Dean is doing it. Daschle is planning on it. A girl in California is doing it. There may be others (if you know of any, I'd love for you to drop it in the comments) who are doing it. While some of us may be biased since we are already bloggers, it is my firm belief that the blog is the next big medium for mass communication. In the history of mass communication and politics, we have seen numerous politicians leverage and exploit new mediums to their advantage.
Roosevelt had fireside chats. Families gathered around the old crystal set and listened intently through the scratchy static to hear the President of the United States speak to them as a an equal.
Kennedy took television and whacked Nixon over the head with the new medium in the 1960 presidential debates. Reagan took political television and made it into an art form that is still emulated today.
A Florida congressman in the 1994 election used cable to turn the tables on his opponent (forgive me for forgetting his name). The candidate was under funded and could not afford the expensive rates of broadcast television advertising, so he turned to cable, targeted his audience by running commercials aimed at his favorable demographics and pulled a stunning upset.
I don't know that we have yet to see a comparable example of the use of the internet for political gain. However, Howard Dean is showing exactly how powerful it can be. Unfortunately, he is probably a little too far to the left for the vast moderate centrists that decide every general election. In any event, he has demonstrated how a little known and under funded candidate can turn the corner using the internet for fundraising and communication. He has gone from dark horse to in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Have you visited the Bush re-election site? It is pretty and abides by all the marketing principles, but in this age of two-way communication, it leaves much to be desired. A week ago it occurred to me that with the success the Dean campaign is having with his internet strategy and his blog, the Bush campaign should begin rolling out a similar strategy. If any of you can find a live email address on the Bush campaign site, let me know. I signed up to be an e-team leader and received a pleasant auto-response email thanking me for signing up. That is not the way to endear people to your cause who are accustomed to the two-way communication of the blogosphere.
I searched desperately to find any email contact to the Bush campaign so that I could at least offer to help with a Bush blog. No such luck. Instead, I'll contact my friends who ran the Bush campaign in Arkansas in 2000. If they can pass the message, hopefully it'll get some notice.
I'm not certain, but my thumbnail picture of most bloggers is that they lean conservative with a heavy libertarian streak. This demographic may disagree with the administration at times but are generally going to support it over the leading Democratic candidate. The first important things to note (if that thumbnail is accurate) is that these are the people the Bush campaign will want to mobilize as a digital grassroots effort.
More importantly, the higher traffic blogs generally have as many non-blogging readers as they have blogging readers. This is important because sympathetic bloggers have the opportunity to influence an exponential number of voters. The world awoke to the influence of the blogosphere after the Trent Lott episode.
Old media is often days or weeks behind items already discovered, discussed, and debunked by the various blogs. I've been noticing this trend, but it struck home when my daily email from Arkansasbusiness.com reported that the Hunting For Bambi item was a hoax weeks after bloggers had already debunked it. And we did it in a day. It may be important to note that the whole scam came to our attention because a broadcast affiliate fell for the hoax.
Will the Bush administration take this largely supportive constituency of lean conservative, libertarian voters and use it leverage their message and their campaign? Imagine the new communication from the President of the United States. President Bush is a folksy, plain spoken fellow. The blogging medium is a perfect avenue for him to drop a personal note to the world. Instead of families gathered around a crystal set, they will look on their blogroll to see if the President has recently updated. And when he does, they’ll click to it to find a personal message from the President of the United States. Wouldn’t it be nice to read a post from the President next week when he’s back on his ranch at Crawford. He might start a day’s post talking about how he removed two truckloads of underbrush that morning and while doing so, it occurred to him how cleaning out the underbrush reminded him of how badly a tax system is in need of reform. The tax code is full of so many weeds and briars, and so much brush that it’s impossible for the average American to make a path through it. That would have appeal. That would help the President connect with so many Americans who feel disconnected to the process.
Further, something else occurred to me when I showed a friend the “We Can’t Forget” post . While we were discussing it, I realized short of going back to way it was, I want reassurance and comfort. Roosevelt offered it in World War II with the fireside chats, Winston Churchill inspired and led the British people through the Battle of Britain with his regular radio messages. President Bush could reassure and comfort the American people through his blog. Let’s face it, the average American doesn’t listen to the weekly radio address, nor could they tell you what station plays it. Mr. President, it’s time to embrace the new medium.
