Before Obama was inaugurated I was told by someone involved in the drone program that Obama intended to massively increase assassinations. My publisher would not let me publish that story unless my source would go on public record (ending their career/winding up in jail.) https://twitter.com/bigblackjacobin/status/1329803230977646596

soon became moot, of course, since Obama went and did it and liberals didn't give a shit (no, don't pretend they did, I have a memory.)

People desperately wanted to believe Obama was something he wasn't. Desperately. And they would not tolerate contradictory information.

my last fight before I left that job was that I wanted to allow writers who wanted to criticize Obama to do so. Not an editorial line: those who wanted to praise Obama also could.

No go because the publisher believed the audience wouldn't tolerate it.

she believed that because when they criticized Pelosi early after 2006 there was huge backlash/dropped traffic. They were right, of course, but people REFUSED to hear it.

I thought I could manage it (my reign increased traffic significantly) but she had good reason to be leery.

most people do not pay for information or truth, they pay to have their emotions coddled.

(I was managing editor. From when I took over till when I left, after the election traffic boost ended, traffic increased about 60% in about 8 months. But could I have maintained that while criticizing Saint Obama? Maybe not.)

Certainly, later when FDL did go anti-Obama it cost them massively in terms of traffic and donors. Eventually was one of the things that killed off the blog.

Telling the truth is costly, it is NOT what most people want you to do.