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September 26, 2007Blogger Files FEC Complaint Over Giuliani Ad
As noted in Technology Daily's AM Edition
A liberal blogger has filed a complaint against the presidential campaign of Republican Rudy Giuliani for breaking federal election laws by accepting a discounted advertisement rate from The New York Times.
The Politico reports that Lane Hudson, a blogger who also recently filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission about the presidential campaign of Republican Fred Thompson, has called on Giuliani's campaign to pay the difference between the full and discounted ad rates.
Giuliani and other Republicans have criticized the Times for offering the online group MoveOn.org the same discount for an ad it used to attack Gen. David Petraeus. MoveOn this week agreed to pay the difference; a Giuliani spokeswoman said the campaign does not intend to do so.
The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that the American Conservative Union has filed an FEC complaint against both the Times and MoveOn. And The Hill reports on Democratic reactions to the MoveOn ad.
Posted by Danny at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)
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How has The Huffington Post prospered since the media site and companion blog went online 2-1/2 years ago? USA Today has the answers:
Co-founder Ken Lerer says the Post will be profitable next year, when its audience could double, thanks to interest in the 2008 election.The staff has grown from three to 43 full-time employees. And Huffington's list of bloggers has grown to 1,800 -- including well-known names such as comedian/pundits Bill Maher and Harry Shearer, screenwriter/director Nora Ephron and actor Steven Webber.
And what of the site's future? "While it's still a politics-driven, anti-war site, [Arianna] Huffington is trying to remake the Post into more of an all-purpose digital newspaper, with sections devoted to lifestyles, business, media and entertainment."
Posted by Danny at 07:00 AM | Comments (0)
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When New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson decided to seek the Democratic presidential nomination, he was hoping that netroots support would help compensate for his fundraising disadvantage in a broad field with high-profile rivals.
Not only did that support never materialize, but in recent weeks, Richardson has become a laughingstock among some top liberal bloggers. Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos dubbed him "the buffoon of this campaign" and said he should be running for the Senate in New Mexiso rather than president.
With that background in mind, the news that the Richardson campaign convinced leading bloggers Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller of Open Left to work with the campaign in producing a video is a bit of a coup. The subject of the video is Richardson's stance on the Iraq war: Withdraw all U.S. troops, leaving no residual forces.
Here's the ad:
And here's what Bowers had to say about the assignment:
While this ad is not an official endorsement of Bill Richardson's candidacy, it is an endorsement of his no residual forces plan for Iraq. It is an endorsement of his leadership on the issue. It is an endorsement of the need for a public debate on how many troops Democrats plan to leave in Iraq, what those troops will do, and how long they will stay in Iraq. Every Democrat should be aware of all candidate plans for residual forces in Iraq before they decide who to support in the primaries. ...I want to again thank Bill Richardson for continuing to show leadership on this issue, as he has consistently done in the past on foreign policy. From freeing American hostages, to brokering a cease fire in Darfur, to negotiating the return of weapons inspectors to North Korea, and now to engaging the debate on no residual forces, Bill Richardson is a leader on American foreign policy.
I'd say that's a pretty flattering non-endorsement endorsement -- one that the Richardson camp no doubt is relishing. Some political observers have long believed Richardson is angling as much for a vice-presidential selection as a presidential nomination, and if that's true, his support from Bowers and Stoller may help the cause.
UPDATE: The Caucus, a blog of The New York Times, has coverage of the new Richardson video and a 30-second advertisement created from it, noting that Christina Siun O’Connell of Firedoglake also participated in it.
"The ad demonstrates how important the netroots community is to the political dialogue," said Tom Reynolds, a spokesman for the Richardson campaign. "Obviously our campaign recognizes their power in communicating a message."Mr. Reynolds said that the bloggers did not receive direct compensation for their appearances, but that the campaign did pay for transportation to and overnight lodging in Washington, where the ad was shot, for Mr. Bowers and Ms. O’Connell.
Posted by Danny at 06:53 AM | Comments (1)
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Just How Powerful Are The Netroots
Not very powerful at all, if you ask conservative columnist David Brooks. Here's part of what he had to say in his latest New York Times column, headlined "The Center Holds":
[I]t’s evident that if you want to understand the future of the Democratic Party you can learn almost nothing from the bloggers, billionaires and activists on the left who make up the "netroots." You can learn most of what you need to know by paying attention to two different groups -- high school educated women in the Midwest, and the old Clinton establishment in Washington.In the first place, the netroots candidates are losing. In the various polls on the Daily Kos Web site, John Edwards, Barack Obama and even Al Gore crush Hillary Clinton, who limps in with 2 percent to 10 percent of the vote.
Moguls like David Geffen have fled for Obama. But the party as a whole is going the other way. Hillary Clinton has established a commanding lead.
Brooks adds that "Clinton has established this lead by repudiating the netroots theory of politics," which he characterizes as "bold colors and slashing attacks." And he said "the netroots are losing the policy battles," most notably the fight over the direction of the Iraq war.
"Both liberals and Republicans have an interest in exaggerating the netroots' influence," Brooks concluded, "but in reality that influence is surprisingly marginal."
UPDATE: TalkLeft and Unclaimed Territory respond to Brooks' column.
Posted by Danny at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
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As noted in Technology Daily's AM Edition
The normally hushed corridors of diplomacy are about to get a jolt. AP reports that the State Department's first-ever blog will go live on the Internet late Tuesday in a launch timed to coincide with the buzz surrounding a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.
The site will upgrade U.S. foreign policy to Web 2.0 interactivity for the information age. The "Dipnote" site aims to give users an insider's view of diplomacy and diplomats with informal, chatty posts from key senior players in Washington and abroad, a spokesman said.
Its first offerings are focused on the annual U.N. meeting in New York City and the role that the department's diplomatic security agents play in protecting the foreign dignitaries that swarm Manhattan for the event.
ADDED: State's new blog is going online just days after the Homeland Security Department started a blog. In August, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt started a blog, too.
Posted by Danny at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)
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Another GOP Attack On Those Nasty Blogs
Will Republicans never learn? The party keeps foolishly thinking there is some political benefit to be derived from attacking bloggers.
The Republican National Committee decried Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos a little more than a year ago; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., attacked a lesser-known Kentucky blog in a fundraising letter last month; just this week, a GOP state legislator in Virginia "nutpicked" comments from a political blog in the Old Dominion to attack his opponent in an ad; and now the North Carolina Republican Party is blasting the state's Democratic Party for daring to speak to Kos. (Hat tip to Ed Cone.)
After learning that Kos would be participating in a conference call with the state's Democrats, the North Carolina GOP issued a press release that characterized Daily Kos as an "extremist Web site" and Kos as an "angry, hate-mongering" blogger who should be "pushed to the fringes of the political debate."
In this case, I'll let Democratic Party spokeswoman Kerra Bolton speak for me: "You've got to be kidding me." These kinds of attacks really are counterproductive. They may make the blog-hating politicians a few bucks in the short run, but in the long run, it makes them look both petty and ignorant about the online world.
Posted by Danny at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)
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With the help of a friend, I discovered "Uncle Jay" earlier this month and embedded his video explanation of congressional "recess". Now Uncle Jay is back with a new episode that explains the blogosphere to all the kids.
