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Stonewalling The 'Rightroots'

I have said before that blog power in Washington is limited by the people who truly have the power. In other words, bloggers only have as much power as establishment politicians and bureaucrats are willing to cede.

And when it comes to the internal workings of Congress, the powers-that-be aren't willing to cede much to the powers-that-wannabe. That seems to be especially true of Republican powerbrokers.

RedState and other GOP blogs who are on an ethics crusade against the House Republican leadership are learning that reality anew this week.

The bloggers and their readers are trying to pressure GOP leaders to reverse last week's appointment of Rep. Ken Calvert of California to a party slot on the Appropriations Committee. Calvert was elevated to the slot after another California Republican, John Doolittle, resigned from the panel amid ethical concerns, and Calvert's critics believe he has too much ethical baggage of his own.

Early reports indicate that GOP leaders aren't too thrilled with the crusade, and they apparently are willing to fight their "rightroots" activists this time.

RedState's Erick Erickson, who picked the fight, reported yesterday that the staff of House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, is pressuring GOP Steering Committee members "to not say how they voted on Calvert" because it could end up reflecting poorly on Boehner.

In a note this morning to members of the RedState group at the Facebook online social network, Erickson added details about the reaction of John Linder, R-Ga., to the anti-Calvert campaign:

A reporter called to get my response to this: John Linder told the reporter less than 10 people called yesterday about Calvert and that it does not matter anyway because he does not trust anything bloggers have to say. So, now you know where you rank with John Linder. Oh, and I know he got more than 10 calls. Do all politicians lie?

The conflict now comes down to a battle of wills between the rightroots and the establishment.

Will GOP bloggers have the staying power to force transparency in Congress, or will their outsider crusade flame out because not enough people care about inside-the-Beltway maneuverings? Can Republican Steering Committee members who have good reason to keep their votes on a controversial appointment secret withstand the heat?

Liberal bloggers have managed to sustain and win these kinds of fights before. Earlier this year, for instance, they pressured the Democratic Party to reverse its decision to participate in a presidential debate hosted by Fox News, which many liberals see as being biased in favor of conservatives.

But liberal bloggers are much better at coordinating their activism online, a fact that leading GOP bloggers readily admit. In fact, some Republican-leaning bloggers are loathe to embrace any "movement."

The anti-Calvert crusade, then, will test whether the rightroots have learned anything from their netroots counterparts -- or even whether they want to behave like them.

Erickson's decision to resurrect an arrest report against Calvert that is nearly 15 years old and repeatedly call attention to Calvert's encounter with "a heroin-addicted prostitute" -- even though Calvert was nabbed while in Congress and has been re-elected multiple times since -- proves that Erickson is willing to fight like the netroots.

The liberal blog Think Progress adopted the same tactic in condemning Calvert. And last year, John Aravosis of Americablog rallied his troops against a constitutional amendment against gay marriage by highlighting the transgressions of "family values hypocrites."

But others may not be willing to follow Erickson's lead in adopting that kind of in-your-face strategy -- at least not for the long haul necessary to convince GOP leaders that Calvert must go.

Posted by Danny | 12:05 PM

Comments

The elected Republicans continue to alienate the core limited government constituency. They handed the congress to the frenchocrats in the last election and they are on pace to hand them the presidency too. If the frenchocrats had an even semi viable candidate they would have it locked up already.

Bruce Lawrence | 05.15.07 06:56 PM

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