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The Progressive Blogosphere Says Farewell to One of Its Own
By nathanleewilcox | June 4, 2007
Got the sad news this weekend that Steve Gilliard, one of my all-time blogging heroes has passed away at the early age of 41. Steve was a leading light of the progressive blogosphere and was one of the first frontpagers at DailyKos. James and I had the honor of having Steve on as a guest on one of our first Heading Left shows. You can listen to it here.
Markos of Daily Kos has written a tribute:
When reporters ask me when I first started thinking Daily Kos would become something more important, I tell them about the Dean campaign, or about the traffic explosion during the run-up and start of the Iraq War.
But that’s pretty much bullshit. Because the reality is much more mundane, much less sexy –
It was the arrival on the site’s comment boards of two people — Meteor Blades and Steve Gilliard.
They were a real revelation to me — I couldn’t believe that people like them, so brilliant, so insightful, so talented, would spend time at my little corner of the world. They inspired me to keep writing, keep building this place. Because if nothing else, I needed to make sure they had a platform upon which to speak.
So they ended up being two of the first contributing editors on Daily Kos. Steve, in fact, was the first person I ever approached with the “guest blogger” offer. And he didn’t waste time getting started, drawing on history of the region and the British occupation of Iraq in the late 1910s to set the stage for what the US would soon face in Iraq. He was frighteningly prescient on Iraq, and it wasn’t the only topic he would consistently nail. He was a credit to the progressive blogosphere.
James Wolcott of Vanity Fair has a powerful piece:
Where did that voice go? Not his literal voice, his voice in person or over the phone–he and I only met once. I mean his voice on the screen page, his blog voice, which was a fiery broadsword in its wrath and softly contemplative in its grief and understanding.
Powerful farewells from Sara at Orcinus. Digby. Peter Dauo. Jane Hamsher. Jon Swift and Tom Watson have tributes and more links.
Kid Oakland wrote this “For Steve Gilliard” while Steve was ill back in March.
People have been pointing out their favorite Gilliard pieces, like his Colonial Warfare series or 2003’s prescient “How Iraq Could Devolve Into Civil War“. Meteor Blades picked “Abusing History.” WhiskeyFire pointed out Steve’s work on Civility. Lots of folks picked “I’m a Fighting Liberal.” Fact-esque has a good list of favorites.
The NY Times blog wrote a piece and Phoenix Woman writes about the Gilliard News, Steve’s first online publication.
Mad Kane has an audio interview with Steve. Thanks to the General for the graphic I borrowed.
Keep fighting Steve!
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