Among the thousands of political blogs, he said, there is "one for every type of political prejudice." He divided them into helpful categories and flashed screenshots of examples for each category:
1) The "godless, socialist, hate America, Bush-is-Hitler, cut-and-run, nanny state, tree-hugging, amnesty, traitor, left-wing, scumbag blogs": Crooks & Liars, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo and TalkLeft.
2) The "neocon, corporate, racist, Bush-is-god, flag, Bible, homophobe, cold-dead-hands, transfat, right-wing scumbag blogs": Instapundit, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin and SteynOnline.
3) And the "more independent-thinking, left or right, perhaps libertarian, make-up-your-mind, who's-side-are-you-on, mamby-pamby, scumbag blogs": Ann Althouse, BuzzMachine, Lileks.com and Andrew Sullivan.
Other enlightening insights from Uncle Jay:
-- A blog "is something that lets ordinary people link to professional reporting and great writing, and then add their own opinions and bad writing.
-- Commenters on blogs "know even less and write even worse" than the bloggers.
-- And my favorite, laugh-out-loud moment from the video: The blogosphere is like the atmosphere because "it has lots of illuminating light but also gasbags of hot air. And it can be polluted by humans who overuse toxic substances."
Posted by Danny at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
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'Nutpicking' The Comments On Liberal Blogs
Steve Benen of Talking Points Memo said conservatives have a habit of periodically digging for "intemperate" remarks in the comment sections of liberal blogs and citing them to stereotype the entire lefty blogosphere as a place for nuts.
The practice is called "nutpicking," and now Benen said public officials are starting to do it. He linked to a Washington Post story about an attack ad in a state legislative race that is based on comments on a blog.
The Post called it "a new form of negative campaigning in which information for an attack ad is sourced to comments posted on the Internet instead of more authoritative sources such as news reports or public records." The paper quotes Internet expert David Weinberger of Harvard University as saying, ""We have developed a blogosphere that is full of lively debate ... but at the same time we have political marketers who will use anything they can to advance their own cause."
The existence of such "marketers" is why it's a mistake for politicians like John Edwards to hire bloggers with mean-spirited and vulgar reputations. It's one thing to be independently burned by the blogosphere, but it's downright foolhardy to bring them inside the campaign fold.
The increasing likelihood that opportunistic politicians will turn to the blogosphere for ammunition against their foes also is a good argument for better moderation of blog comments.
It's dangerous and silly for politicians to attack bloggers in ads or by any other means; few voters, if any, will be moved by such tactics. On the other hand, bloggers have no one to blame but themselves if those politicians try to score points with voters by calling attention to the crazies in comment sections or in the diaries of online communities like Daily Kos.
Bloggers who don't like nutpicking have the power to stop it, and whining about politicians who are "taking [the practice] onto the air" isn't the way to do it.
UPDATE: Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters offers some criticism of nutpicking from the right side of the blogosphere: "[F]or those of us who have run comments sections for a few years and allow (sometimes through gritted teeth) all sorts of criticism and scolding on the blog, making assessments of the blogger by individual comments -- nutpicking -- is both unfair and undermining to the free exchange of ideas on blogs such as Captain's Quarters and TPM. It pressures bloggers to excise comments rather than just respond to them, as the nutpicking never includes those responses."
UPDATE II: The Blogger Relations blog opined, "This looks like a short-lived tactic that may have already backfired."
That may be a bit optimistic as long as politicians see some benefit from nutpicking, be it raising money, energizing their supporters or getting their names in the paper, even in a negative light. Candidates who engage in nutpicking are no more likely to lose votes from bad press about it than the opponents they target with the nutpicking.
Posted by Danny at 12:52 PM | Comments (1)
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In Search Of A Big Idea In The Blogosphere
Jose Antonio Vargas, the Interent and politics writer for The Washington Post, has just reviewed the book "Billionaires, Bloggers, And the Battle To Remake Democratic Politics," by Matt Bai. Here are excerpts of the review:
Bai makes the case -- not entirely convincingly -- that the Democrats lack an argument, a big idea, about why they should govern. He poses questions to the Democrats that he doesn't get around to answering himself: "How do we, as a nation, move beyond the tired doctrines of a receding era? Who will explain the difficult truths of our new reality? What will the next version of American government look like?"All fair queries that elicit an immediate, twofold response: What, exactly, does the Republican Party stand for? ... Is Bai looking for a bumper sticker slogan that cohesively articulates the Democratic agenda? Readers never find out.
... [I]n fixating on a big idea that updates the Democratic bastions of the New Deal and Great Society, Bai, despite writing an energetic and timely narrative, misses a big idea himself. Every day in the blogosphere -- often in crude, crass language, many times in careful, detailed analysis -- an argument is being laid out: against the war in Iraq, in support of minority groups and immigrants, for a government of the people. In other words, a government that works, not an empty, catchy slogan.
Posted by Danny at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
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The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy is looking to take its mission into the new media world, including the blogosphere. To that end, the campaign is searching for a senior manager of new media.
Here's a description from an advertisement at JournalismJobs.com:
The senior manager of new media will create, lead and supervise a major new online initiative, including but not limited to social networking, online marketing, blogging, and digital media partnerships.The senior manager will hire and supervise a small staff and will work with other media and communications managers within the organization. He/She will oversee campaign relationships with PR firms and other vendors who support the online work. In addition, he/she will assemble and work with a new media advisory panel of like-minded industry leaders who will add expertise and clout to the campaign’s growing reliance on technology to accomplish its mission. ...
The national campaign already has a robust and active media program, which includes relationships with virtually every television network, many magazines, and a growing number of Web sites. ... The senior manager of new media will lead efforts to open a major, new digital front in the media program.
Posted by Danny at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)
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Go Ahead, Cop, Taser Me And Make Me Famous
Here's some great analysis from Conn Carroll of The Blogometer in the wake of the tasering of a student showboat at an event with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.:
Those under the delusion that the tasering of that FL student is a "iconic turning point" "in the annals of a closing society" need to get a hold of themselves and study up on the incident. The kid involved has a long history of taping practical jokes and by eyewitness accounts only fought police when the cameras were on him. Taser Bro is not a free-speech martyr: he is just the latest example of traditional media rewarding abject narcissism at the cost of public political discourse.Unfortunately Taser Bro is not an isolated incident, and unless the media wises up fast they should expect more and more campaigns to shut off candidates from the public in response. For example, in '06 blogger Mike Stark, who was tackled by ex-Sen. George Allen, R-Va., staffers, admitted that he attended Allen events for the sole purpose of hoping to cause embarrassing altercations. For every macaca video out there that sheds justifiable light on a candidate, there are going to be 10 provocateurs seeking to disrupt public events in the hopes of becoming the next YouTube hero. The next time someone disrupts an event, before anyone gives them a second of coverage, let's first ask if this is just another Taser Bro.
On the other hand, not everyone with a camera has to be a Taser Bro. You can be a "preditor" instead. What's that, you say? Republican new media consultant David All has the answer:
With the rise of available and accessible distribution mechanisms ... there’s no longer an excuse for a candidate not to appear early and often on our desktops talking about all of the issues we care about. School choice. Broadband accessibility. Stem cell research. All the “long tail” issues we care about. ...Quite simply, a preditor is an operative who is not only the producer/creative mind behind an ad, but also the editor. We produce and edit online videos. Some of it may go viral. Most of it won’t. But who cares? The investment is worth it. ...
