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Blog Fight On Capitol Hill

How deep is the partisan rancor in Congress? So deep that aides are bickering over who knows more about blogs.

The spat broke out in the House on Friday between spokesmen for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Georgia Republican Jack Kingston, who has earned good press for his outreach to conservative bloggers. Kingston's press office started the verbal fight with a blog post (and subsequent e-mail to select bloggers) that proves even flacks can excel at "gotcha" journalism.

The entry noted that Pelosi, who recently generated some mixed coverage for her efforts in the blogosphere, had on her congressional site a tip sheet for wannabe congressional bloggers. The gotcha part of the story: Of the seven blogs recognized in the "Blogging 101" document generated by Pelosi's office, five of them were Republican.

GOP Bloggers and Suitably Flip were among the conservative blogs to note the development. "Maybe [Pelosi will] even take her own advice and kick off a blog of her own," Philip (Flip) Pidot wrote at Suitably Flip, adding that "to date, she appears only in the maniacal pages of Daily Kos."

Pelosi's staff reacted to the unflattering yet largely insignificant partisan jabs in knee-jerk fashion and pulled the blog advice offline. But that decision just made the story newsworthy -- especially because Kingston's Web-wise staff had expected the move and had made a copy of the document, which is now on Kingston's blog.

That's when Raw Story jumped on the story, inviting the spokesmen for Pelosi and Kingston to explain what happened. Here's the back-and-forth from Brendan Daly of Pelosi's office and David All of Kingston's office:

-- Now that Rep. Kingston is spending so much time on our web site, perhaps he'll learn a thing or two from the Democrats about our real plans to make health care more affordable, decrease gas prices, and protect our homeland. Clearly, he won't get that by reading the Republican blogs. (Daly)

-- It's strange that the minority leader's press shop would attack Republicans with angry, snarky rhetoric in a story about how their own 'blog tips' highlight the leadership of Republican blogs. Some folks just don't get it. (All)

Thankfully, lawmakers return from their Easter break this week, so we can hope that folks on Capitol Hill will hold their rhetorical fire for matters more substantive than which party is more in tune with the blogosphere.

Posted by | 12:31 PM

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Blog Fight On Capitol Hill:

» Blogging for Demmies from Suitably Flip
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has posted a Blogging 101 primer on her House website, for the benefit of the not-yet-blogging members of her caucus. [Read More]

Tracked on April 24, 2006 12:43 PM

» Lessons In “Blogging 101.” Time To Do Their Homework. from Jack's Blog
Last week, we had a little fun with a document we found on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s website called “Blogging 101,” which highlighted five GOP blogs out of seven as great examples. The observant DC blog-insider, Danny Glover, ha... [Read More]

Tracked on April 24, 2006 01:06 PM

» Pelosi's Embarrassing Moment In The Blogosphere from GOP Bloggers
National Journal's Beltway Blogroll recaps Pelosi's embarrassing moment in the blogosphere last week... Considering how low her approval is among the Kossacks, this misstep can't help her image at all.... [Read More]

Tracked on April 24, 2006 01:53 PM

Comments

I have not seen approval of either parthy this low at any time in the last 13 years, maybe even the last 25 years.

The climate is ripe for a 3rd party to come in in 2008 and cannibalize voters from the other two, particularly since immigration is such a complicated issue with no clear left/right divide.

The next 3 years will be dizzying..

twok | 04.24.06 01:30 PM

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