Responsibilities of Bloggers

After the repeated attacks on bloggers that we’ve seen on FoxNews shown to us on BraveNewFilms and what they’ve spent the week leading up to YearlyKos talking about on O’Reily (which I’ve been subject to by some nutbar who changes the station at my gym).

I’ve also been watching something else going on all week. Something very contradictory the “Liberal Bloggers” and “Liberal Media” accusations that Bill and his buddies at Fox seem to throw around so freely.

Last week – my Congresswoman I sometimes talk about on here – actually walked out of her meeting in Armed Services Committee.

Essentially, General Jack Keane formerly stationed in Iraq – who you might know from such hits as “The Escalation Strategy” and the like. He was giving a report about how great things were – they were going really well – they were making SO much progress blah blah blah (this mind you the day before another bomb killed like 50 people but I digress) and Nancy apparently had all she could take hearing this and walked out.

When she came back she said the following:

"But let me just first say that the description of Iraq as if some way or another that it’s a place that I might take the family for a vacation, things are going so well, those kinds of comments will in fact show up in the media and further divide this country instead of saying here’s the reality of the problem and people, we have to come together and deal with the reality of this issue."

Also seen here

I also do a lot of blogging in Kansas sometimes critical sometimes supportive spin on Boyda – so I have a google news alert set up on here that is nicely delivered to me each morning with the previous day’s news.

For this entire week I have seen nothing but right wing bloggers talk about all sorts of cut-and-run this and coward that. “Leave room, repeat democratic talking points in head – the war doesn’t work – the war doesn’t work – reenter room….” They accuse her of towing the line because Democrats see progress in Iraq as a bad thing – ignoring the fact that there IS NO PROGRESS – it isn’t that its good or bad its that IT DOESN’T EXIST.

Again – I digress.

The whole week has been nothing but this stuff. Contrasted with Bill on Fox talking about our liberal media and the liberal run bloggosphere who are all at Yearly Kos.

Given the excitement of Yearly Kos – which I am sadly not in attendance – I feel compelled to talk about both the role and the responsibilities of bloggers.

Despite the fact that bloggers have recelty become newsmakers themselves lately they often walk a strange line between commentator and reporter for the things many newspaper editors quite frankly ignore. Too – bloggers give us the great tidbits of news that WE might otherwise have ignored. But most importantly we as bloggers have the unique task of spinning opposing media.

I not only found it shocking that Boyda had the balls to get up and walk out – but I was shocked that none of the folks on Kos and or the local Kansas blogs stood up and said – good for her! (until today at least) Or at defend what she said above with is an accurate representation of the turkey burger that Gen. Keane tried to feed us saying it’s the real beef.

There could be two reasons for this. One – we can’t watch everything. And let’s face it there aren’t that many bloggers in Kansas that defend these issues. And not all of them are glued to CSPAN on a Friday.

Secondly, where was Boyda’s press department drumming up support and positive spin from the media that supports her?

The second is a valid question that I think gets to the heart of elected officials in Washington. Do they still continue to ignore the influence of the blogging and netroots community? Do they still only see us as reactionary and low donors who only serve as influence nearing elections? Or is it that most press secretaries or chiefs of staff quite frankly don't get that there is a whole other world out there beyond the tv and newspapers run by giant media conglomerates?

Just out of curiosity how many of you are even on the press release distribution list for any candidates or elected officials? How many elected officials or candidates do you know send out specific talking points to friendly bloggers who can serve as spinsters or who can bring to light their legislation or agendas?

So, what happens when the right takes up an issue and the left ignores it or the left has no connection to it? The right gains intellectual traction on the issue. The candidate, or in this case the elected official, gets beaten up in the media by conservatives who just want to throw stones.

In this great week of Yearly Kossing I can’t help but remark that we have come a long way in the blogging world but we still have so many hurtles.

Apparently, we are such a huge threat that O’Reiley has to spend whole shows talking about how dangerous and unpatriotic we are and how treasonous Presidential candidates who are attending the convention are…

And at the same time I feel we have a longer way to go before we can actually be more useful to our side. Some of that work needs to be done by us – some of it I think really needs to be done by candidates and electeds to utilize how effective and helpful we actually can be.