We’re armed with cameras, Macs, and a clever eye for creative messaging. And perhaps most importantly, we know how to use all the tools in our tool box, which means a quick turnaround when time matters.
Posted by Danny at 09:15 PM | Comments (4)
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Reprinted with permission of National Journal magazine
By Eliza Newlin Carney
Time is running out. For months, liberal bloggers and activists have been agitating to unmask the mystery senator who has been blocking action, by means of a secret "hold," on a key campaign finance disclosure bill. Now they may finally get their wish.
Lobbying and ethics rules signed into law last week by President Bush put an end to the practice. Now any senator who places a hold must disclose his or her identity within six legislative days.
That could be good news for the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, which would force senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically, not on paper. It's been on hold since April, but not a single senator has publicly opposed the noncontroversial bill.
Its co-sponsors will "be making another effort fairly soon," says a Democratic Senate aide. Its passage is still not guaranteed, but Steven Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute says, "This is an opportunity to bring this to a focus now and to bring pressure to [bear on] whoever's holding it up."
Posted by Danny at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
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Is OffTheBus Going Off Track Politically?
When Arianna Huffington and Jay Rosen announced their plan for OffTheBus early this year, I was excited by the prospect of a network of citizen journalists covering the 2008 presidential campaign. I even pondered the idea of volunteering as an OffTheBus professional mentor to the budding reporters.
The more developments I see at OffTheBus, however, the more skeptical I become about whether it can fulfill its promise of offering "a wide variety of voices and perspectives" on the 2008 campaign.
I was mildly surprised in June when Huffington and Rosen recruited their first two employees for the project and both had ties to the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Amanda Michel is the project director for OffTheBus, and Zack Exley is its senior adviser and featured correspondent.
Both seem well-qualified for the jobs, albeit in a nontraditional way, but it struck me as unwise for Huffington and Rosen, whose personal politics are liberal, to pick not one but two liberals as their first hires. Robert Bluey of the conservative Heritage Foundation, where I serve as an adviser to the Center for Media and Public Policy, also questioned the wisdom of hiring political operatives as journalists.
Now comes the news that another liberal, veteran journalism Marc Cooper, will serve as OffTheBus' editorial coordinator and as a special correspondent at The Huffington Post.
Again, Cooper is well-qualified for the job. A press release outlined his stellar credentials: contributing editor to The Nation; columnist for LA Weekly; international and domestic political journalist for three decades; and articles, essays and interviews in publications like The Atlantic (whose parent company is my employer), Harper's, the Los Angeles Times, the Times of London and The Washington Post.
Rosen also made a strong case for why Cooper is right for this particular job: "It's rare to find someone with Marc's experience who is so open to the Web and to contributors who can come from anywhere. We couldn't pass that up."
But OffTheBus risks sending a confusing message to both its readers and potential contributors when all of the people at the top of the organization skew one direction politically. Will people of different persuasions really want to write for that kind of operation? And if they are reluctant to do so, how hard will Huffington, Rosen and Cooper work to recruit skeptics so OffTheBus doesn't go off track politically before the tour really gets started?
I still have hope for the project, especially when I see the array of volunteers OffTheBus is seeking. The volunteers, after all, are the heart of the idea, and if people across the political spectrum actually sign up for both meaty jobs like campaign finance researcher and creative ones like "wiki gardener," OffTheBus may well succeed.
But my hopes are not as high as they were six months ago.
Posted by Danny at 09:07 AM | Comments (3)
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A Friendly Tip For Flacks: Don't Annoy Bloggers
You know bloggers have arrived when they start whining about being overwhelmed with useless PR pitches. That's exactly what happened yesterday at Americablog and Eschaton.
Americablog's John Aravosis is particularly annoyed because he is constantly bombarded with pitches looking for free media on his site, but too few of the folks who contact him are willing to drop a few bucks on blog ads:
Now, you might argue, "But John, you're just like a journalist, we shouldn't have to PAY you to write about us!" And that would be correct. I am like a journalist, sometimes, and you don't have to pay me to get me to write about your story. But like a journalist anywhere, your story has to be a real story before I'm going to write about it. And the notion that I'm going to do you a favor by writing about a non-story, when you've never before given me the time of day [in advertising], is laughable.And in any case, that's what advertising is for: non-stories. In politics, there's one sure-fire way to get your story/non-story in the paper: buy an ad. It's no different on the blogs. You don't expect favors from the Washington Post, why do you expect them for us?
I liked Aravosis' post because it showed yet another difference between old and new media. We journalists just whine privately about PR folks who won't invest any time in researching our publications before sending pitches; bloggers lambaste the flacks for all to see.
Regardless of their political leanings, PR folks in the public affairs realm would be smart to spend some time digesting the "New Tools Campaign" created by the New Politics Institute. It makes a solid case for why candidates and causes should not only be advertising online but also be engaging blogs -- and one good way to engage the blogs indirectly is to reach their readers by advertising on the sites.
Posted by Danny at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
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Mighty Milblogs Or Bush's Lapblogs?
President Bush played host to a select group of administration-friendly bloggers in the White House last week -- the first such meeting of its kind -- and the scene played out much as I would have expected.
Columbia Journalism Review reports that the bloggers, most of them milbloggers chosen because of their pro-war coverage of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, reveled in the attention showered upon them by the leader of the free world and gushed about their president.
Here are excerpts from the blog posts cited by CJR:
-- Argghhh!: "The staff knew our blogs, and they knew that while some of us have not always been fans or happy with things as they are, they knew we were not going to storm the Bastille, either."
-- Blackfive: "Yes, it was surreal sitting in a meeting with the president and then having him ask us what we thought of the Oval Office. But it was very cool. The president of the United States slapped my hand and called me 'brutha.' Top that."
-- Defense Tech: "as he opened the big door to the Oval Office, and I was reminded of when Dorothy entered Oz. The colors, the lighting, the history (good and bad) . . . it was a rush. The president gave me one of his signature 'it's good to be king' expressions and quipped, 'Pretty nice, huh?' 'Yessir, Mr. President. Pretty nice.'"
-- The Tank: "It is surreal to me that an Illinois farm kid finds himself ... seated in the Roosevelt Room with the president of the United States discussing the direction, progress and challenges as we see them in a conflict that history will reflect defines this generation."
-- The Victory Caucus: "[A]nyone who sat through an hour with this man as I did and came away unconvinced that he sincerely believes in the message of freedom and the necessity of this fight would have to be crazy. He exudes sincerity and passion when he speaks of the this mission."
It all sounds so familiar. Why? Because this is exactly what happens almost every time a high-profile politician pays homage to the power of the blogosphere -- or at least the part that dutifully pays homage to him or her, too.
It has been happening since the early days of blog outreach.
It happened when Republicans courted friendly bloggers during the confirmation hearings of now-Supreme Court Chief Justice Samuel Alito. It happened when former President Clinton hosted the blog lunch that backfired. It happens with both Republican and Democratic bloggers who go to work for campaigns.
