Rick's Gaffe
» Do bloggers generate enough interest to change politics? (RG Ratcliffe)
I'll see if I can find more time to pen another thought or two on this tomorrow. For now, one excerpt to really put this column into motion ...
Noriega early last month went to Chicago to rub elbows with liberal bloggers at the Yearly Kos convention, and received the endorsement of Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas.But then Noriega returned home and told the Texas Broadcasters Association that the blogs are as destructive a force in democracy as talk radio.
"We've seen talk radio become an organizing tool for the die-hard right, while liberals are credited with turning the blogosphere into a political weapon. Each of those media has a targeted demographic group and works them into an ideological lather," Noriega said.
"This, I believe, is damaging to the political culture in this country."
Noriega spokesman James Aldrete said Noriega was not criticizing all politically active blogs, just those that engage in the "politics of division." Aldrete said Noriega believes talk radio and some bloggers would rather keep the country divided than find solutions to problems.
There's a simpler take here than Aldrete tries to spin: that material - based on Ratcliffe's excerpt - was just plain dumb. It shouldn't have been written, much less delivered. Aldrete's spin, unfortunately, is even more tragic. Going from a convention dedicated to a blogger like Markos only to follow it up by inadvertently slamming blogs in general, only to follow THAT up with a qualifier that Rick was only talking about divisive blogs? ... which somehow doesn't include DailyKOS???
At home, between Boadacia, Perry Dorrell, Nathan Wilcox, there's nothing but a divisive core at work on Noriega's behalf. That doesn't do justice to the genuinely more diplomatic bloggers who also support Noriega, nor has it been a great influence on some who have - prior to their more recent trip to the kool-aid stand - been among this state's best.
More tomorrow. Ratcliffe missed a few easy-to-find aspects of this story. I'll see if I can flesh out some of them, time permitting. But more to the point, this story kinda dovetails into the post I hope I can organize well enough to cover some form of a state of the blogosphere here in the Lone Star State. Unfortunately for me, that task just got more involved.
Worth adding for now is Aldrete's guest post of his fuller take on RG's article over at one of those blogs where there's supposedly no coordination. Not sure why Aldrete felt compelled to write such a lengthy rebuttal but didn't bother to include either the quote in context (which he complains about) or the speech in full. Whatever the reason, Aldrete also derides "trolls" on "legitimate blogs" who "intentionally hiding their identities to spread misinformation."
Contrast that point with another from RG's column ...
... an Austin woman who identifies herself as Boadicea Warrior Queen managed the Web site. Boadicea agreed to be interviewed if her real name was not used.
UPDATE: Kuff posts the full speech and Rick seems to be big enough to simply own up to the error in the speech. Good move. Noriega spinmeister wannabes in the comments ... bad move.
SIDENOTE: Rick will be liveblogging today over at Firedoglake ... the proprieter of which brought us such unifying moments as this. I get that Rick owns up to the error of his speech, but given the more immediate attempt to spin it away, Noriega might want to clarify if the very blog he's blogging on is considered "divisive" or is Aldrete's spin also to be dismissed?
You noted:
That was not a guest post by James Aldrete. Aldrete sent that out to a number of people in the blogs and in the press. Some people reposted it in its entirety, some people didn't. I elected to do so, but it was no "guest post."
I'd also like to know what you mean by "blogs where there is supposedly no coordination?" Don't you think that bloggers who want to know something can just email somebody and ask? That's how I got Aldrete's response. I emailed him and asked him about that quote and he was kind enough to send a response. That's called good campaign communication.
And, as someone who has worked political campaigns, I'm sure you've heard of the term "cross pollution." It goes by different names, but it boils down to the fact that you don't repeat in a press release for wide distribution something that was quoted in one or two places as not to promote its wider distribution. It's a common campaign practice, so I think you may be making more of Aldrete failing to include the quote than is appropriate. Also, I'm sure if you emailed Aldrete, he'd gladly send you a copy of the entire speech. I have one, I'm sure you can get one as well.
Vince,
Whether it was a guest-post or cut-and-pasted from an email, that point wasn't made clear from your post. It's also relatively minor.
What's still unclear from this comment of yours is whether Aldrete sent his statement to a broad group of blogs & news outlets ... or whether he (as you state) sent the response to you after asking for comment directly.
As someone who currently works in political campaigns and doesn't need to drop any fancy terminology to make myself sound important, I'll stand by my point: if you complain about context, don't let the whining stand on it's own ... clarify. That, of course, assumes that you've got the facts on your side. Aldrete would have been wiser to have taken his lead from Rick and just owned up to it being a mistake.
As for the coordination issue, it's clearly a touchy subject. Suffice it to say, a bunch of denials might get Ratcliffe off the scent, but it doesn't fool me.
That's an interesting take. Thanks.