March 31, 2005
3/31: Tears And Bitterness
The "Hotline Blogometer" is our daily taking of the temperature of the blogs. For more information on the thinking behind this feature, go to the end of the story.
Blogosphere reactions to the passing of Terri Schiavo:
Drudge Report headline: "DEAD"; Headline at conservative Jackson's Junction: "Terri's Dead. Congratulations"
Conservative Lorie Byrd from PoliPundit: "I find it almost impossible to believe that with the support of both Republicans and Democrats, with worldwide media attention and with access to both state and federal court systems, Terri's family was not able to save their daughter. They were not allowed to give her food or water. They were not able to be with her when she died. I will post more thoughts on the entire ordeal when I am back home. I am still not quite able to process everything yet. It is almost too much to comprehend."
Centrist Jeff Jarvis: "I'm seeing many prayers but also much anger. MSNBC just reported that Bush will make a live statement about Schiavo at the start of a statement about WMD. He doesn't make live statements about the soldiers who die in Iraq but he makes a statement about this. Her death is political to the end."
Conservative Ed Morrissey: "Out of respect for the family and all concerned, I plan on offering no further comment on this issue today, other than to implore CQ readers to please pray for Terri, her family, and all who mourn her passing."
A regular at liberal DailyKos: "The New York Times is reporting that Terri Schiavo has passed away. May she rest in peace."
RedState: "This is not over."
More reactions: TalkLeft; WizBang; The Corner; Little Green Footballs; Tim BlairPolitical Teen ; America Blog; Damian Penny.
TRACKBACKS: There Actually Are Other Stories Out There
Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:
- An AP dispatch reports that Weekly Standard publisher Bill Kristol got a pie in the face at an Indiana speaking engagement. Linking: The Moderate Voice; Corrente; Betsy's Page; Slant Point; Power Line: "The unflappable Dr. Kristol responded: 'Just let me finish this point.' Being smart and funny is a winning combination. And sometimes a good example is contagious. Even the AP reporter covering the incident seems to catch the spirit. Consider the closing line of his report: 'Earlham is a liberal arts college of about 1,200 students that is well-known for its peace studies program.'"
- Instapundit's right-leaning law prof Glenn Reynolds writes at Salon that GOP "leaders have abandoned the traditional principles of small government and federalism -- and warns they may soon come to regret it." Balloon Juice; Unfogged; PrestoPundit; Backword; Outside the Beltway
Liberal Matt Yglesias doesn't link to the article, but is on the same point at American Prospect's Tapped: "We were just having our editorial meeting at which I wondered why it is that people (including this magazine on a few occasions) repeatedly predict an imminent 'conservative crackup' that never quite seems to happen. I see Jonah Goldberg did a column today on the subject, focused more on libertarians making the prediction, but liberals do it, too. Jonah's pretty much got this right: Any political coalition achieving anything resembling majority status in America is going to involve a lot of disagreements. There's nothing unusual about it, or any particular reason to think such coalitions can't be sustained."
- A column in the left-wing UK Guardian writes that U.S. neoconservative unilateralism is here to stayPower Line; Libertarian Scott Burgess; War and Piece.
In a separate post at Power Line, "Deacon" calls the column "less objectionable than I expected" and adds: "There's no inherent harm in calling the administration's policy neo-conservative. The mischief lies in the implication that the policy is not indigenous to the administrative, but instead results from a 'hijacking' by 'revolutionary' cosmopolitan intellectuals."
Liberal Pacific Views quotes the penultimate line: "At the same time, there is an absolute belief that the US must maintain such a large lead in crucial technologies that growing powers -- in other words, China -- will decide that it is simply too expensive to try to compete," and replies: "Yeah, small problem with that plan. A tragic weakness in the foundation, as with so many of their other projects. If you don't properly support education, and you start losing the foreign graduate students that fill out your university research teams, eventually your country stops being a beacon of innovation."
SCHIAVO: What They Said Before
"How sad have things gotten" writes right-leaning Glenn Reynolds, in a roundup of bloggers and columnists on how personally distressing the Terri Schiavo case has become; National Review's Robert George claims he's received death threats. Reynolds adds several updates
Included in the roundup, conservative JunkYardBlog: "[L]ittle of the past couple of weeks has been more obnoxious than liberals and libertarians lecturing conservatives on what it means to be a conservative. Some liberals and libertarians have argued that Congress breached federalism in trying to save Terri, thus violating bedrock Republican principles. Well, thank you all for telling us what we believe. Whatever would we do without you?"
