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May 10, 2007BELTWAY BLOGROLL
The Makings Of A Blog Brawl
Josh Trevino, one of the early "elite" bloggers on the right but one who has not been as prominent of late, has just picked a fight with two Republican bloggers who have much higher profiles. Oh, and I'm guessing that the left's leading bloggers aren't going to be too happy with Trevino, either, because he maligned them as well.
In a post at RedState, which he co-founded, Trevino chastised GOP bloggers who, to his mind, are all too willing to become strange blog-fellows with top Democratic bloggers. Trevino acknowledged that he once tried to form such alliances himself but argued that his bad experiences -- most notably the failed Online Integrity movement -- should be reason enough for his conservative colleagues to write off liberal bloggers.
"The issue now ... is why we continue to see well-meaning and intelligent members of the online right engage with, and thereby legitimize, the key figures in the opposite camp," Trevino said.
To buttress his argument, Trevino cited two recent examples of such right-left blog engagement: DomeNation, a new YouTube program on politics and technology hosted by GOP new media consultant David All and the "blogfather" of the left, Jerome Armstrong of MyDD; and the Open House Project, a call for more transparency in Congress that prompted Rob Bluey of the conservative Heritage Foundation to join forces with Matt Stoller of MyDD.
Trevino thoroughly trashed DomeNation as "predictably banal" and chastised All for helping create a venue where the first guest, Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, could engage in "gauzy and unchallenged self-promotion."
Trevino was a bit kinder to Bluey, a fellow RedState blogger, and the "worthy goal" of the Open House Project. Yet he said Bluey should not have invited Stoller to participate in a Heritage event to promote that goal because Stoller is "routinely pompous, condescending and dishonest in his public activities," and because he has played the hypocrite when it comes to engaging with the right in other forums.
Trevino concluded with this message to bloggers on the right: "[W]e should adhere to a rule of reciprocity and self-interest when we work together. That means not giving publicity and legitimacy to amoral operators like Stoller, who will drink our wine and then kick us in the shins; and it means not lending credibility to thoroughly discredited men like Armstrong, who benefits immeasurably by the sanction All gives him."
I'm guessing that All, Armstrong, Bluey and Stoller -- and probably quite a few other bloggers in both parties -- will have a few choice words for Trevino once they read his outburst. If they do, I'll link to them in the extended entry.
UPDATE
-- David All: "I recognize a technology, I figure out how I would apply it, and then I try and implement it. Tip-of-the-spear kind of stuff. I cook the spaghetti, then throw it at the wall and see what sticks. You play a different role in the movement which is equally important. You're right that the right and left shouldn't be joining hands and singing 'Kumbaya' in the halls of Congress. And you're also right that most of the time, we don't agree with 99 percent of what Stoller and Armstrong are saying. But that doesn't mean it's not worth listening and taking notes."
-- Bluey Blog: "Will I come back to regret my decision? I hope not. The Matt Stoller that I’ve come to know is someone who I’ve been able to work with constructively toward a common goal. Can he been an over-the-top liberal? No doubt. ... But I’m sure those on the left could say I’m a stubborn and close-minded right-winger. What I’ve enjoyed so much about the Open House Project is that it has created a dialog where we can stop yelling at one another and start conversing in a more civil manner. I can only hope that continues, not only on this project but others as well."
Posted by Danny | 03:25 PM
