There is absolutely nothing wrong with what he's said.  This says it all:

As a company we take no stand on any political issues save those directly related to air transportation issues.

The implication here is clear, emphasis mine:

I was personally completely unaware of the existence of DailyKos prior to news connecting the YearlyKos convention and thus our airline ticket donation to DailyKos. I personally have never condoned and abhor anything hateful towards anyone and am fully confident that JetBlue's crewmembers share this view.

He is implicitly giving weight to the O'Reilly/Malkin claim that the views regularly expressed on Daily Kos are "hateful" and not to be "condoned." He didn't specifically write, "whoa, you guys are totally right -- dKos is a hate site," but that was the message he was stupidly trying to send.

Hillary Clinton has the most aggressive push back. They are now launching a full front page petition on behalf of dailykos. Go Hillary!! Smart!!!

If Obama does not want 'netroots', Hillary certainly won't mind taking it.
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/action/ore illy/?sc=8

There is nothing wrong with Jet Blue's stance. All companies should have that stand.

that leaves people stranded on runways for 28 hours?

He perhaps needs to worry a little more about the nuts and bolts of running his shitty little airline than he needs to worry about pissing off O'Bullshit's 60+ demographic who doesn't fly anywhere CLOSE to the numbers of the DKos' much younger audience.

I will never ever fly them again.  Ever.

It is diaries like this and some of the comments which will forever doom Progressive politics and their ideas to always be considered fringe.  They believe in the unfairness doctrine as long as it swings their way.  They leap to embrace superficial support if it props up their ego.  Hillary cares enough about us to take on Bill O'Reilly who cares if she voted for the War and is for NAFTA.  It's quite remarkable.  

Errrr, wasn't George Soros one of the original big financiers of JetBlue?

I've flown them before.  Great airline.  Good service.  Huuuuuuge legroom in coach, which is much appreciated because I'm 6-5.  And they have the cool TV screens on the backs of all the seats, so even if you are stranded on the runway for hours, you don't care because you're narcotized by DirectTV and 20 channels of XM, all free.

Yeah, I don't actually have a problem with JetBlue's stance (it seems pretty neutral to me), but I'm in favor of any event that helps us organize better as a movement and flex some economic muscle.  So yeah, keep stirring that pot.

Somewhat related, the guy who blogs for Susan Collins has a post echoing claims that DailyKos is a hate site...and his post ends with "H/T Michelle Malkin."

I read it, then I needed a drink of scotch to make teh stoopid stop hurting.

well just remember this when someone sponsors an exstreme right wing event send oberman after them.

Truth be told, the JetBlue CEO is a putz.  He was woefully inept at responding to O'Reilly's obnoxious little minion outside his apartment.  Even though one could make the case that he was "ambushed", he could have refuted O'Reillys ridiculous assertions easily; instead, he appeared totally flummoxed and stammered like a child.  His behavior over the past two days indicates hasn't changed my initial impression of him.  A smarter guy could have dispensed with that nonsense easily.  The guy won't last long after this controversey.

This is unfortunate. JetBlue allowed O'Reilly to define their support and thus destroy it. This is what O'Reilly and so many of his ilk do. It's from the Neocon play book. Page 1.

But this should really fire up the folks at YearlyKos!

Good for Hillary.

I have to infer from this post that someone has been smokin' something, and it ain't JetBlue.

I am amazed that with YearlyKos coming up with them attending, neither Obama nor Edwards have issued a statement condemning O'Reilly's comments towards Dkos and the left blogosphere.   It need not be as strong as Clinton's statement and petition page on her website are, a simple memo, even a one-liner would have sufficed.   Instead, nothing.   Why?

I have no dog in the JetBlue / Daily Kos fight.  But, it does appear to me that a few of the persons posting comments should immediately seek a mental status examination.  From my professional perspective, a portion of the comments could rightfully be classfied as hate speech.

If you want to be treated as functioning, rational adults.  Act like you are.

Why dont we email to Jet Blue the hateful things Bill O Reilly and FOx says on their show and channel.