Vanity Fair's James Wolcott, on watching "Capital Gang" over the weekend: "[CNN's Margaret] Carlson (how the hell does she have a career?) had been so effusive in praise of them and so abusive in disparagement of Michael Schiavo that Robert Novak commended her after she paused for breath, which is like being kissed by a vampire who's removed his fangs." More: "Joe Scarborough may be a nice guy off-camera, but his performance in the Schiavo case has been one of the most disgusting stretches in cable-news history."
Conservative Hugh Hewitt notes an 11th Circuit judge, in a concurring opinion on the Schiavo case, calls the late night act of Congress unconstitutional: "He is the only judge of the 22 federal judges reviewing the matter to announce such a conclusion, but I have already heard three commentators on television attach great importance to this assertion."
Slate's Mickey Kaus: "What's a sounder basis for ambitious liberal affirmative government -- a) an optimistic desire for often-expensive government action to preserve and extend life or b) a resigned, fatalistic willingness to delegate life-ending decisions to private citizens? If the answer is a), shouldn't left-wingers be pro-tubists?"
From MyDD: "I've been keeping an eye out on the 11% "culture of lifers" at freeperville [FreeRepublic.com message board] that the Bush brothers have lost over this little GOP catastrophe. The MSM and the Republican bloggers might be ignoring it, but the online theocons are having a bit of an identity crisis." It links to a FreeRepublic post featuring a Photoshopped image of the famous Elian Gonzales photo, with Terri Schiavo as Elian and Bush as the SWAT officer.
Conservative Hundred Percenter writes: "In life, a person is often judged by the company he keeps. I apply that principle in both my business and personal life. As far as my blogging is concerned, I generally try to link to websites that share my ideologies." He lists 8 high-profile blogs he is removing from his blogroll (the links along the side of the page), including Instapundit, Little Green Footballs, INDC Journal, and Protein Wisdom. INDC Journal replies: "The subtext of that post: 'Hillary '08!'"
SOCIAL SECURITY: Pretty Much Every Liberal Blogger's Favorite Subject
Talking Points Memo offers a roundup of news stories that suggest personal accounts are losing support.
Liberal econ prof Brad DeLong offers "four off-the-top-of-my-head reasons to oppose the Bush private-accounts plan, all of them very good ones": "As private-accounts plans go, it is a lousy one"; "It is not cost-free for the existing Social Security system"; "It doesn't do a thing to raise national saving"; "The Bush administration has a demonstrated skill at getting the important details of policies wrong."
Beltway Buzz, on the AARP's new poll supporting its position on Social Security: "[T]he numbers behind the new AARP Social Security poll are highly misleading. The majority of respondents were over 55, therefore of an age greater than to be affected by personal accounts. In addition, the language used to describe personal accounts was misleading."
First Michelle Malkin, then Kaus speculate that the Washington Post's Mike Allen wasn't being truthful in claiming the Post "stuck to what we knew to be true and did not call" the disputed Schiavo memo "talking points or a Republican memo" Scroll down to "Who Is 'Mike Allen'?": "Malkin has come up with a smoking gun undercutting Allen's claim -- a Seattle Times squib, bylined "The Washington Post," which shows that either a) the Post did too put out at least one story saying the memo was "distributed to Republican senators by party leaders," [emph. added] or, more likely, b) the Post's coverage was misleading enough to fool whoever rewrote the Post story for the Seattle Times into thinking it was an official GOP memo." In her post, Malkin asks: "Are we supposed to believe that a renegade Seattle Times copy editor inserted the phrase "by party leaders" on his or her own? Are we supposed to believe that copy editors at the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times and Yahoo! News inserted the exact same phrase on their own?"
DC-based Dem Oliver Willis posts an mp3 of Sean Hannity "slamming a Democratic congressman as an 'asshole' when Hannity didn't realize he was being recorded." Willis doesn't mention the congressman is Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA).