And now it has happened in Bush's White House.
That's not to say Bush's meeting with bloggers lacked serious questions or even that all of the bloggers focused on the show rather the substance. CJR noted that both INDCJournal and The Long Journal offered meaty reports. (Neither of those writers was actually at the White House; they joined by conference call.)
But sadly, a pattern has developed over the past couple of years: Bloggers fight the establishment; the establishment resists and even ridicules said bloggers before realizing their power; the establishment then woos bloggers to try to capitalize on their power; and bloggers lose their edge (at least momentarily) because they become enamored by the trappings of power.
Am I saying that bloggers shouldn't be excited about a journey inside the White House? Not at all. Only the most jaded journalists reach that point -- and thankfully I'm not there yet.
Bloggers also should recount those special, personal experiences online. It's better to be transparent with readers about such courtships than to keep them off the record (like too many journalists) and raise suspicions about their motives for writing.
But our new media world desperately needs to mature to the point where bloggers stop writing fluff every time someone important offers them treats. Otherwise, readers can't be blamed for wondering whether they are nothing more than lapblogs.
P.S. to all of you Washington power brokers: Why don't you get a backbone and invite a skeptical blogger or two the next time you decide to throw one of these shindigs?
And bloggers, if they don't come around to that way of thinking soon, stop accepting the invitations -- or start playing devil's advocate yourself. The blogosphere will be the better for it.
Posted by Danny at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
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A Week's Worth Of Instapuns
A Hsu pun, pun, pun, a Hsu pun, pun -- that's what readers of Instapundit and Beltway Blogroll have been treated to (or should I say subjected to) for the past week.
I started the ball rolling a week ago with a roundup and regular updates of puns about Norman Hsu, an embattled Democratic fundraiser. Glenn Reynolds then embraced the theme with gusto at Instapundit.
It's been loads of pun, so I thought I'd do another roundup just of the Instapuns from this week -- and then take a pun poll, a vote on the best of the best Hsu puns. I'll pick my favorites (only one of my own creations included) for the official poll, but you can always cast write-in votes in the comments.
Here are the Instapuns from this week, some borrowed and some new:
-- You wouldn't want to be in their Hsus
-- A big Hsu to fill
-- Hsu, Hsu, Hsusie goodbye
-- Tangled Hsu-strings
-- Blue suede Hsus
-- Hsu socked!
-- A Hsuicide note
-- Something else to Hsu on
-- Tugging on some Hsu-strings
-- Keeping his mouth Hsut
-- Trying to prevent further Hsunanigans
-- Hsu-leather express
-- Hsu loves you, baby?
-- The Hsu School for Social Research
Now here's the poll:
Posted by Danny at 11:34 AM | Comments (8)
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The Future Of Journalism
Cross-posted at AirCongress
With the help of a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine and PrezVid has organized a Networked Journalism Summit in New York next month in New York City. I will be there along with bloggers and new media innovators from across the political spectrum.
Here are some of the participants.
-- N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear. He has been a key player blog-driven activist projects like Porkbusters and the Victory Caucus, and he was among select bloggers who met with President Bush in the White House today.
-- Henry Copeland, founder of Blogads.
-- Robert Cox, Media Bloggers Association (of which I am a member)
-- Jonathan Dube, CyberJournalist.
-- Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake. She was one of the bloggers who covered the trial of former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby this year.
-- John Havens and Alan Levy, BlogTalkRadio.
-- Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post.
-- James Kotecki, a college student who gained notoriety as "Emergency Cheese" for his online video reports on YouTube as the site developed a niche in the political world.
-- Mike Krempasky, Edelman Public Relations. He is a co-founder of the conservative blog RedState.
-- Jay Rosen, NewAssignment.Net. He's also an organizer of OffTheBus, "campaign coverage by people who aren't in the club."
-- Micah Sifry, Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident.
-- Mark Tapscott, editorial-page editor of The Washington Examiner. Upon taking the job in 2006, he created a board of blog contributors to the newspaper.
That's just a partial list of people I know and/or have mentioned at Beltway Blogroll. See the full list of attendees here.
Jarvis described the goals of the conference in a post at BuzzMachine:
This is a day about action: next steps, new projects, new partnerships, new experiments. The first two-thirds of the day will be devoted to sharing lessons, ideas, and plans with a representative sample of different kinds of efforts, hyperlocal to national to international, with participants from big and small media, from editorial and business, from the U.S., Canada, the U.K, Germany, and France. The last third of the day will be devoted to what’s next, with participants meeting to come up with new collaborations.
David Cohn of NewAssignment.Net, an organizer of the summit, has details, too. I'm looking forward to the summit.
Posted by Danny at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
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Democrat Mark Warner flirted with a presidential run after his stint as Virginia's governor ended in 2005. The courtshop was costly at times, but it doesn't appear to have bought him all the love he had hoped from prominent Democratic bloggers.
Warner had barely announced yesterday that he wants to be the Old Dominion's next U.S. senator before Matt Stoller of Open Left attacked without restraint. He ridiculed Warner's online announcement video as "disgusting Lieberman-esque" (a reference to netroots nemesis Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.), derided Warner as a "centrist" and said he would be "a bad senator." Stoller accused Warner of getting rich by "honest graft" in the telecommunications industry and said "his foreign policy ideas on Iran and Venezuela are crazy."
Stoller even stooped so low as to direct a biting joke at former Warner Internet guru Jerome Armstrong of MyDD, where Stoller blogged until earlier this year. "But those were delicious chocolate fountains," Stoller said in recalling a lavish party Warner had thrown in 2006 to try to woo the netroots.
Fortunately for Warner, he has a strong fan base in the Virginia Democratic blogosphere. Lowell Feld of Raising Kaine, a site that helped elect now-Gov. Tim Kaine to replace Warner as governor in 2005 and to vault now-Sen. James Webb over former Republican Sen. George Allen last year, jumped to Warner's defense by attacking Stoller.
"With friends like this," Feld wrote of Stoller, "who needs enemies?" He said a Warner-Webb duo in the Senate would be "one of the best" and chastised Stoller for resurrecting the issue of Warner's big bash for bloggers last year.
Feld's entry prompted a retort from Chris Bowers, Stollers' co-blogger at Open Left (and former MyDD co-blogger). He predicted that Warner, like 2006 netroots heroes Webb and Jon Tester of Montana, "will vote against the majority of Democrats in the Senate far more often than many people online think."
The criticism that Warner generated from high-profile liberal bloggers on his Senate announcement day closely follows the start of the much broader, Stoller-led campaign against "Bush Dog Democrats" -- moderate Democrats in the House who don't vote the way bloggers like him demand. That effort, too, generated an outcry from state-based Democratic bloggers like Feld.
All of which points to the idea that the A-list bloggers who rose to prominence by fighting the establishment are quickly becoming the new establishment -- and as such they are being forced to do battle with a new generation of intraparty peasants with pixel-forks.
The Blogway Elite versus the New Netroots (need a better name for them): It's all very interesting to watch.
Posted by Danny at 10:09 AM | Comments (2)
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Homeland Security Launches A Blog
The Department of Homeland Security this week became the latest Cabinet-level entity in the Bush administration to start a blog. It is called Leadership Journal.