If not, we may see again the first and best use of a new mass communication medium by a Democratic candidate--much to the chagrin of the conservatives and libertarians.
I've only found this news through Kate, but I will be watching for further developments. Wouldn't it be something if this evil man is already secretly in our custody getting some of his just desserts?
(cross-posted at A Single Guy In The South)
Michele has an excellent post about panic attacks and the lingering effects of September 11 on her. I've mused about the effects to myself privately before, but have never taken the time to really think out what those effects are.
None of us will ever forget that morning. How we felt, where we were, what we were doing, where our loved ones were. In my lifetime, its similar to the day Reagan was shot, the Challenger exploded, Columbia crashed, the Westside School shootings in Jonesboro for me personally, and any number of other events that strikes us sharply and deeply. But why does September 11th continue to lurk in our psyches like a serial killer stealthily following us and always just out of sight?
Some of it may be the nature of the fight we have with the forces of terror--there hasn't and probably won't be a decisive moment like V-J Day, the fall of Berlin, the Courthouse at Appamattox. We only hear of small skirmishes being won on occasion. Even if we were to air tapes of Osama and Saddam's dead bodies on international television, there will still be a lingering doubt, a feeling of unease.
We are daily reminded of the doubt and unease. When we must go through a metal detector to get into city hall, a federal building, even some sporting events and concerts, we are reminded. When I walk into a Razorback football game with a date and her purse is inspected and I have to remove my boots, I'm reminded. When we park in short-term at the airport to pick someone up or drop them off, the security guard must look into the back of the car and the trunk. Every morning and night, we are warned that terrorist groups are planning some new kind of operation.
We have friends who are overseas or just mobilized to head off to fight this war on terror. An American dies almost every day in one of the hot spots where we are trying to bring liberty, order, and democracy to desolate peoples. Our email alert shows that we can buy the pack of most wanted Iraqis playing cards and all the gratuitous porn we can handle. Sunday at church we pray for our soldiers and our country to be blessed and defended from the evils that assail it. While we have all sworn to never forget that day, sometimes I wish I could.
I can't. No one can. I wish it could be like it was. I want to walk my mom or a girlfriend to her gate at the airport and sit with her while we await her boarding call. When she boards and the plane leaves the gate I want to look out the window to see if she might be waving. I want to watch her plane take-off. When I return from a flight I want to have the reunion at the gate that at one time was the romantic climax of the drama. Can you see Humphery Bogart seeing Ingrid Bergman off at the entrance to the secured area of an airport? I can't and I don't want to. I want it to be like it once was, even though it may never happen again.
Michele asks when it will end? I want to know the same thing and if it will ever end. Are we forever changed by that day? I know my heart has been, I'm afraid our country has been as well. I want it to end, and I believe others do as well, because I'm exhausted. I have Homeland Security Advisory System fatigue. My fatigue level is at Red (severe). I am so tired of being elevated that I think I may have threat awareness altitude sickness.
Michele, I wish I knew when it will end. I'm ready to live free again.
As bizarre as it may seem, the possibility of Al Gore jumping back into the 2004 presidential race appeals to me. First, let me say there is now way I'd be voting for the creator of the Internet. I'm a Bush supporter through and through. However, the current slate of Democratic candidates inspire me about as much a bucket of hog slop. That is, I'm inspired to take the mess of them, throw 'em out to the hogs, and later enjoy the fruits of my labor by having some tasty bacon and BBQ. I'm not sure whether the slop would poison the hog, though.
In any event, I say bring back Gore. Once more in '04. His credentials and experience put the other candidates to shame. A rested and re-tooled Gore could very well have returned to his old conservative Southern Democrat ways and be more than a spot better than he was in 2000. It's a little sad that the various Dem powers that be advised him to hang it up previously. Of course, they were probably already dreaming of hitvhing their coattails to whom they believed to be the next rising star for the Democratic party. Unfortunately, here they are 16 months out from the general election and approximately 6 from the first primaries and none of them have caught fire. So for my part, I hope its more Gore in Oh-4. I'll campaign against him and for Bush again, but at least we could see an epic rematch.
via Drudge.
Word is out that Saddam has produced another audiotape from his undisclosed location somewhere in the world. In the tape, he mourns the loss of his two sons and continues to try to rally his few loyalists and the Iraqi people.