Kos mentions: "Don't look now, but USA Today has been offering some of the best Iraq coverage of any publication." A Monday headline: "Army late with orders for armored Humvees"; a Wednesday headline: "Tanks take a beating in Iraq"; today: "Mental disorders are on the rise among Afghanistan, Iraq veterans."
Centrist Jeff Jarvis: "CJR Daily goes after The New York Times, as I did the other day, for writing about new FCC National Nanny Kevin Martin and the so-called Parents Television Council without going to anyone -- anyone -- who defends the First Amendment against them."
GOPer Matt Margolis links to a WaPo story on MSNBC headlined: "Bush keeps tight rein on Cabinet'Spending time at White House is required." He responds: "Where I work, we call this a 'team meeting'; you know, where we get together and set priorities and assign tasks. But nothing the Bush Administration does is without its MSM report darkly hinting of some nefarious plot."
DELAY: When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It
Liberal Gadflyer: "The best thing Republicans could do for themselves would be to cast [Tom] DeLay overboard and say 'We never really liked him anyway,' like they did with Trent Lott. But now it looks like the fight over the Hammer will just drag on and on, in increasingly prominent ways. This means that DeLay, with his charming combination of apocalyptic fundamentalism, snarling political ruthlessness, and good old-fashioned corruption, can be an issue in every congressional district in America in 2006."
Media Matters' liberal Duncan Black, in a post headlined "Fork Him": "When Howard "The Weathervane" Fineman says DeLay's in trouble..."
Lefty Kevin Drum, blogging for the Washington Monthly, quotes righty Heather MacDonald and conservative prof Stanley Rothman writing on diversity and liberal academia. Drum adds: "Sounds like they've got that whole victimhood thing down pat, doesn't it?"
CAMPAIGNS: An Early Concession?
On news that Rep. Patrick Kennedy won't challenge Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Kos all but concedes RI SEN: "We've lost two of our strongest candidates against Chafee. Rep. Langevin was driven out of the race by the pro-choice lobby, and Kennedy out by family concerns. Rookie Secretary of State Matt Brown is last man standing. With this news, give the edge to Chafee."
Right Wing News on Dems opposed to a photo ID requirement for voting: "As far as I'm concerned, anyone who isn't in favor of requiring at least some form of identification from a potential voters, isn't serious about preventing election fraud."
FOREIGN POLICY: U.N.-Believable
Nation correspondent David Corn recalls John Bolton's involvement in Iran-Contra, writing: "John Bolton is a bad penny. He keeps coming back. As I've written before, there are plenty of reasons why he's a horrible pick to be US ambassador to the United Nations. Even if you believe the UN needs reform, you don't send a pyromaniac to fix a house of sticks."
U.N.-skeptical screenwriter/novelist Roger L. Simon has a source close to the U.N., and has a scoop on documents left out of Paul Volcker's Oil-for-Food report. His first "special report," from the weekend, is here. He writes today: "[D]espite the foregoing, I do not believe that Kofi Annan is necessarily an evil man, or even a bad one. He is just the product of a system that overwhelmed him, one that he is particularly poorly placed to reform."
DOMESTIC ISSUES: PFAW's Excellent Adventure
From Red State, an activist blog for the right similar to DailyKos on the left: "Those living in the District of Columbia media market started hearing a plea from Ted, a "common sense Republican", on their TV sets tonight. After a clip from "Mr. Smith goes to Washington." Ted begs us to "Save the Filibuster" so the Mr. Smith's can try to get Congress to do "what's right and fair." So who is this "common sense Republican" group that's appealing to our better judgment? Nobody other than the People for the American Way ... That's rich."
Conservative Captain's Quarters points out that "Ted" is Ted Nonini, a little-known member of a union that endorsed John Kerry (ellipses in original): "So who did [PFAW's Ralph] Neas find? Brent Scowcroft? Henry Kissinger? Jim Jeffords? The ghost of Nelson Rockefeller? No! Neas found ... Ted Nonini. You know ... that Ted Nonini. Still stumped? Welcome to the club. Ted Nonini, as it turns out, works as a Los Angeles firefighter -- obviously a brave man -- but as a politician, he doesn't have much of a track record."