Department Secretary Michael Chertoff authored an entry yesterday to outline the goals of the blog and to note his activities in commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks a day earlier. He said he wants to "open a dialogue" about security with the American people -- and he welcomed "constructive criticism" about the department's work. We'll see how that works among bloggers and commenters more inclined to rant than debate.
It's encouraging to see that the department is at least aware enough of the blogosphere to know that unmoderated comments are a bad idea, especially for a blog like this one. The comment policy includes this warning:
We expect all contributors to be respectful. We will not post comments that contain personal attacks of any kind; refer to federal civil service employees by name; contain offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups, or vulgar language. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly off topic or that promote services or products.
Now that the blog is online, what can readers expect in terms of content flow? Here's what Assistant Press Secretary Jeff Ostermayer said in an e-mail to me: "The DHS Leadership Journal will share insightful information about DHS from a unique perspective from the secretary and senior DHS leadership. Several times a week, the secretary and senior department leadership will offer commentary on the work they are doing."
Homeland Security's foray into the blogosphere follows on the heels of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt starting a blog in August. Republican blogger Robert Bluey has thoughts on that development.
Posted by Danny at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)
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Election Blogging In Guatemala
There are more Guatemalan Americans (our three children) than European Americans (my wife and me) in the Glover household these days, and we consider that to be a great blessing.
When we adopted our children, we figuratively adopted their homeland as well, a concept that Phil Collins gave voice to in the "Tarzan" ballad "Two Worlds, One Family."
Consider that in the context of my passion for blogs and you'll understand why I noticed this news at Global Voices Online about Guatemala's presidential election on Sunday:
Rains, violence, and chaos had been expected. Guatemalans were glad that the predictions were wrong. Democracy and a peaceful transition of power were the good news. The wonderful team of bloggers not only commented on elections but also helped people with tips, details, images and updated information during the entire process, as well as encouraging voters to exercise their right, even late at night. ...The result is satisfactory, and it is a message to the world that Guatemalans can conduct a democratic process in a peaceful way. Through collaboration and respect for others, in spite of the differences, Guatemalans have elected a diverse parliament while decreasing the violent incidents and irregularities. In addition, there was increased participation of citizens not only through voting but by providing information in blogs and other digital forms of media.
I should have realized before now that Global Voices Online is a good place to go for news about Guatemala, as well as other countries, and you can bet I'll be checking back regularly now -- especially for news about Guatemalan adoptions, which sadly have become an international sore spot.
Posted by Danny at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
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A friend just e-mailed me a link to this video by "Uncle Jay," whose mission is to help "small minds understand big news." The video attempts to educate youngsters about the term "congressional recess" and why lawmakers need so many days off every year.
It seems fitting to share now because Congress returned from its annual August break a few days ago -- and is calling it quits early this week because of Jewish holidays.
Posted by Danny at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)
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As noted in Technology Daily's AM Edition
A new group of young Washington journalists, pundits and political consultants have embraced the blogosphere as a hobby or to launch a career, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The blog tracker Outsidein.com6 has listed Washington as the fourth "bloggiest" city behind Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Washington bloggers are generally not well-paid, but opportunities have increased. The nearly 150-year-old Atlantic Monthly recently acquired six blogs and pays their creators to write under its moniker.
"It's only going to grow," says Spencer Ackerman, a D.C.-based blogger for TPM Muckraker and a former New Republic reporter.
Posted by Danny at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
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As noted in the Technology Daily AM Edition
When Amazon.com announced that Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, would post blog entries on the Web site in anticipation of his new book "The Age of Turbulence," many people were intrigued.
But The New York Times reports that after the first blog entry was published, "there was none of the gossip and flair that readers have come to expect from the blogosphere."
In his first entry on Aug. 31, Greenspan blogged about breaking free from the shackles of "Fedspeak," but he spoke nothing after that. "It looks like he's saving the good stuff for those who are willing to pay $35 for his book," the Times wrote.
Posted by Danny at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
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As noted in the "Blog Bits" feature of Technology Daily yesterday morning
Network neutrality advocates this week blasted the Justice Department over a cautionary statement it sent to the FCC about imposing rules to keep high-speed network owners from charging premium access rates to select content providers.
Tim Karr wrote at the blog of Save the Internet that soon-departing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales issued the statement to leave a "parting gift" for large telecommunications companies like AT&T that he said would benefit from not having a mandate on network neutrality.
"Net neutrality should be the cornerstone of any national broadband plan," he said. "It frees the types of economic innovation and competition that have been a hallmark of the Internet's development until very recently. Net neutrality guarantees that each of us gets an equal voice and equal choice without meddling from the likes of Gonzales and his friends at Ma Bell."
Declan McCullagh, meanwhile, wrote at The Iconoclast about the "10 things that finally killed net neutrality." The Bush administration topped his list.
And James Gattuso at The Technology Liberation Front criticized Google, an advocate of network neutrality, for posting a video of CEO Eric Schmidt to YouTube that is 55 minutes long. Google owns the video-sharing site, which has rules limiting the length of videos to 10 minutes.
Posted by Danny at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)
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Norman Hsu: A Man Of Many Puns
Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, a fugitive until last week, has been the subject of unrelenting torture by pun in the blogosphere for the past several days. Hsu many puns, Hsu little time to share them all, but I'll do my best.
Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters has been one of the most prolific Hsu punsters, treating his readers to "Hsu On The Other Foot", "Hillary Not Hsu Happy", and "Steady Eddie And A Boy Named Sue."
Don Surber also played off the Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue" and even wrote lyrics for it. He skillfully managed to squeeze a Larry Craig reference into the song:
Hillary dropped me like I was a blue dress
The Democrats made my life one big mess
I shook like a leaf or Larry Craig’s shoe.
In jail I think about how I just cannot win
But if I ever have a son, I think I’m gonna name him
Bill or George!
Anything but Hsu!
I still hate that name!
You can find more Hsu-related lyrics over at Old War Dogs, this time under the title "Shoo, Hsu, Baby":
You've seen him in Shanghai and Beijing too,
And now he's wearin' the Demos’ blue,
Hil had a tear in the corner of her eye,
As he said his last goodbye.
Musical Hsu puns actually have been quite popular. Dinocrat chose "Runaround Hsu," and Instapundit Glenn Reynolds opted for "Hsu-fly, don't bother me." Reynolds also offered this thought after Hsu's capture: "I wonder if they've got him on Hsuicide watch."
Shoe puns are a hit, too. From Townhall: "Waiting For The Next Hsu To Drop." And TPMCafe went for the headline "When The Other Hsu Drops" (with a link to "Hsu Done It" over at TPM Election Central).
VarvBlog blogged about Hsu's troubles under "The Hsu Fits," and The Powers That Be opted for "This Hsu Is Made For Runnin'"
Here are other Hsu puns I found in a blog search after realizing the trend:
-- Three Sources: "Hsu Fly Pie"
-- Southern Ledger: "Hsu's On First"
-- Forward Movement: "Democrats Hit By Hsu-nami"
-- The Latest Word: "So Hsu Me!"
-- Gather: "More Hsu-nanigans"
-- Tusk & Talon: "Deja Hsu"
-- TigerHawk: "Stomach Hsu"
-- Grammaticus: "Hsu Two"
-- Small Dead Animals: "Hillary Hears A Hsu"
-- A Blog For All: "Hsu's Money Is It?"
