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Blogs Rise To The Presidential Level

A couple of recent polls have some people envisioning the fall of blogs, but blogs are still rising in all the right places within Washington.

The latest evidence: President Bush and his top adviser, Karl Rove, are saying kind words about blogs. According to comments excerpted from a new book about Bush titled "Strategery," both of them see blogs as a counterweight to mainstream media outlets that they think haven't always been fair to the president.

"[T]he amazing thing about this world we live in," Bush said, "is that there's a kind of free-flowing, kind of bulletin board of ideas and thoughts out there in the ether space, sometimes landing on somebody’s desk and sometimes not, but always available. It's a very interesting period."

Bush himself didn't actually use the word "blog" or any related words in the excerpt, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been talking about blogs privately. Beltway Blogroll has learned through a Capitol Hill source of a recent meeting that Bush had with a Republican member of the House leadership to discuss blogs and their significance in Washington. That same lawmaker is now penning a follow-up letter to the president, the source said.

Expect to hear more about that soon. Until then, you can read what Power Line and Tapscott's Copy Desk had to say about the Bush and Rove comments from "Strategery."

And for a more critical response, see the post of Marty Kaplan at The Huffington Post. Here's an excerpt to pique your curiousity:

Sure, an abundance of opinion is swell, and the blogosphere breaks the monopoly on megaphones. But the only way to break up a "monopoly on the news" is more journalism, not more propaganda; more independent media companies, not more gigantic media conglomerates; more investigative reporting, not more subpoenaed and jailed reporters and whistleblowers; more government openness, not more official secrecy; more respect for the idea of truth, not more nihilism about the notion of reality.

Posted by | 07:59 PM

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Comments

i bet he read my blob.

bubba | 02.28.06 10:29 PM

Acutally, Bush's remarks mirror those of Ken Mehlman here in Boston in early February -

http://capecodporcupine.blogspot.com/2006/02/last-night-in-republican-boston.html

I blogged about it at the time.

And we all know that Pat Ruffini has gone back to the RNC - I'd be VERY surprised if blogs aren't taken seriously!

Peter Porcupine | 02.28.06 10:52 PM

If anything, I'm amazed the Bush adminstration hasn't thanked blogs sooner. If it wasn't for Bush followers defending the Bush administration's every failure on their blogs and radio shows (and no, I don't use the term conservative, because the "Bush follower" ideology is something completely different, as Glenn Greenwald recently discussed at length), I think the American political conversation would come much closer to reflecting the actual facts of the situations we face as a country.

According to a recent Zogby poll of troops currently serving in Iraq, "85% said the U.S. mission is mainly 'to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks,' 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was 'to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq.' "

Those numbers (which aren't that different from poll numbers of Americans who still supported the war as of the 2004 election) are the symptoms of a media environment where the facts just don't matter. It will probably take the emergence of a major third party (and maybe even the emergence of major fourth and fifth parties) for the country to break out of the "defend my side at all costs, even when it constitutes lying to the very troops who are serving the country overseas" mentality.

Thad Anderson | 02.28.06 11:21 PM

It's about time those "bloggers" went away.

They're a bunch of worthless liars.

Dan Rather | 02.28.06 11:27 PM

I agree with Dan Rather; they should be "online magazines of opinion" instead.

Typewriter King | 03.01.06 12:01 AM

There is a blog setup to protest Bush visit in India. http://dontwantyou.blogspot.com

Jo | 03.01.06 03:13 AM

Considering the administration hadn't claimed that Saddam and Al Qaeda were co-conspirators in 9/11, accusing them of lying on this matter is nothing short of a lie itself.

JB | 03.01.06 07:36 AM

Huff Post has a lot of nerve talking about:"more respect for the idea of truth, not more nihilism about the notion of reality."

The 1972 Vietnam War truth was this: support more war or accept commie victory.
The reality of following the anti-war policy was commie victory, and commie genocide.

I don't like war -- but I really hate genocide. And yes, Bush should be calling for military action to have regime change in Sudan to stop the Darfur genocide. I actually think Pres. Bush should challenge the Dems to take a leadership role here -- and point out the progress, each week, when they don't.

Tom Grey - Liberty Dad | 03.01.06 01:01 PM

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