LEST WE FORGET: Strunk & White & Sanchez
Libertarian Julian Sanchez offers a lengthy list of problems with freelance submissions he reads for Reason: "Remember how in Mrs. Grundy's third grade English class, she warned you against using the first person -- especially the dreaded "I" -- in essay writing? And then someone later on, maybe high school, explained what rubbish this was, how the best writers do this all the time, and how hewing to that rule produces ludicrous workarounds like "this author" or "your correspondent" when it's impossible not to make reference to the writer? Well, they were both on to something."
Hope you enjoyed the Blogometer's 2nd day taking the temperature of the blogosphere! We did. Today we're trying this without showing the links to a printable. Let us know what you think.
Here's a recap of what we're trying to do here, if you missed it yesterday: Typically we will begin with a short summary of the last 24 hours in the blogosphere (today we opted just to do a round-up on Schiavo's passing). A key feature of our coverage will be "Trackbacks," where we will show what non-blog online news stories are getting a lot of attention. The main content of our coverage will be quote a wide segment of blogs to show what controversies are bubbling up.
On style: Boldface and Italics: These represent people and print sources just as in the rest of the Hotline. Boldface-Italics indicate the name of a blog; because a blog is both a person and a publication, and sometimes it's difficult to tell where the person blogging ends and the blogging persona begins.
Questions, comments, reservations? Drop us a line at blogometer@nationaljournal.com.
Posted by at 12:23 PM
March 30, 2005
3/30: We're (Finally) Reading The Blogs So You Don't Have To
Today The Hotline begins an experiment: a daily survey of what's going on and what's being said in the "blogosphere," particularly the unknown thousands of weblogs that follow -- and in some notable cases influence -- U.S. politics and media. We're calling it our Blogometer (say it like "thermometer"). The format may evolve as the online debate evolves and starts new discussions, but our goal will be always to provide a daily snapshot of what people are blogging about.
Right now, three primary features comprise our coverage:
Each day we'll start with a summary paragraph explaining what's happened in the blogosphere in the last 24 hours. If the discussions are scattered, we'll keep it short and let the coverage do the talking. If there's something new happening, we'll try to explain the back story as succinctly as possible. Today it's called "Pajama Party" -- and we mean that in the best way -- but if something works better, we'll change it.
First, we will point out which stories from the mainstream media or MSM are drawing particular attention among the bloggers. In this section we will provide a link to the original story, a brief description of what it is about, and then links to various sites offering comment. We're calling it "Trackbacks," after a common weblog feature that shows which sites have linked to a particular post.
The second, and most extensive part of our coverage will be the product of our surfing around from blog to blog, pointing out what controversies are bubbling up and which sides the better-known bloggers are taking. These will be grouped by category and will in all likelihood include different stories each day, not unlike the main Hotline document. Sure to be a frequent category -- though not here in this inaugural edition -- will be "BLOGS VS. MSM."
A few notes on style:
Boldface-italics: We'll use this style to identify the name of a blog, and because few of these blogs are household names even in political circles, we'll use the style each time the blog is named. This style is also appropriate because often it's difficult to tell where the person blogging ends and the blogging persona begins.Boldface and Italics: These represent people and print sources just as in the rest of the Hotline. When a person's name is also the name of their blog, we'll stick to simple boldface, as the name of their blog is likely revealed in the URL at the end of the sentence.
We will try to accurately characterize the political leanings of these weblogs, using essentially neutral words and phrases such as "conservative," "liberal," "lefty," "righty," "right-leaning," and "left-leaning." If you feel we've mischaracterized anyone's inclinations, let us know and we'll take a closer look next time.
Questions, comments, reservations? Drop us a line.
PAJAMA PARTY: A Close Schiavo
As has been the case for the past week, the preeminent discussion on weblogs both right and left is the fight over Terri Schiavo. The early-morning decision by the 11th Circuit to hold another hearing lifted the hopes of "pro-tube" conservatives, but also getting ink (or pixels) is an eagerly-awaited take on a disputed memorandum by the Washington Post's Kurtz. There is a minor furor on the right re: a recent column by the NYT's Krugman, but otherwise the Schiavo case and its various subcontroversies are sucking up all the oxygen.
TRACKBACKS: Everybody Kurtz
Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:
- Village Voice's Hentoff: "For all the world to see, a 41-year-old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history" [link]. Conservatives are quick to embrace this support from the left; liberals point out that Hentoff's right-to-life views are not news. Linking to Hentoff: The Corner; Myopic Zeal.