-- EPluribus Media: "Who's Hsu?"
-- Attytood: "Hsu Are You?"
-- The Belmont Club: "Hsu Goes There?"
UPDATE: Don Surber has more Hsu puns to share. He added one in the comments and sent me this one via e-mail about my entry: "You Hsu did a good job." Anyone else, or does that just about Hsu it up? Sorry, I couldn't resist.
UPDATE II: Michelle Malkin has been very punny when it comes to Hsu. She was one of the early users of "Hsu, fly, don't bother me" and noted his "Hsu-rrender!" late last month.
One of her readers also penned lyrics to "Runaround Hsu." Here's a taste:
Here’s my story, sad but true
It’s about a guy that I once knew
He [took my] money, then ran around
Giving money to every dem in townAh, I should have known it from the very start
This guy will leave me with a broken heart
Now listen people what I’m telling you
A-keep away from-a Runaround Hsu
UPDATE III: Another one from Instapundit -- "Strange But Hsu." Plus many more in the comments. (ADDED 9/10: Glenn Reynolds clearly is competing for top honors in the punitry now. His latest at Instapundit: "There's no business like Hsu's business.")
(Time for a Hsutable) UPDATE: Howard Mortman, the Prince Of Puns, joins our game of Trivial Pur-Hsuit and gives his readers an education about Jewish holidays at the same time. All of this playing on words may make the victim adopt a Hsudonym.
UPDATE IV: Howard Mortman just e-mailed to say it's time to change gears in the pun mobile. "Let’s revisit our Charlie Trie puns from 10 years ago!"
Posted by Danny at 09:08 AM | Comments (39)
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The Broadband Hub ... And Other Blogs
Over at Tech Daily Dose, we just mentioned a new blog called the Broadband Hub that is being written by three experts in the telecommunications field.
It is one of a few blogs I have added to the blogroll in the left column. The others are:
-- ACLU Blog
-- Evergreen Freedom Foundation
-- Freedom@Work
Policy blogs come online so regularly these days that I don't go searching for them like I did when I started Beltway Blogroll. So if your organization has one and it's not on my blogroll, e-mail me at dglover@nationaljournal.com, and I'll add a link.
Posted by Danny at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)
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[Cross-posted from Tech Daily Dose]
Our parent company, National Journal Group, announced a new partnership on Monday with satellite radio giant XM as the race for the White House kicks into high gear. You'll be able to hear NJ experts on POTUS '08, a station dedicated to the 2008 election.
As part of the joint venture, NJ Contributing Editor Linda Douglass will host "National Journal On Air," a one-hour weekly show providing a recap of the top political news and events from the week as well as a preview of the week ahead.
Other NJ favorites who will appear on XM include Charlie Cook, editor of The Cook Political Report; Hotline Editor-in-Chief Amy Walter; NJ Political Correspondent Jim Barnes; and other journalists and experts who call our Watergate headquarters home.
XM's POTUS '08 (Channel 130) is scheduled to go live in late September. NJ readers will be able to access podcasts of "National Journal On Air" and other segments as well as links to related news and articles on NationalJournal.com.
We caught up with Douglass to ask her about her new endeavor...
TDD: In your opinion, what is the most exciting aspect of NJ's new partnership with XM?
The POTUS 08 channel is going to be irresistible for political junkies and people who are hungry for information about the issues and events that are shaping the campaigns. The listening audience is going to be made up of people who really care about politics and policy, and that is the National Journal’s audience. National Journal has some of the most respected and knowledgeable journalists in Washington and POTUS 08 will give people all around the country to benefit from their expertise, insight and analysis.
TDD: Tell us a bit about the POTUS '08 show's format. What can listeners expect to hear?
The show will feature a newsmaker interview followed by a roundtable of National Journal analysts, columnists and reporters. We will look at one or two of the top stories in the magazine and discuss the week’s political events. We will also take a close look at polling data, trends and events happening in the states. I will also get debriefs from the National Journal/NBC embedded reporters who are traveling with various campaigns. And we will look ahead to the next week.
TDD: What movers and shakers are you most excited to have on the show?
We are hoping to talk with the presidential candidates and their advisors and also to members of Congress who have interesting thoughts about the political season. We also look forward to interviewing governors and other state officials as the primaries in their states approach.
TDD: What are some topics you plan on tackling, right off the bat?
We want to be topical, so each show will be driven by the events of that week. Ask me again the week of 9/23!
Posted by Andrew Noyes at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)
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As noted in Technology Daily this morning
Since the ability to manipulate results of the Google search engine was discovered seven years ago, political "Google-bombing" has been primarily a political tactic of liberals, according to the conservative National Review Online.
The magazine recalled how in last year's election, the liberal blogosphere -- spearheaded by Chris Bowers, then of MyDD -- used Google bombs to make negative articles about Republican candidates more prominent in Google search results. "Obviously, the 2006 midterms went very well for Democrats, though there's no way to quantify the contribution of Google bombing to the Democrats’ electoral success. ... But it can't be discounted either," the article said.
Bowers criticized the article at Open Left, where he blogs now, and a blog entry at The Nation noted the five stages of GOP online grief evident in the article.
Posted by Danny at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)
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Bin Laden And The Blogosphere
First-tier blogger Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo ridiculed terrorist Osama bin Laden by comparing him with an incoherent "9th-tier blogger".
Ann Althouse, another first-tier blogger, responded by chastising Marshall for his "snobbery." "Plenty of bloggers with small audiences write very well and convey subtle thinking," she said. "How liberal-minded is it to look down on people with less traffic?"
Conservative columnist David Brooks, meanwhile, said this about the transcript of bin Laden's latest video, released online this week: "[Y]ou read this thing, and it's like he's been sitting around reading lefty blogs, and he's one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom the page."
Think Progress is tracking bin Laden/blogger comparisons. A CNN correspondent said he sounds like an "angry blogger," and Political Vindication said bin Laden's words no doubt tickled the ears of Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos. And a Pajamas Media blogger thinks Daily Kos and The Huffington Post might be interested in having bin Laden as a commenter on their sites.
This is what life has come to in our new media world. We have reached the point where the best way to malign the most wanted man on the planet, whether from left or right, is by saying he's like a blogger.
Think about that while you read the rest of this week's blog bits:
-- Snob or not, Columbia Journalism Review thinks Josh Marshall is onto something with Talking Points Memo. The magazine profiles Marshall and his new media empire in its current issue.
I like this blurb: "Marshall often says that he is annoyed by 'blog triumphalism,' which he described in 2004 as 'an unrestrained belief that blogs or similarly situated sites can and should revolutionize all politics and media.' But with his restless institution-building, he has made as good a case as anyone for blogging’s journalistic merits." Marshall probably would say I'm a blog triumphalist, and I couldn't disagree on most days. He is part of the reason.
-- California Republicans are trying to change the presidential election rules for 2008, but bloggers and others in the netroots and doing their best to keep the GOP from "stealing" the election.
-- Some bloggers have worked diligently to make the federal government more transparent, but transparency can be a local blog cause, too. A writer at the Sunlight Foundation is tracking those efforts. Check the first two installments.
