Steve Gilliard

Wikipedia shows its colors with the death of Steve Gilliard and they are white and pink and and ivory and peach.

There is an astoundingly racist discussion going on in Wikipedia on the subject of whether Steve Gilliard should be included in Wikipedia. I have added my two cents to the discussion after I read this:

He was definitely widely cited by his peers, in the liberal blogsphere and therefore meets the notability requirement. If Atrios, Markos, Josh Marshall are all citing him, I think he should remain.

So as long as white, male bloggers like Markos Mooulitzas, Josh Marshall and Duncan Black quote you, you are opened the gates of notability. Anybody else, no matter how important they are to the blogosphere, is kept out.

Unless, of course, you publish a book --and that's only if the book is by a major publisher with wide distribution.

So somebody like me, Chris Rabb or BrownFemiPower, Jill Filipovich or Lauren Bruce are out. Barbara O'Brien, Jessica Valenti are in.

Lynne D. Johnson and George Kelly maybe are in if their companies push for the page. If they won't, then they're out as well. Lindsay Beyerstein could be included and so Amanda Marcotte given they are quote by 2 of the 3 BWM gatekeepers.

This is the one post that you should read over and over again, as I do, to understand what gets Liza Sabater's inner blogsheroe going.

I wrote Secular Blue America after an election "post mortem" written by Steve back in 2004. Steve's article is titled, They Voted For This Mess and it talked about how important it was for 'liberals' to understand that those who voted for Bush in 2004 were not stupid.

In Steve's reality check book, people who voted Republican did so because they had to:

UPDATE BY LIZA SABATER:
Kos speaks --Steve

*****

The Rude Pundit is responsible for my finally meeting Steve. Lee had just released the CD of his awesome one-man show and he threw a party to mark the event.

At he time I was a homeschooling mother of two and sometime consultant so I had barely any time to drop by. Lee said the magic words : Steve is coming.

O. M. G.

Having the opportunity to meet two of my superheroes in one night was too good to pass up and so I begged and implored the patriarchy at home to release me. As fast as I could, I oiled myself into a pair of jeans and scooted to the West Village.

When I got there once I gave a big hug to Lee I jumped all over Steve and to say he was a bit taken aback but loving it is not to be off the mark. I needed to let him know how much he meant to me as a writer, as an activist and as a blatina. I needed to cram as much in as little a time and thusly went to town.

Believe it or not, he blushed.

Steve was a muscular writer but in person he was could be quite unassuming. "Stop it!" He said it many times and so after the fangirlishness susbsided, we just shot the shit.

At that time neither of us had medical insurance --an issue of which we wrote about occasionally. I knew he had problems with his kidneys but once he told me the litanny of ailments he had and I told him ours, we had a bit of a bitch fest about doctors and money and the whole 'culture of health' in this country. I gave one last hug for good measure, hoping it would not be the last.

UPDATE BY LIZA SABATER :
For my eulogies, please go to Steve you are one of the reasons why I am still blogging and Just so you understand how important Steve Gilliard is to my work in the blogosphere

****

I didn't know Steve Gilliard, but he was a big name in blogging when I was just barely poking around wondering what Daily Kos was all about. Two diaries on Daily Kos cover his death better than I can:

Steve Gilliard has died, by Rosebuddear

and

Steve Gilliard - R.I.P. by Meteor Blades

This photo from Campus Progress:

Once heard someone say of Gilliard an utmost complement: There are those who bullshit and those who don't and Steve was one of those who don't. To me, that is a great compliment in this world.