America's most influential blog is the Daily Kos. Democratic members of Congress post on the blog, Democratic presidential contenders cater to them, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas is considered to be a mainstream figure amongst Democrats.

Keep all of that in mind as you read these excerpts and quotes, all of which come from the Daily Kos writers, not from commenters on the blog:

10) "I wrote a diary a short time ago about how the Bush administration helped ruin my marriage. It wasn't because my husband was a Bush supporter or anything...it was because of all the stresses from job loses, living without health insurance and getting sick, to my husband being forced to take a job where he wasn't home much that helped ruin my marriage." -- angrybird

9) Islamic Countries Can Suck Jesus's Chocolate Covered C***

...Meanwhile, over here in this part of never, never land, the Catholic crazies are all freaked out over a chocolate Jesus. So what????????

I just don't get it. I'm being literal. I don't understand what's offensive about a chocolate Jesus. Maybe I didn't read the part of the Bible that talks about not making graven images of the Lord in chocolate (and it's possible, since the Bible has so many other things that are institutionally nuts I wouldn't rule it out). Why does anyone care that it's in chocolate?

...The other part of this so-called chocolate Jesus controversy is his c*ck. Apparently he has one. Someone hide the children. It turns out humans have d*cks. No, you don't say.

My guess is that if Jesus actually existed he would get a good belly laugh out of people being offended that he had a penis. Yeah, don't worry about feeding the poor or anything. Just obsess over Jesus's chocolate covered penis. I'm sure that's what the good Lord would have wanted.

So, is the argument that Jesus didn't have a d*ck?" -- Cenk Uygur

8) "I know I'm a Jewish lesbian and (Ahmadinejad would) probably have me killed. But still, the guy speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon...

Okay, I admit it. Part of it is that he just looks cuddly. Possibly cuddly enough to turn me straight. I think he kind of looks like Kermit the Frog. Sort of. With smaller eyes. But that's not all...

I want to be very clear. There are certainly many things about Ahmadinejad that I abhor -- locking up dissidents, executing of gay folks, denying the fact of the Holocaust, potentially adding another dangerous nuclear power to the world and, in general, stifling democracy. Even still, I can't help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding." -- sallykohn

7) "When *ss-kissing chickensh*t David Petraeus lied his *ss off before Congress about the failed "surge", capitol hill police tackled and arrested a pentecostal minister, damaging his ankle in the process.

...If you think America isn't undergoing the same slide into fascist dictatorship today as Germany did in the 1930s, you're kidding yourself.

...Those two reasons, more than the brutal assaults on people and the First Amendment, are why America is devolving into a bad replay of Nazi Germany. The lack of national outrage, to the point we do something about it; and the support of it by mindless groupthinkers in society who are so stupid they think it's a good thing that we're being subjected to tyranny." -- Archangel M

6) "Is Congress being blackmailed by W.H.?

Is it spinelessness, political caution (to get Ind. voters in 2008), financial profiteering from Mil/Ind Complex investments, lack of conviction, or simply not being good at stopping Rethug's from blocking legislation that makes our Congress ineffectual? Or is there another, more nefarious, reason for their inability to stand up to White House?

I made a comment, earlier, about how Pelosi talked tough to W.H. but, then, backed down on everything. Senate can't put up any real fights, either. Couldn't even nab Gonzo. Now we get the FISA-Telecomm deal. I got to wondering if lots of Dem. Congress People are being blackmailed. That would explain a lot of folding and playing dead. Wireless surveillance could have been done on our House/Senate people, learning things that Rove could use, and now they're afraid. Maybe they were even quietly threatened with plantings of drugs, kid porn, gay porn, National Review...that kind of sorted thing. You get tagged with any of this stuff and your career is over." --rainmanjr

5) "I have never in my 50 years of life been more frightened then I am now. I have seen the arrogance of this White House and the massive damage done to our country. But the Katrina-size storm clouds are gathering folks. If we do not wake up now and flood Congress to impeach the President and Vice President, one year from now, Daily Kos may be banned and Markos himself may be disappeared, in a federal prison somewhere.

....This is deadly serious folks. This is not just another diary. We ignore this threat at our own peril. I would suggest even I in writing articles like this and the many writers at Daily Kos are personally at risk of being arrested in a future dictatorial United States. The government will use these writings as an excuse to put us away.

....I say WAKE UP Daily Kos!! If the people at Daily Kos cannot take this seriously and try and do something about it, then the United States, as a free country IS doomed. Enjoy your freedom to read and write at such sites as Daily Kos, because that freedom will be taken away WHEN Bush declares martial law." -- slw0606

4) "And anyone -- Liebercrat or Republican -- who stands to oppose impeachment, conviction and removal should be tried for their role as accomplice in the sedition and treason against the United States. No more should they be permitted to hide behind snivelling protocols and talk out both sides of their mouths -- either they are with the nation, or they are part of the criminal conspiracy currently thwarting the will of both Congress and the People." -- GreyHawk

3) "...We need to lose this war and not start the next one so that we can remain a free people. Diminished on the world stage? Perhaps, like Great Britain was diminished when it surrendered its colonial empire. But free." -- bluedogtxn

2) The parallels are undeniable, and I see only one solution if America, The Grand Experiment, is to survive.

I want to stand by and watch it all blow up.

I want the dollar to plunge to worthless paper.

I want the stock market to implode.

I want the economy to plunge into chaos.

I want the Chinese to call in all the debt they hold.

I want an economic meltdown of such staggering proportion that even that idiot on Bill Moyer's Journal who does not know the difference between a State Constitution and the United States Constitution, is forced to look around in mild surprise and wonder what the hell happened.

Only total economic destruction will get the attention of the fools.

...And I want it now, before this inept, self-serving Congress allows the Facists one more opportunity to fully convert this from the United States of America, into the 4th Reich." -- Granny Doc

1) "But do I still support the individual men and women who have given so much to serve their country? No. I think they're a bunch of idiots. I also think they're morally retarded. Because they sign a contract that says they will kill whoever you tell me to kill. And that is morally retarded.

Friends, the most important moral decision a man makes in the course of a day is "Who am I going to kill today?" That's a decision you should agonize over, dream about, rehearse in your mind for hours, not just leave up to some hare-brained President you didn't even vote for.

A man's killing list is a very personal matter. It should be between him and those persistent voices in his head. So to sum up, I don't like our troops, I don't like what they're doing, I don't like their fat, whining families, and yet, I support them. Thank God I live in a free country. Thank You." -- AWhitneyBrown

Also see,

The Worst Quotes From The Daily Kos For 2006