-- Yesterday, I mentioned the "Bush Dog Democrats" campaign against moderate House Democrats. The bloggers at Open Left are running the campaign, but plenty of Democratic bloggers in the districts of the lawmakers being targeted aren't too happy about the interference from outsiders.
-- Open Left's Matt Stoller is a bit annoyed by media coverage of bloggers and the netroots. He cited two "really, really stupid" articles in particular, saying they are much worse than two other recent articles. I'm wondering if Stoller has ever read anything other than a flattering, fluffy article about the netroots that he likes.
-- Bloggers on the right have been debating whether they should be doing more to be like bloggers on the left. Dean Barnett spurred the latest round of chatter with a Weekly Standard column about the "Lopsided Netroots." Bluey Blog, Right Wings News and techRepublican responded.
-- Blogads considers People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals one of its "smartest blog advertisers" -- and PETA's ongoing contest that invites bloggers and blog readers, "rather than traditional advertising 'dinosaurs,'" to create a blog ad is among the reasons. How's this for an incentive: "[B]ecause the ad is for PETA, entrants shouldn't hesitate to be racy, provocative, shocking, or controversial."
-- Republican Fred Thompson announced this week that he is running for president in 2008. Sounds like a good time to release a book about Thompson, and that's exactly what blogger Bill Hobbs has done. The title: "Who Is Fred Thompson? Tennessee Bloggers Debate The Candidate's Conservative Credentials." Keep in mind that Hobbs is now the GOP communications director in Tennessee, which Thompson once represented in the U.S. Senate.
-- The Society of Professional Journalists will be holding its national conference, and blogging will be among the topics of discussion. Robert Cox of the Media Bloggers Association, of which I'm a member, will lead an interactive discussion on "the challenges, threats and future opportunities for bloggers and journalists," according to SPJ. Get more details on the session here.
-- Jose Antonio Vargas, who writes about bloggers and more in his role as the Internet political reporter for The Washington Post, now has his own YouTube channel. "There's always been a wall between journalists and their readers," Vargas wrote in an e-mail announcing the channel. "In this new media landscape, that wall, we all know, must come down. And I think that's for the better."
-- Have to pay your own way through college? Try blogging your way through. You just might win a $10,000 blog scholarship. The submission deadline for this year's scholarship is Oct. 6, and the winner will be declared Oct. 28.
-- I'm looking for writers at AirCongress. Go here for the details and contact me if you're interested.
Posted by Danny at 08:30 AM | Comments (3)
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Bloggers Cry Media Foul In Maine Senate Race
As noted in yesterday's AM Edition of Technology Daily
Democratic bloggers are questioning whether a Maine newspaper editor's decisions are being swayed by the interests of his wife, who is a staff assistant to Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Editor & Publisher reports that Bangor Daily News Executive Editor Mark Woodward is married to Bridget Woodward.
That fact has been public knowledge for years, but bloggers like Eric Kleefeld on TPM Election Central last week complained about the newspaper's coverage of the Senate race and its editorial against video "tracking" of Collins by supporters of her Democratic opponent, Rep. Tom Allen. (See TPM coverage here and here)
Mark Woodward said there is no conflict of interest in his work and denies slanting coverage in favor of Collins.
UPDATE: Mark Woodward, who also once worked as a press secretary to Collins, has recused himself from coverage of the race. So has Bangor Daily News assignment editor Tim Allen, whose responsibilities include politics. Tim Allen is a first cousin of Rep. Allen.
Posted by Danny at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
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So Who Isn't In The Blog's-Eye These Days?
"In The Blog's-Eye" was one of the first features I instituted here at Beltway Blogroll, the point being to alert readers to politicians and bureaucrats who are under attack from various parts of the blogosphere.
I haven't posted many blog's-eye entries in a while because it could get a bit tedious naming them all. It seems like there's a Beltway target for bloggers almost every day.
John Hawkins of Right Wing News drove that point home to me when he linked to his latest Townhall.com column. It names "Nine Members Of Congress Who Should Resign Right After Larry Craig."
Not surprisingly, seven of the nine are Democrats, but Hawkins picked two lawmakers from his Republican Party -- and for good measure, he put their names at the top of his list of "dirtiest players in the game." Here are his targets:
-- Sen. David Vitter, R-La., for alleged solicitation of a prostitute.
-- Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., for his arrest for solicitation of a prostitute.
-- Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., for leaking classified information to the press.
-- Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., for a "sleazy background" of corruption.
-- Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for using a gay prostitute.
-- Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., for allegedly taking bribe money.
-- Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., for being a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.
-- Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., for allegedly letting Mary Jo Kopechne drown decades ago.
There's another, even longer, list of House lawmakers under fire from some liberal bloggers. Matt Stoller of Open Left is spearheading the charge against the "Bush Dog Democrats," a take-off of the Blue Dog Democrats, a centrist group in the party. The Bush Dogs are described as Democrats who "enable the right-wing through their support of Bush's policies on core progressive values at key moments."
Here's the breakdown by state:
-- Alabama: Bud Cramer
-- Arkansas: Mike Ross and Vic Snyder
-- California: Jim Costa
-- Colorado: John Salazar
-- Florida: Alan Boyd
-- Georgia: John Barrow and Jim Marshall
-- Iowa: Leonard Boswell
-- Illinois: Melissa Bean and Dan Lipinski
-- Indiana: Joe Donnelly, Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill
-- Kentucky: Ben Chandler
-- Louisiana: Charlie Melancon
-- Mississippi: Gene Taylor
-- Minnesota: Colin Peterson and Tim Walz
-- North Carolina: Bob Etheridge, Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler
-- North Dakota: Earl Pomeroy
-- Ohio: Zack Space and Charlie Wilson
-- Oklahoma: Dan Boren
-- Pennsylvania: Jason Altmire and Chris Carney
-- South Dakota: Stephanie Herseth
-- Tennessee: Jim Cooper, Lamar Davis, Bart Gordon and John Tanner
-- Henry Cuellar, Chet Edwards, Nick Lampson and Ciro Rodriguez
-- Utah: Jim Matheson
-- Washington: Brian Baird
The Bush Dog campaign already has yielded blog profiles on most of the lawmakers in question. And as if attacking the Bush Dogs weren't enough, now Stoller is upset with staunch liberal Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, too.
Under a post titled "Get Rid Of Them All," Stoller reprimanded Markey for not taking strong stands about network neutrality and global warming. "Sometimes I feel like we literally have no allies anywhere," Stoller wrote.
Now do you see why I haven't been doing so many blog's-eye posts? Which Washington insider isn't the target of some disgruntled blogger? It would be much easier to keep track of the ones who aren't being maligned for some reason or another.
Posted by Danny at 10:35 AM | Comments (1)
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Bloggers Crashing The Watergate
Ask netroots cheerleaders Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and they'll tell you that bloggers are successfully "Crashing The Gate" of political Washington. Ask me and I'll tell you they're taking over the Atlantic Media building -- literally.
We have new blog tenants here at the Watergate building on New Hampshire Avenue in Washington. The Huffington Post has located its four-person Washington staff, including political editor Thomas Edsall (also a contributing editor at National Journal magazine), on the other side of the fifth floor from the corner we occupy at Technology Daily.
