or risk being banned from the private Townhouse listserv.

Background

Townhouse provides the online equivalent of a political backroom for Democratic Party-aligned advocates, consultants and lobbyists. On this closed listserv selected liberals -- including bloggers Glenn Greenwald, Markos Moulitsas and Atrios; film maker Robert Greenwald; leaders of liberal think tanks such as Robert Borosage of Campaign for America's Future; Wes Boyd, Tom Matzzie and other leaders of MoveOn; and other Democratic campaign and PR consultants -- can confidentially discuss and debate their issues, strategies and tactics.

An article on Salon.com reports "Townhouse began after the disastrous 2004 election, when young Democratic activists began meeting on Sundays for beers at Townhouse Tavern, a subterranean watering hole in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood. ... Here was the next generation of would-be D.C. power brokers, kids in their 20s and 30s who planned to mold the political future. At some point, Matt Stoller, the preppy enforcer of liberal blogging, helped organize the group into a formal e-mail list. ... Over time, the e-mail list and the Sunday afternoon boozefests grew. ... Through it all, Stoller controlled the membership. If you stayed in his graces, and met the group's qualifications, you got yourself a ticket to both the electronic and the alcoholic conversations. At all times, the whole enterprise was declared off the record, to be spoken of in hushed tones only with others who knew the proverbial secret handshake. ... the public introduction of Townhouse now presents the big-name bloggers and online activists with a transparency dilemma. On the one hand, bloggers like to talk of themselves as a democratic, grass-roots movement. (Moulitsas often conflates himself with the entire 'people-powered movement' in his blog posts.) On the other hand, the blogosphere boasts an emerging leadership elite, which is increasingly profiting on its insider status in both the Democratic Party and among one another."[1]

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. Tim Grieve, "Bloggers' double-super-secret smoky room," War Room/Salon.com, June 22, 2006.

External resources

External articles

2005

2006

2007

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