W.A.T.B.: Kos' response to the TNR allegations is up, and frankly, it's pretty lame: a demand that his readers discontinue their subscription to the New Republic. If you want a more substantive defense as to one of the more serious charges, that Kos uses the Advertising Liberally network to silence critics on the left, check out here, here, and here, while TNR responds here. Kos' claim that his private e-mail urging other uber-bloggers to stonewall the specific allegations against him and his chum, Jerome Armstrong, was "off the record", while true, just doesn't cut it; after all, so was Nixon's efforts to cover up Watergate. We're still left with dangling charges that Kos and Armstrong have been shilling for politicians in a manner not unlike the way Armstrong was shilling penny stocks a few years back and getting slapped by the SEC, particularly concerning their egregious conduct in the Ohio Senate race last year. Any lefty blogger who turns a blind eye to that deserves all the scorn he receives.