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January 20, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
Interview: Andy Roth, Club For Growth
Beltway Blogroll: How did The Club For Growth's Social Security Choice blog impact the Social Security debate?
Andy Roth: The SSC blog helps complement the club's overall strategy of trying to enact pro-growth personal accounts as part of Social Security reform. This was especially important when [Sen.] Lindsey Graham suggested that we raise the wage cap as a way of making the program solvent. Not only did we blog against that idea extensively, but we also used the blog to showcase the TV ad [that] we ran in South Carolina letting people know what a horrendous idea it was. Plus, we used it mostly as an aggregator. We used the SSC blog as a "one-stop shop" for people to learn more about the Social Security debate. We constantly linked to other blogs, news articles, and think tank reports, while at the same time, providing expert commentary from people like Larry Kudlow, Brian Wesbury and Herman Cain. It's a fun project."
BB: Do blogging opponents of Social Security, as Reed Hundt argued here, deserve credit for exposing "every distortion, misrepresentation, confusion, and unanswered question embedded in the White House campaign against defined benefits for retirees"? Is the move for Social Security reform dead in Bush's second term in part or in whole as a result of critical coverage by bloggers like Josh Marshall?
AR: Social Security reform isn't dead in Bush's second term because of liberal bloggers. It is dead because the Republican leadership, both in Congress and in the White House, was and is unwilling to force moderates to vote on it. However, looking back on the past year, liberal bloggers were far better organized and ready to fight than conservatives were. When we launched the SSC blog in late January, I was expecting several other similar blogs to pop up as well. In fact, I was worried that somebody else was going to beat us to the punch. But that never happened and the other blogs never materialized. I don't know why it didn't happen, but it was frustrating.
BB: What are your thoughts more broadly on the impact of blogs in Washington? Why is The Club for Growth blogging?
AR: The Club for Growth blog exists because we deal in information. Members of the club strongly believe in the economic freedom that comes with limited government and lower taxes. Each day is a new battle to beat back the forces of big government and in order to fight the good fight, you have to constantly disseminate information to your supporters and to the public. And nothing achieves that task better, and more cost effectively, than a blog.
BB: Why aren't more trade groups, think tanks, etc., doing so?
AR: It troubles me that not all fiscally conservative think tanks have a blog yet. A few do, like National Taxpayers Union and The Tax Foundation, and they are doing a great job. But what about the others? The whole reason why these organizations exist is to inform people of the virtues of economic freedom. The Internet is the single-best way of achieving that goal. And by extension, the blogosphere is ideally suited to virally spread the word. To me, it's not only a no-brainer; it's a requirement to running an effective organization.
BB: Can you point to specific examples of where bloggers have demonstrated their policy and/or political influence in the past year?
AR: Senator Tom Coburn deserves an enormous amount of credit for starting a debate about egregious spending when he proposed the defunding of the "bridge to nowhere" [in Alaska]. But it was the blogs that keep that debate alive. We made it part of a larger issue and wrote about it extensively. Eventually, the politicians buckled under pressure and defunded it (but, of course, not in the true manner that we had hoped).
BB: Where might their influence be felt in the next year or so?
AR: Next year, the blogosphere is going to redefine politics -- again. Last year, it was rare when a "race blog" would pop up like the Toomey Blog or the Daschle v. Thune blog. This year, at the very least, every competitive race in the 2006 mid-term elections will have one. And the really good campaigns will have them as well.
Posted by | 07:03 AM
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» National Journal Interview from The Club for Growth Blog
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