I don't quite understand what JetBlue was going to do before that they will not do now. Everybody realizes that JetBlue was NOT endorsing the politics of YearlyKos, right? They donated 10 free tickets. That's all they ever planned to do.

Yes, we should perhaps make a record of all of the falsehoods that Faux News perpetuates, and systematically email their corporate sponsors that they are explicitly in support of their right wing mis-information hate campaign.

As for DKos, the explosive popularity of blogging in general is in response to the very poor information and debate we get from MSM, and especiually Faux News.

In this regard and in our campaign to inform corporations, it should be made clear that Faux News and such undergo strict editorial manipulation and revision, whereas by its very nature, the blogosphere is an open market of ideas and information, where many viewpoints and debate is fundamental to its' existence.

Well, HRC could tell Murdoch to tell O'Reilly, herself, but I don't blame her for this opportunity to gather email addresses.

This is a bit ridiculous. Obviously, JetBlue is no friend to Daily Kos, nor should it be--it's an airline company. And clearly it's backed away from its prior claim of "sponsoring" Yearly Kos. However, many people in the thread are reading far too much into the statement released by the CEO. It did not say that Daily Kos was a "hateful" website, or even really imply such a thing. It's merely absolving JetBlue of any sort of substantive connection to Daily Kos, which is an appropriate and justifiable PR move.  

If JetBlue's statement "pisses off millions of people," that would be pretty sad IMO. However, I doubt it. Maybe a couple thousand people will be angry?

Whatever. JetBlue has great rates and awesome service. I'll fly on their airline whether they like DailyKos or not.

I guess my point of view is unpopular or makes me a corporate shill, but honestly that JetBlue statement doesn't surprise me.

Corporations are cowards, plain and simple. No one should depend on them to stand up for any cause, no matter how just. They supported YKos not for the content but for the advertising. And perhaps they were foolish to not look more closely or be prepared to defend themselves in case of an attack. In any case, there was an attack. And Bill O' forced them into the horrible position of having to look like it's taking sides.

The act of advertising generally has no political affiliation. Yes, it's true that JetBlue may advertise on Fox, Logo, Current, etc. but that doesn't necessarily mean that JetBlue is a company of conservative, gay, environmentalists. As soon as its sponsorship became a matter of right vs. left, JetBlue had few options. Do they anger right-wingers who watch FoxNews, progressives on the internet, or is there a way to back out of the whole dispute? I don't think they could have won in this situation. And if that makes me some kind of corporate apologist, so be it.

Ok seriously people.  Here's the deal.  ONE person in Marketing decided to take it upon himself to  support DKos.  He did not go through the proper channels within Marketing to get sponsorship approval.  The Marketing dept. has a sponsorship team that rigorously screens all events and groups it associates withs o that something like this WON'T happen.  They always have been and continue to be a neutral organization in that regard.  

The fact that Dave Barger was ambushed outside his apartment on the Bill O. show was ridiculous given that he honestly knew NOTHING about this deal.  And I guarantee, when he got to work, he went straight to the head of Marketing to find out what the hell just happened.

His letter clearly explains the situation and in fact does one better for the organization.  Rather than hanging that individual out to dry or making a scapegoat out of him, Dave generalizes this as a Marketing error -- a true testament to the organization and culture which forgives mistakes.  

I'm sure the Marketing folks will take some action against the joker who put his beliefs before the organization, but honestly, Dave did nothing wrong and is correct in trying to distance JetBlue from this type of affiliation.  JetBlue NEVER suported the DailyKos and I think they've proven they are NOT cowards given the fact that David Neeleman stepped up to the plate when everyone overreacted over the Valentine's Day debacle.

It's amazing that one guy can screw up the entire reputation of a company because he decided to do things on his own rather than go through the proper channels.  Think about it, would JetBlue honestly go into some ridiculous sponsorship NOT knowing what they were getting themselves into and especially not prepping their CEO on such a politically charged issue?!

Stop jumping to conclusions, taking sides, etc.  One guy screwed up and now JetBlue end up in a no-win situation because people see them as cowards for pulling the "sponsorship" and as political extremists for having supported this in the first place.  Years of building a solid brand thrown into jeopardy over one stupid employee's actions.  Unbelievable.