Steve Gilliard

I was away from blogging the last few days, so I missed this unfortunate announcement: Steve Gilliard, founder of the News Blog and the first guest-poster at the Daily Kos, died last weekend. He was 42.

Steve was one of the strongest voices in the left-blogosphere, and extremely influential on my own views, though I never met the man or corresponded at length. I read his page almost every day, from his early days at Kos, and often found myself consciously and unconsciously parroting arguments I first read on his site.

His analyses of the greater implications of an Iraq war--written before the invasion and continuing until his untimely death--were prescient and far more accurate than almost anything found in the mainstream media. He was influential throughout the online Left, and respected by many on the Right. "He was one of the first bloggers to put forth the idea that civility in maintenance of the status quo was a sucker's game, and he was never shy about letting others know when they had been suckered." He was a "fighting liberal."

His New York Times obituary can be read here, Kos's can be seen here, and collections of remembrances throughout the blog world can be found here and here.

Steve will be missed.