February 09, 2007

Blogger Spotlight: Krusty Konservative

Another pseudonymous conservative IA blogger up today, Herschel Krustofski of the Krusty Konservative (no word from Fox on possible copyright violations yet).

Where are you originally from?

Manhattan, NY

What is your occupation?

I'm an anonymous blogger, so I will not answer any questions that might lead to my true identity being discovered. I am currently employed, which works out really well because a klown can't live on seltzer water and splattered pies.

When did you first get involved in politics and why?

I got involved in politics at a very young age because social and fiscal konservatism was important to me. So I started going to meetings and volunteering on kampaigns early on in life.

When did you start blogging and why?

I began blogging on February 24, 2006. I started my blog because I felt that Democrats and other liberals were dominating the Iowa blogosphere and wanted to give the Iowa konservative a voice and a place to discuss the political happenings here in Iowa.

How are blogs changing politics in your state?

I don't know if they are or not, but I do know that kandidates and kampaigns do konstantly monitor kertain blogs, and try to encourage them to write favorable things on their behalf. I often wonder if they spend too much time on kampaign-blogger relations and not enough time building their own kommunication systems to interact with potential voters. I don't think I would have to blog if konservative kandidates would be willing to run more aggressive kampaigns and kommunicate better. Kampaigns get a little bit too wrapped up in the blogosphere. Ultimately, I'm just an old guy with a computer and everyone who visits my blog already knows who they are going to vote for.

What's your favorite most unsung specific example of a blogger affecting a political figure, organization, philosophy, or movement?

I know you asked for one but I'm going to give you two.

The first issue is TouchPlay. The Iowa Lottery developed a new video "pull tab" machine last year. The machines looked just like slot machines and Legislators felt mislead by the Lottery officials once the machines stating to show up in every gas station in the state. Many Iowa bloggers were united in getting the TouchPlay Machines removed from Iowa businesses. The blogs also did a good job exposing the people who were going make huge profits from these machines. Iowa's elected officials listened to the people and voted to ban the machines.

The second issue deals with the 2006 gubernatorial race in Iowa. Jim Nussle the Republican nominee divorced his first wife in 1996 and remarried in 2001. The divorce was an issue for him in his 96 re-election campaign, but he was able to overcome it and was reelected in 98, 2000, and 2002. His opponent Chet Culver did not make the divorce an issue in the 2006 gubernatorial kampaign, but the Democrats who were active in the Iowa blogosphere did. Whenever I would write about the gubernatorial race, someone (probably a Culver staffer) would always post a komment about Nussle's divorce, and it didn't just occur on my blog. I think this was a koncerted effort to make the divorce an issue without Culver having to get his hands dirty. I think it was extremely effective in demoralizing konservative voters.

Be sure to come back and visit Monday when we start working through Nevada's blogers with Reno and Its Discontents' Myrna Minx.

Posted by Conn Carroll at February 9, 2007 02:09 PM