Can I stop for a moment--if Saddam has now produced an audiotape in which he mourns his sons, can we safely conclude that the bodies were actually Udai and Qusai?
Doubters begone, their daddy has let you know.
By now, EVERYONE has written about the NYC school district's decision to open a school dedicated to gay kids. To be perfectly accurate, Gay-Lesbisan-Bisexual-Transgender-Questioning youth will have a new school dedicated just to them.
Now, I'm not about to go into any homosexual bashing here. I am going to question why do some governments go out of their way to create special classes for someone based on their lifestyle choices? I can understand while not completely agreeing with the argument for protected classes based on race. However, I thought our Constitution was there to ensure our equal rights and then all of sudden we have certain sub-sets of our population getting special treatment. How about a special school for redneck kids whose parents have just moved to the city? They would be more comfortable being around like minded rednecked kids complete with Wranglers, brushpoppers, boots, and ropers. They could even let out for a week when modern gun deer season opens, just like the country schools back home.
I believe in equal rights for all Americans regardless of sexual preference or practice. I detest special rights awarded for a self affixed label.
Of course, I still have my issues with same-sex marriage and that doesn't quite gee and haw with my belief in equal rights for all. I just can't help it though. I believe their is a natural order in the world and part of that is the males and females of all species are meant to be together. I'm not supporting the pro-creation theory or anything like that, it just seems to me that its a common sense notion that boys go with girls and vice versa.
It reminds me of an old country preacher who was to perform the marriage rites fro a cousin of mine. She had asked a gay friend of hers to sing at the wedding. The old country preacher was unaware until that moment that a gay man would be a part of this ceremony in his church. After the rehearsal, the preacher approached my cousin and expressed his displeasure and unease about the situation.
Adam's cousin: Oh, don't mind him, he's fine.
Country Preacher: Well, he's not fine with me.
A'sC: No, really, Bro. ____, he's a normal guy.
CP: Listen here _______, if he's normal, then I'm queer, cuz one of us ain't right.
Long story short, a new wedding singer was found at the last minute. It was his church after all.
The first time it happened, I tipped my hat to the Texas House Dems for coming up with a neat trick despite the obvious and in your face move to thwart the Democratic process. Now the Senators have ran wee-wee-wee all way to New Mexico to avoid a re-districting bill before a special session of the Texas General Assembly.
It's such untoward behavior for a Texan, or at least the Texans of lore. When the Repubs were in the minority you didn't see them running with their elephant tails between their legs to Louisiana or Arkansas to avoid redistricting votes.
I wonder what Stephen Austin, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and any other number of old Texas heroes would think of the modern day Texas Democrats.
Cowards, perhaps?
"Nope, them thar fellas er yellah!"
That's what you might hear from a suit and tie man with dark glasses sporting a badge, a gun, and a shovel in the greater D.C. area.
It turns out that convicted spy Brian Regan took some of his intelligence treasure and buried it around the area. In prison now, he was discovered with an hand drawn map that investigators believe will lead them to recover some of the missing intelligence documents.
X marks the spot, huh?
Just cruising down the Blinding White Light perma-roll and wonder of all wonders---
I'm not there!
I guess I'll just link to myself in each post and watch my Blogosphere and Technorati rating skyrocket....
Heh.
Well, RIAA is coming down hard on all of the file swappers and is doing their damndest to force upon the masses the new clarion call for the 21st Century--
NO FREE MUSIC!
However, for all the clever folks that would like to get a heads up on whether they are targeted or not, the Electronic Frontier Foundation offers a new tool for you to check yourself. You plug in your username and it automatically checks that username against a database of all subpoenaed usernames. Go ahead, check yourself.
If you came by looking for Mike, he's not here. Mike has been overwhelmed with work, a bit ill the past few days, and not to mention the energy sapping device that most os know as that great big ole ball of fire that floats through the sky during the day time. Err, the sun, I mean.
In any event, hi, I'm Adam, a friend of Mike's and I'll be doing some guest blogging here till Mike gets caught up or that ball of fire goes out. My blog is A Single Guy In The South and focuses on all things Southern, dating, and being single in general. As a welcome break from those themes, I'll concentrate on news and tech issues here.
So, it's great to meet ya, and let's get to blogging!