Add that bit of news to Atlantic Media's embrace of blogs, including six of them as of now at Atlantic.com, and National Journal's experiment with campaign embeds, and it's clear: The ivory tower is being overrun by the rabble!
Posted by Danny at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
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So said Richard Cohen of The Washington Post in a cheapshot, throwaway line in his lame attempt at satire this week. Most political bloggers never leave the country, he said, and they are so stupid that all they read are "Harry Potter" books.
The column has generated a smattering of well-deserved derision and ridicule from the likes of Matthew Yglesias, Blog P.I., Daily Kos and Eschaton. I thought I'd join the party, playing off Kos' post about his travels by taking polls about bloggers' travel and reading habits.
First, here's the scoop on me: As I said in a post last month, I'm not a big fan of books in general and especially not fiction, but I probably read two to three books a year. I also don't travel outside the country much -- though more for budgetary reasons than a lack of desire (overseas trips with a wife and three children are a bit pricey).
My world travels thus far have been limited to Guatemala for three adoptions (1999, 2002 and 2005), to Russia on a religious mission (2004), and if travel to our northern neighbor counts, to Canada for an editorial writers' convention (1998). Where would I go if I could afford it? Australia, China and Japan for starters.
As for "Harry Potter" books, I haven't read any of them, but my mother is a huge fan and I bought her a Russian version of one of the books when I visited there. (No, she doesn't speak Russian, but the book is a conversation piece of sorts because folks want to know why a retired nurse in West Virginia has a "Harry Potter" book in Russian.) And I've seen all of the "Harry Potter" movies, usually on DVD but a couple of them in the theater. I just watched the most recent one while on vacation last week.
Now it's time for a poll of political bloggers and their readers. Go to the extended entry to share details about your travels, your book-reading habits and even your passion for Harry Potter.
Posted by Danny at 09:31 AM | Comments (1)
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FEC Exempts Daily Kos From Campaign Law
The Federal Election Commission yesterday reaffirmed its position that political blogs are not subject to campaign finance disclosures because they fall under the media exemption to the law.
AP, UPI and The Politico report that the unanimous decision was reached in response to a conservative blogger's complaint against the liberal blog Daily Kos. The ruling was expected in light of the FEC's decision last year not to regulate political blogs.
"The law was clear before today, and it's even clearer now," Daily Kos lawyer Adam Bonin wrote. "What this site does and what sites like this do is protected under federal law, and should not be the subject of baseless, time-consuming complaints." (Read the official Daily Kos response to the complaint here.)
Blogs from the left to the right praised the decision.
On the same day, the FEC unanimously dismissed another blog-related complaint. In that case, Rep. Mary Bono had accused blogger Michael Grace of coordinating with her Democratic opponent, David Roth, to defeat her last November.
The two cases combined send a strong message that the FEC does not want to regulate blogs under campaign finance law.
Posted by Danny at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)
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Tennessee blogger Bill Hobbs has taken a new full-time job in politics. Starting Oct. 29, he will be the communications director to the Volunteer State's Republican Party.
Fellow GOP political blogger Patrick Ruffini, who previously served as the national party's e-campaign director and in the same role to Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, praised the move and lauded it as further evidence of the emergence of "new communicators" in the party. He noted that two other political bloggers, Shaun Kenney of Virginia and Bill Nowling of Michigan, also have been hired as communications directors for their state parties.
"As bloggers, they'll bring a fundamentally different approach to communications," Ruffini said. "The imperative to spread the message, loudly and repeatedly, is still there. But these bloggers understand that good meme-building is networked rather than top-down. That means that HQ gets a lot of its raw message material from the grassroots, primarily blogs. It processes it, aligns it with its own strategic messaging, and synthesizes it into a narrative opinion leaders have already bought into."
He added this appropriate cautionary note: "Let's hope these new media voices don't lose their irreverence and verve now that they're on the inside."
Posted by Danny at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)
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You Can't Trust Those 'Ideological Bloggers'
Blogs rose to prominence in the 2004 election in part based on their skills at fact-checking the political reporting of traditional journalists. Now four years later, one media outlet has turned the tables and accused "ideological bloggers" of manipulating the facts for the benefit of their favored candidates.
Neil Brown of the St. Petersburg Times, who brought me to Washington from West Virginia back in 1991 when he was a top editor at Congressional Quarterly, said in a Times opinion piece on Sunday that bloggers are at least part of the problem with today's political coverage.
He lumped them among"cynical political operatives, partisan pundits on cable TV and talk radio" as outlets that are "good at manipulating 'facts' to manufacture an aura of accuracy and attack those who would challenge them." Brown also lamented mainstream political reporting that he said too often "sticks to stenography and puffery" -- ironically, one of the gripes that bloggers themselves frequently aim at journalists.
The Times/CQ answer to the problem: PolitiFact.com, a Web site that will gauge the truthfulness of the presidential candidates' statements and advertisements.
Now if someone will just create a site that fact checks the truthfulness of those ideological bloggers, the new media revolution will have come full circle, with everyone playing watchdog on the work of everyone else.
Posted by Danny at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
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'McCarthyism' By Liberal Gay Bloggers?
That's the accusation leveled by Republican strategist Mike Murphy yesterday on "Meet The Press" in reaction to the resignation of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, because of a scandal involving alleged solicitation of another man in a public restroom.
Raw Story called attention to Murphy's comments. Here are quotes from the segment:
I think Craig is an unsympathetic figure. But there has been this case of bloggers on the far left trying to expose closeted politicians if they don't fall completely into lockstep with a certain liberal gay agenda. And I think that's unfair. It’s a form of McCarthyism, really. ...[T]here is a tendency to apply an identity politics test now, which, which has a real chilling effect on politics, that somebody’s private life has -- or their, their race or their gender or their orientation -- has to dictate where they stand politically. If you're a woman, you have to be a pro-choice Democrat. I mean, that calculation cheapens politics, and it's unfair to people in public life who do have private lives.
A day after Murphy's appearance, liberal gay blogger John Aravosis asked this question in an inflammatory post at Americablog: "Is Senator Lindsey Graham Violating Don't Ask, Don't Tell?"
The entry resurrected what Aravosis admitted is "longtime unconfirmed speculation" about Graham's sexual preferences and said Graham "sounds like a flaming gay" who should be investigated by the Air Force before being allowed to serve as part of the reserve in Iraq.
UPDATE: The Washington Post profiled Mike Rogers, the blogger at the center of the controversy over "outing" allegedly gay lawmakers.
Posted by Danny at 06:07 PM | Comments (4)
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The Federal Election Commission last year decided against applying campaign finance rules to blogs, but that move doesn't keep state from taking actions of their own. Washington state is considering it, according to The Seattle Times:
The rapid growth of political blogs and Web sites has attracted the attention of state elections officials, who are considering what, if any, new regulations should be imposed on the Internet.The go-slow approach by the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), which collects candidates' financial information and enforces elections laws, is applauded by most bloggers and campaign experts, though some say policing the Internet is unnecessary and all but impossible.
As early as this month, the PDC may consider new political communication regulations, with much of the discussion likely to focus on whether to extend federal rules governing the Internet to local races.
Posted by Danny at 06:00 PM | Comments (5)
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