>> Left-leaning UCLA prof Mark A.R. Kleiman: "I see Nat Hentoff and Jesse Jackson have joined the feed-Terri forces, which already included Ralph Nader, Randall Terry, Rush Limbaugh, Bo Gritz, Sean Hannity, and James Dobson. Now if we can just get Alexander Cockburn and Al Sharpton to join in, we'll have a left-right coalition embodying the very cream of the nation's loudmouth dimwitted self-promoting busybodies" [http://www.markarkleiman.com/archives/schiavo_/2005/03/allstar_team.php]
>> Right-leaning Tom Maguire includes it in a "Liberals For Terri" roundup, along with the recently-founded http://liberalsforterri.blogspot.com [http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/03/liberals_for_te.html].
- Conservatives have been after Kurtz for several days to expand on recent coverage of the alleged GOP talking points memo on Schiavo being "good politics." Kurtz: "While there is no hard evidence that the memo is fake, there are several strange things about it, including the basic fact that no one seems to know who wrote it and that the noncontroversial part of it is lifted from a Republican senator's press release," but he mostly punts. Among the linkers: Michelle Malkin; Hedgehog Report; LaShawn Barber's Corner.
>> Conservative Captain's Quarters: "Kurtz once again acts as an apologist rather than an objective news critic, yet another disappointment he can add to his non-coverage of the Eason Jordan scandal" [http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004185.php]
>> Liberal MyDD: "I can't believe how much effort the wingers are putting into disproving a total non-story." [http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/3/29/203928/714]
- Still popular 24 hours after publication, Kurtz's self-evident "College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds" draws the interest from all over -- "duhs" from the right, assent from the centrists, and some derision from the left. Linking: Althouse; Centerfield; Ace of Spades HQ; PrestoPundit; Betsy's Page; "Wonkette".
>> Righty Todd Zywicki: "The evidence is mounting that there is an ideological one-sidedness to university campuses today. The relevant question is whether it is having an effect on the education of American college students ... I hear from many of my own students [that] university campuses have become so cartoonishly left-wing that many students are essentially just tuning out their professors" [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_03_27-2005_04_02.shtml#1112111400].
>> Lefty Ezra Klein: "So in places where intelligent, informed people work, many of them turn out to be liberal. At the places the most intelligent and informed people work, even more of them turn out to be liberal. And so we scratch our heads and wonder about bias? Why?" [http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2005/03/why_professors_.html].
- Also sticking around for a second day is the NYT's similarly self-evident "List of Schiavo Donors Will Be Sold by Direct-Marketing Firm" [link]. No one approves, but the left is more vocal: Pandagon; Balloon Juice; World O' Crap; Tapped.
>> Headline at right-leaning A Small Victory: "If Only Cynicism Was A Virtue" [http://asmallvictory.net/archives/008547.html]
>> Lefty Whiskey Bar: imagines a Nov. '05 Bloomberg Market Wrap: "Schiavo Enterprises (ticker: TERRI) today reported an earnings increase of 8 cents a share for the third quarter, 3 cents higher than the consensus estimate. In Nasdaq trading, shares rose to $43, from $40 at Thursday's close" [http://billmon.org/archives/001788.html].
- A report from the Christian Science Monitor [link] on the collapse of the Kyrgyzstan government draws links almost exclusively from right-of-center bloggers: Outside the Beltway; Chrenkoff; Instapundit; Pejmanesque.
>> Moderate Joe Gandelman: "Putin won't go with the flow. In subtle or non-subtle ways he'll circle the wagon trains -- but there are some teeny-weenie problems with circular firing squads..." [http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1112183582.shtml].
SCHIAVO: The 11th Circuit Hour
Conservative Ed Morrissey, on the 11th Circuit's decision to review the Schiavo case once again: "I presume the basis of this appeal pertains to the emergency law passed by Congress demanding a de novo approach to the case in federal court, a law that Judge Whittemore completely disregarded in his action. ... Let's hope they get it right this time, and quickly" [http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004187.php]
Ace of Spaces HQ on the same: "I'm not religious, but I am actually praying this hearing is fruitful for once, and that it's not too late. If she dies while these assholes dither and dick around.... What. A. Travesty." [http://ace.mu.nu/archives/073354.php].
