Google Video and Politics

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
By now I'm sure most people who are online have discovered Google Video. I know I have watched the following dozens of times: "Funny EDS Commercial - Cat Herding" Ghostly Car Ad... Do you believe in ghost???? jana gana mana......National Song of India Octopus Eats Shark Lipa Shmeltzer - Abi Meleibt! Blonde antelope Is this Deja Vu--and I do mean "vu" as in view-- all over again? In July 1999 the Pitas company started distributing software tools to build personal Web sites or "blogs." A month later Pyra Labs (now owned by google) released the program Blogger to the public which made blogs user-friendly, generally accessible, and particularly personal, as bloggers could name the sites themselves (and after themselves). Bloggers started reaching out--finding other bloggers--to attack or to ally with or just to reference or seek help from. It was accumulative knowledge building about technology, from how to type html to what to blog about. In other words, what made blogs was not just personalization but affiliations--the...
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No Man or Woman Blogs Alone?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
A loose association of "center-right bloggers" recently jointly published, in all their blogs, an "appeal" about the House Republican leadership contest in reaction to the recent lobbying scandals. They write, in part: We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street. We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members. Among the signators are such well-known bloggers as John Hinderaker of powerlineblog, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, Hugh Hewitt, Ed Morrissey of CaptainsQuarters, Michelle Malkin, Mike Krempasky of RedState.org, and Bruce Carroll of GayPatriot. There are many lonely blogs out there,...
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Blogs and Endorsements

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
The Directors of RedState.com, the independent Republican-oriented political group blog, recently offered a formal endorsement of a candidate for the upcoming House Republican leadership race. They have made endorsements of other kinds in the past. Newspapers, and to a lesser extent magazines and television news programs, have for a long time formally endorsed candidates for office. Bloggers have also been openly pro-Dean or pro-Bush or pro-Clark, etc., but the formal endorsement is another sign of many bloggers professionalizing their style and content. Incidentally, there is a large but now aging body of research in mass communication studies on the "impact" of newspaper endorsements on voter attitudes and behaviors. Generally, the findings of such research are: (a) newspaper endorsements of candidates can have some influence on some voters; (b) fewer readers actually read newspaper editorials nowadays; (c) newspaper endorsements are more likely to influence campaigns than voters, in that the campaign will use major endorsements in their advertising and especially employ choice quotes...
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Washington Post “Shuts off comments”: Big Media’s Troubles in Adapting to Blogging

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
UPDATED The biggest question facing political and news workers in the years to come will be "what do I do about blogs?" Many newspapers and political campaigns will have to experiment, since nobody has yet written a definitive rule book on integrating blogs into big media and professional politics; indeed, PolicyByBlog is about that process of exploration. And blogs may evolve faster than large corporations or campaigns can adapt to them. Take the Washington Post. Like many newspapers, it has opened up blogs as yet another component of its online edition. One is edited by its ombudsman, Deborah Howell. Self-evident good idea, yes? Build new interactivity with readers, cultivate (possible) customer loyalty, be up-to-date. The Post, however, just announced that for the time being "we have shut off comments on this blog indefinitely." (more…)...
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Political Blogs as “Public Domain” Speechwriters?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
One of the strangest adjustments for those of us who have written mostly for publication in print venues is the different nature of "publishing" on the Web. The ethics of revising something that you find out is mistaken, want to reword or to take back is complicated. And with Google's cache feature you can't ever really, fully delete your "drafts." But to what extent are words printed in political blogs owned by anyone? I am very traditional in the belief that these words, written by me, are copyrighted by me (see notice at the bottom of this page). I would think that most bloggers would feel the same way, i.e., "Don't quote me unless you cite me." But in the world of politics, this can become an intricate and ambiguous question. Case in point: A few months ago, Representative Sherrod Brown of Ohio (D-13th Dist.) wrote a letter to Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) concerning the nomination to the Supreme Court of Samuel Alito, and specifically enumerating...
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BLOGGING UP: News Roundup–01/26/06

