Monday, November 24, 2003

Mainstream news can be so frustrating. I just caught the tail end of an NPR story on blogging and politics. Decent interview with Josh Marshall, who trotted out the influencing-the-influencers argument for the power of blogs. So far so good. But then the reporter closed with a quote about the Internet being like a Swiss army knife -- email is one tool, fundraising another, and blogs another -- maybe we'll have the whole knife by the next election cycle. Incorrect, sir. No mention of Meetup and other organizational tools. The blogosphere, said to be "aflutter" over my Dean campaign case study last week, is clearly not influencing NPR reporters as much as one might hope. 6:16:42 PM    comment []

Elizabeth Edwards comments on yesterday's Times mag article and the candidate debates: "In truth, these formats serve best the candidates with the least developed ideas, for a simple sound bite might be all they have to say about an issue. In fact, in one debate where a candidate was asked several follow-up questions on a particular issue, the series of responses was embarassing for the absence of flesh on the bones and the candidate was left simply to repeat the elements of the previous sixty-second answer in a different order." "(T)he candidates are not encouraged by the media to be steady, statesmanlike, disciplined, visionary -- all the qualities we hope our President to be." 8:02:10 AM    comment []