Daily Kos Turns 20: Let's showcase our best work! Up next: The man who started it all—Kos himself

This post was originally published on this site

The internet—and the world—was a very different place on May 26, 2002, when Markos Moulitsas dashed off seven sentences and hit PUBLISH on the first-ever post on Daily Kos. Moulitsas—better known as the Kos in Daily Kos and Kos Media, LLC—will be the first to tell you that he never anticipated what was to come. 

And now, we’re just weeks from the 20th anniversary of that iconic handful of sentences. In case you haven’t noticed, we kinda can’t stop talking about it or coming up with ways to celebrate. There are the Koscars and my fun little project—This is My Best—and so much more to come!

Some years ago, I’m told, there was a wonderful series called This Is My Best (TIMB), which encouraged Community members to share one piece of their own writing that they were most proud of, rather than the writing of others. One part self-promotion, one part self-confidence, all parts awesome, TIMB encourages writers to press pause on their roles as their own worst critics and take some time to toot their own horns.

I’m so excited to bring TIMB back for this amazing milestone, and it’s been a blast collecting submissions from the CC Team, our Daily Kos staffers, and you, dear Community. 

This week we’re highlighting the writing of our fearless site founder. Since the site, you know, has his name on it and stuff, and he’s written nearly 15,000 posts since that first one, I decided he didn’t have to pick just one story. 

As I noted in the first installment of TIMB, which showcased the Community Contributors, we’re challenging you to reflect on your own writing at Daily Kos and choose your own “best” story. 

In the comments, sound off with your own This Is My Best submissions. We’ll be watching and taking note—and using your favorites to create new collections.

Be sure to include a link to your chosen best story and a sentence or two about why you think it’s great. Keep in mind that your “best” story doesn’t need to be your most recommended or the one that got the most comments.

You can read the second installment—which featured Daily Kos Staff and includes my own submission, toot toot!—right here. So far, we’ve got over 60 of your TIMB submissions, and we’ll be using them to keep the party going right up until our joyful 20th anniversary on May 26!

But right now, it’s time to see what stories Kos thinks are his best. He selected eight awesome stories that span both decades of Daily Kos, and deserves a round of applause just for taking on that Herculean task. He didn’t even complain about it when I asked … not too much, anyway.

Let’s go!

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Day 1 (2002)

I hate this post. Had I known at the time that Daily Kos would become what it became, I would’ve given it more thought. But it is what it is, and it launched this amazing place.

The secret of [Howard] Dean’s success (2003)

“The formula to Dean’s success is simple: He speaks like a Democrat, particularly the part about opposing Republicans. That resonates with those of us who saw DLC-types lead our party to disaster in 2002.”

People today really don’t get just how far we’ve come as a party in the last (nearly) 20 years. It was radical for a Democrat to sound like a Democrat.

Watch Obama (2004)

I was at the DNC convention in Boston, and watched Barack Obama—then running for U.S. Senate—give his famous speech that catapulted him to national prominence. What a mess of a story—no first names or titles; I talk about Obama having his race “in the bag,” without saying what race that was. I assumed everyone reading was as much of a plugged-in nerd as I was. It was also the first time I wrote about Obama being on track to be “the first Black president.”

Saturday hate mail-a-palooza (“Dear Socialist Fuckstick” edition) 2009

Before Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, the only way for conservatives to express their hatred for me and Daily Kos was through email, which I would then publish as a weekend feature. This is the most classic of those classics.

Comedian David Cross and our own Joan McCarter read some of that hate mail for a YearlyKos feature.

Yes, I’m angry. Pissed. Livid. And yes, at pretty much everyone (2016)

The results of the 2016 election were brutal. Here’s where I lashed out.

Robert Kennedy Jr. cavorts with Nazis, and suing Daily Kos won’t make that any less true (2021)

We fight for our community, even if it means expensive litigation against a Kennedy family scion.

Anti-vaxx chronicles: Another senseless death by QAnon stupidity (2021)

Nothing particularly special about this story, except that it launched a six-month daily series that was only supplanted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine update: Most Russian troops are support, not fighters, and they are stretched too thin (2022)

I’m really proud of my Russian war coverage, and this piece specifically really gets at something I’ve seen discussed very rarely in any media outlet—just how few soldiers in any army are actually combat arms.

Now it’s your turn! To make my job easier (and data entry much faster), please use this format for your submission:

Linked title of story (year published)

A sentence or two in your own words—not an excerpt—about why it’s your “best.”

See you in the comments! Remember: If you’ve already submitted, there’s no need to do it again, and we are only accepting one story per person. And if you can’t narrow down your choice before comments close, we’ll be back with another installment (and opportunity to submit) next week!