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September 23, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
Political Blog Scandals Of The Mid-Atlantic
The Senate campaign of Maryland Republican Michael Steele is trying to get as much political mileage as possible from the news that Steele's Democratic opponent, Rep. Ben Cardin, had to fire a campaign staffer over her anonymous blog.
Over the past few days, Steele's campaign has issued a steady stream of e-mail releases that mention the firing. Most of the e-mails promoted stories on the dismissal, like those written by AP, WBAL and The Washington Times and columnist Robert Novak. But the most interesting one, sent yesterday, made a connection between the blog scandal and Cardin's maneuvering over debates with Steele.
"Debates are serious, important conversations with Marylanders," the e-mail said. "Playing typical 'gotcha' Washington politics ... instead of actually returning a phone call to begin the discussion process is a transparent attempt to distract from the congressman's disappointingly narrow win in the primary and the recent discovery of a senior Cardin staffer's racially insulting blog."
The e-mail twice referred to the "racist comments" of Ursula Gruber on the blog and once called her a "senior staffer" -- in contrast to the "junior staffer" label the Cardin campaign used in announcing the firing. Cardin's campaign also has not identified the aide in question. Wizbang, the Republican blog that broke the story, identified Gruber as the aide after some online sleuthing.
Returning calls to negotiate any debates would "provide an opportunity for Congressman Cardin to apologize to Michael Steele personally for Ursula Gruber's racist comments about him on her blog," the e-mail added.
The blog in question, Persuasionatrix, was active only a few weeks, and the content has been deleted since the controversy broke. Wizbang Politics has an archived version, and the home page of Persuasionatrix currently points readers to Wizbang.
The Maryland blog scandal is but one of three to garner attention in mid-Atlantic states over the past few days. The latest occurred yesterday in New Jersey, where a blog called BlueJersey accused the Senate campaign spokeswoman of Republican Thomas Kean Jr. of anonymously posting comments on the blog. The spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbaker, denied having been involved.
The New York Times covered the story today. Top Democratic blogs like Daily Kos and MyDD also noted the revelations.
"If they're willing to lie about simple things like this, what else would they lie about to win?" Matt Stoller wrote at MyDD. "Does Tom Kean Jr. condone this type of unethical behavior in his campaign? And will he fire all those involved?"
On Sunday, meanwhile, The Washington Post reported on questions being raised about the ethics of paid bloggers who are covering the Virginia Senate race. Both candidates have bloggers on their staffs.
UPDATE: Blogs continue to be the subject of controversy in the Virginia Senate race. The Richmond Times-Dispatch ran a piece a couple of days ago about the campaign of Republican Sen. George Allen blaming Democrat James Webb for encouraging anti-Semitism on Democratic blogs in regards to Allen's Jewish ancestry. Allen aide Dick Wadhams in particular criticized bloggers paid by the Webb campaign.
Wadhams' blog attack prompted this retort from Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos: "Some of you will instantly grasp the irony. Remember, Wadhams was John Thune's campaign manager in South Dakota in 2004, the only Republican to oust a sitting Democratic incumbent. And he did so, in huge part, by using 'paid bloggers.' ... They want to dish it out, but they can't take it."
Another irony: Allen's campaign also is paying a blogger, Jon Henke. Salon took him to task this week as well: "Henke ... was regularly advocating on his own blog that there be a Democratic takeover of Congress as a means of restraining unprincipled and corrupt Republicans," Tim Grieve wrote. "Does radically changing one's political views in exchange for some pay by a political candidate forever undermine, or destroy, one's credibility as a political commentator? It ought to)."
Blog scandals aren't exclusive to Virginia or the mid-Atlantic, though. AP reports that the Minnesota Senate campaign of Democrat Amy Klobuchar this week fired chief spokeswoman aide Tara McGuiness. She watched an unreleased television advertisement of Republican Mark Kennedy from a local Democratic blogger who allegedly obtained it illegally.
The blogger in question apologized at Blanked-Out. Kennedy vs. The Machine, MN Publius, Power Line and Minnesota Democrats Exposed, Wizbang have more on the scandal.
Posted by Danny | 10:20 PM