Lefty Kos posts an example of what the hate mongers who buy such lists" as the Schiavo donor list (as noted above), direct mail from VA activist/Loudon Co. Supv. Eugene Delgaudio: "Dear fellow conservative, Tonight, after a long day of fighting the Radical Homosexuals, I just feel exhausted." Full text in the post [http://dailykos.com/story/2005/3/29/191914/848]
Last night CBS accidentally reported that Schiavo had died. Conservative radio talker has the erroneous report in PDF format [http://www.glennbeck.com/news/03-29-05/printable683.pdf].
Several left-leaning blogs including Eschaton link to a Media Matters transcript wherein a neurologist who examined Terri Schiavo "confronts" MSNBC's Scarborough over her true medical condition [http://mediamatters.org/items/200503290005].
PARTY POLITICS: Moving On To Other Issues?
NewDonkey notes an esssay by the Weekly Standard's Kristol on judges in the Schiavo case and speculates: "How, you may wonder, is the Republican Party going to extricate itself from the political and legal thicket it entered through its forceful and feckless intervention in the Terri Schiavo case? Well ... you go back on the offensive by pivoting to the next big GOP outrage, the 'nuclear option' for forcing George W. Bush's judicial nominees through the Senate, and you use the Schiavo case as a reason for doing it" [http://www.newdonkey.com/2005/03/nuclear-trigger.html]
Social Security-focused liberal Josh Marshall, on the Club For Growth TV spot criticizing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) for being open to a payroll-tax increase for Social Security: "Ahhh ... A thing of beauty, the first signs of the intra-phase-out-camp free-fire zone" [http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_03_27.php#005273].
Dem blogger Oliver Willis: "In the blogosphere, you have almost a reverse dynamic to that found in the media. Overwhelmingly liberal bloggers identify themselves directly as Democrats. ... But among bloggers on the right, it always seems that great pains are taken to make it clear that they are "independents" or "libertarians" - these are people who usually endorse much of the GOP agenda and reliably vote for Republicans ... it begs the question, are Democrats simply prouder of the Democratic party and what it stands for -- for all the handwringing of "where do we stand" could it be that the donkey triumphs over the pachyderm? I think so" [http://www.oliverwillis.com/node/2229].
APOSTASIES: Loyalty Test
Right-leaning LGF notes a CAIR release: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations is crowing tonight about forcing National Review Online to remove advertisements for books critical of Islam." The release states, NR "apparently removed advertisements for two virulently anti-Muslim books attacking the Prophet Muhammad from its online store" [http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=15242_National_Review_Caves_in_to_CAIR&only=yes"].
Left-leaning Marc Cooper: "You really have to feel for Jesse Jackson. Imagine the burning moral anguish experienced by The Reverend -- as his staff calls him - when he had to weigh the pros and cons of staying on as spiritual advisor to oppression victim Michael Jackson. Or instead, should he swoop in for a last minute stand with Terry Randall and Terry Schiavo?" [http://marccooper.typepad.com/marccooper/2005/03/somewhere_over_.html]
FEC: Both Sides Are Wary Of A Crackdown
Liberal Daily Kos contributor acbonin, on the FEC regulations: "Mike Krempasky of RedState.org, by the way, has been a godsend in reporting on these issues. These are issues on which the online right and left are much aligned. ... I have been engaged to represent DailyKos, Eschaton and The Blogging of the President to analyze the proposed regulations and prepare their formal response" [http://dailykos.com/story/2005/3/29/14451/2933].
CAMPAIGNS: E-Dole Is No E-Pro
From Blogs for Bush: "Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to donate to an important Republican campaign." Also: "Winning elections does matter; every seat does count. That's why you should donate to the 2006 Senate re-election campaign of Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)" [http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/004100.html]
Pro-Rep. Mark Kennedy MN bloggers TBFKADVK: "Elizabeth Dole does not seem nearly as motivated in her new role" at the NRSC as '02 chair Sen. Allen. "Superior messaging can cover a multitude of sins but strong candidates are needed against extremely vulnerable Democratic incumbents in WA, MI and other states if the Republican majority is to be expanded. We can only hope such murmurings will serve as motivation for the otherwise gifted Mrs. Dole" [http://daytonvkennedy.blogspot.com/2005/03/on-dole.html]
IN THE STATES: We're Not Blog-Worthy!