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
I call it "BLOGGING UP": when organizations, government agencies, politicians, commercial companies, advocacy or lobbying groups or big media (print and electronic) try to use blogging for internal or public communication. The whole premise behind this website is that political blogging is coming of age as many mainstream folks and institutions try to adopt or adapt to blogs. I will start a new feature here--titled BLOGGING UP--which will periodically survey the variety of "professional" manifestations. A global roundup for this week: From Japan: "LIVEDOOR'S HORIE USES BLOG TO DENY WRONGDOING." The president of a company accused of financial misdeeds starts a blog to protest his innocence. Note his youth (33) and that he is an "Internet mogul." Will 72-year-old presidents of lumber supply companies do the same someday? (more…)...
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Who are Bloggers? Who Do Bloggers Represent?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
UPDATED: It is normal now, when a big news story breaks, that anchors will "go to the blogs," inviting bloggers on-air for comment, or taking some sort of "pulse of the blogs." In some ways, thus, blogs have taken the place of the "man-on-the-street-reacting-to-news-story" interview typically employed by television journalism. But what do we know about who blogs? Are bloggers the "people"? This is a complicated question but one that many politicians and journalists are asking. I will discuss the subject at length in my book, but see my short essay, ("Are Bloggers 'The People'?") in the "DOCUMENTS" section of the blog (left sidebar). Main points and tendencies (not universalities) of the blogger profile: 1. Bloggers are not a statistical, representative, scientific cross-section of America--or the world. (Note: So it is wrong for journalists to say "let's go to the blog to hear what the people are saying." Rather go to the blogs to hear what bloggers are saying--but that might be pretty important. (more…)...
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Hillary Clinton’s Blog Dilemma: Are the Grassroots Burning?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
[UPDATED] Blogs can be a loyal constituency, but not an unthinking one. Political bloggers tend to be passionate, idealistic about their politics, and less forgiving of the gamesmanship, issue flopping, expediency, rhetorical hedging, "message discipline," "good optics" and compromise on positions that is part of normal politicking for office.   New York Senator and former first Lady Hillary Clinton faces a conundrum in the face of this fact. As January of 2006 she had the largest war chest, the highest name recognition and topped ratings in national polls of any Democrat in the pool for a possible presidential bid. Normally that would allow a candidate to "play to the middle." Susan Estrich in her book, "The Case for Hillary Clinton," argued that she was the perfect candidate because "[W]hich of your safe white men are going to excite the base the way Hillary does, so they can spend all their time in the middle? I'll answer: None." But in fact, the base, as reflected...
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Hillary’s Stealth Nomination Coup?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
I have an op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor titled "UNDER THE RADAR, CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT." (January 30, 2006). The original title was: "HILLARY'S STEALTH NOMINATION COUP?" I have posted here [updated recently] (and here, here, and here) on Senator Clinton and the blogs. This present essay is not blog-related per se, but it does suggest that Hillary is taking a very traditional approach to a possible presidential bid in 2008: solidify key constituencies (African-Americans) and project a moderate image for the middle class white voter. Curious but true: If the primaries were held today, HC would sweep the south; if the election were held today, HC would lose every southern state (save perhaps Florida). See post by MysteryPollster. Earlier I speculated on what was her blog-strategizing options. I even asked if she might decide to take yet another page from her husband's playbook and "Sister Soujah" the leftblogs! As of now Political blogs play little or no role in her campaign--save as leftflank...
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Interview with Managing Editor of WATCHBLOG

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
As noted here earlier, one of the expanding roles of bloggers is that of political educator to the public. To that end, I often refer students to Watchblog, whose principle of "critique the message, not the messenger" and its three-column-formatted roundup of blogging by "Democrats and Liberals," "Moderates and Independents" and "Republicans and Conservatives" provides a one-stop marketplace of ideas. I recently interviewed David R. Remer, Watchblog's Managing Editor, who is also President of Vote Out Incumbents for Democracy. PBB: What is the essence of Watchblog, that is what do you see its role and function in the world of blogs? Remer: IMO, the essence of WatchBlog is its capacity to maintain civil discourse in what is ultimately a public laypersons arena where they can pretend to become politically active. When one is paid by a party to disseminate political information, that information MUST conform to supporting that party regardless of issue or event. Political truth is in the eye of the beholder and...
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