TN State Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) has "offended" Dem members of the TN Legis., who say his blog is "unfair, full of malicious attacks ... and a violation of the decorum required of lawmakers." He uses the blog to "poke fun" at House Speaker John Wilder (D) and says he "won't stop, promising 'to keep pulling back the curtain'": "A lot of people are just scared that what they don't want exposed will be exposed."
In a recent rules hearing, Rep. Jere Hargrove (D) said to Campfield: "You are impugning the character of everybody down here that happens to be a little bit different than you. ... If I provide you with material as scandalous and scurrilous as [an unspecified post] that attacks friends of yours, will you put that in this thing?" Campfield: "I might -- I'd have to see what it is. Maybe it's not blogworthy." Hargrove: "Well, let me tell you, this isn't outhouse-worthy" (Gouras, AP/Knoxville News, 3/30).
Campfield's blog can be found at: http://lastcar.blogspot.com/
MISCELLANY: Some Of This, Some Of That
Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin trades e-mails with the NYT's Kristof about "claim that the number of abortions has increased since President Bush took office" [http://michellemalkin.com/archives/001918.htm].
Centrist Andrew Sullivan links to a "smart" New York profile of Karl Rove, and comments: "I almost look forward to Rove running Bill Frist for president next time around" [http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2005_03_27_dish_archive.html#111211176802050984].
Liberal Duncan Black, on SoCA real estate prices: "I'm meandering here and perhaps I don't actually have a point. To sum up: O.C. -- Not what you think! Laguna Beach -- property rich/income poor! Housing bubble? shhhh!! Prop. 13 -- wack!" [http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_03_27_atrios_archive.html#111215441609733610]
KRUGMAN: I Can Do The Krug, I Can Do The Robocop
Conservative radio talker Hugh Hewitt: "RightwingNuthouse wonders if Paul Krugman is insane. The prompt for this inquiry? Krugman's morning column in the New York Times where he suggests that 'liberal politicians, and even conservatives who aren't sufficiently hard-line' will soon have to fear assassination from the religious right 'unless moderates take a stand against the growing power of domestic extremists'" [http://hughhewitt.com/index.htm#postid1500].
WSJ's James Taranto: "If Krugman and the New York Times want to combat extremism, a good way to start would be to refrain from loose talk about political violence" [http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110006486].
Righty Don Luskin wonders if Princeton's affiliation with Krugman and Cornell West contributed to its fundraising falling by 45%, or about $100M [http://poorandstupid.com/2005_03_27_chronArchive.asp#111212350517461500].
SAJAK: In Cyberspace, The Vowels Are Free
New York Post's Kaplan reports, "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak is posting "essays he's written about politics every few days" on http://patsajak.com. Sack's "riffs on a wide range of hot-button issues, ranging from slanted journalism, O.J. Simpson, and the U.N." from a conservative point of view. He "also writes about baseball, a subject near and dear to his heart, as he is an investor in a minor league independent baseball league" (3/30).
Note: Sajak's "blog" is not actually a blog, just a personal website with a "Sajak Says..." page (Hotline just saying).
HUFFINGTON: Don't Call It A Comeback
Center-left BuzzMachine calls liberal activist Arianna Huffington's plans to start a Salon/Slate-like web-zine "one of the worst-kept secrets around." He quotes from an online news story that its contributors will inbclude "Sen. Jon Corzine, Larry David, Barry Diller, Tom Freston, David Geffen, Vernon Jordan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Harry Evans and his wife, Tina Brown. That's just to name a few, and Huffington is still recruiting" [http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2005_03_30.html#009375].
LEST WE FORGET: From Cheerleaders To Chomskyleaders
Conservative IowaHawk uses the debate over liberal academia to imagine "Profs Gone Wild: Extreme Ultimate Spring Break Volume 6":
"Snoop: Hey dog, where you teach?
Professor #1: Michigan ... Go Blue! Beat the Buckeye Zionist Tools!"
[http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2005/03/profs_gone_wild_1.html].
Posted by at 12:00 PM
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