On Not Crossing Bright Red Lines
by Patrick Ruffini :: February 2nd, 2007 10:41 pmA couple of days ago I was talking to a prominent conservative blogger in Washington. We were talking about any guilt-by-association issues caused by campaigns hiring bloggers. I tended to think these were a thing of the past; reporters have better things to do than to stalk through months-old archives for slightly off-key quotes made prior to a blogger joining a campaign.
No less than 24 hours later, I get to eat my words.
I do think the case of John Edwards official blogger Amanda Marcotte is the exception that proves the rule, however. Here’s what she wrote, now down the memory hole:
Naturally, my flight out of Atlanta has been delayed. Let’s hope it takes off when they say it will so I don’t miss my connecting flight home.
In the meantime, I’ve been sort of casually listening to CNN blaring throughout the waiting area and good f****** god is that channel pure evil. For awhile, I had to listen to how the poor dear lacrosse players at Duke are being persecuted just because they held someone down and f***** her against her will—not rape, of course, because the charges have been thrown out. Can’t a few white boys sexually assault a black woman anymore without people getting all wound up about it? So unfair.
That’s the kind of raw, profanity-laced screed you’re more apt to find in the diaries at Daily Kos than you are from a Presidential campaign blogger. Pandagon especially has been been known for this stuff for a long time.
I think it’s perfectly fine for a blogger to sound some discordant notes and then be hired by a campaign. That’s not what this is about. Had Amanda Marcotte written a bad thing or two about John Edwards a couple of months ago, this wouldn’t have been a story.
It’s crossing Bright Red Lines that’s the problem. It’s the profanity. It’s losing control of your logical faculties. How do we know when someone crosses a Bright Red Line? We know it when we see it. We knew it when Kos totally lost control and said “screw them.” It’s the juicy stuff. Kos can call for defeat in Iraq all he wants and people won’t call him on it because they’ve been desensitized to it. It’s things said in bad taste that get you in trouble — the same kinds of things that would cause the room to go silent if you were to say them at a party.
And this is not the oppressive standards of campaign world crashing down and ruining the blogosphere. If you’re going on a job interview, it’s a good bet that your prospective boss is going to Google you, troll your Facebook and MySpace profiles, wade through your Flickr album. Stuff like this doesn’t help, whether you’re going out for a job on a campaign or at the local bank.
Tagged: amanda marcotte 
blogosphere john edwards strategy
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The problem with bloggers connected to a candidate, is that their own bias in support of that person will cloud their judgement about other candidates or likely candidates getting a FAIR shot to voice their support for someone else.
CASE IN POINT IS:
In the past year, I came to Ruffini to get news not found in my newspapers. Most of the time, I also came to find news about Secretary of State Condi Rice. Now since Patrick has come back to the site and stated his support for Rudy(and/or being hired), there is ZERO information about Condi Rice on the site.
Newt gets posted. Is he running? There is a possible HOPE for Newt and he said he might.
On the other hand, the national polls show clear support for Condi Rice to run in 2008. From Quinnipiac to Zogby, she has been at 20%, equal to Rudy and McCain. In fact, a November Marist poll shows 45% of the people (when asked who do YOU WANT to run in 2008?”) said Condi Rice.
So am I wrong to ask why Ruffini dumped Condi updates?
Am I wrong to question the censorship of information which appeared freely in the past year but now that Condi Rice is seen as a viable contender, the competition wants to demolish her from this website?
Does anyone think Condi Rice could come out NOW to run?
And if so, how long would she remain as Sec of State?
The DRAFT efforts by other groups have been posted and the media covered them. So why all of a sudden is Condi OFF the site?
By the way, she predicted THE COLTS win for Super Bowl 2007. That is from the CBS Early Show, Saturday, Feb. 3………and Hannah Storm complimented Condi for coming out with a clear statement.
Biden was talking about MAINSTREAM AFRICAN-AMERICANS, and I wonder if anyone else noticed ZERO mention of Condi Rice as articulate, and mainstream?
At least I get to come into this room and express my opinion about Condi Rice for president. The group, Think Condi, has a site, www.thinkcondi.net and offers a biography and other information about our Secretary of State.
I’m OK with Patrick’s support of Rudy, because he’s been upfront about it and it is widely known. Heaven knows, after having to rely on MSM most of my life, I have become adept about discerning a person’s tendancy to view things through a prism, and correct for balance (I’m a Romney person, myself). And there CAN be a tendancy to uderreport the activities of other candidates - again, correct 45 degrees, and proceed.
I like the term a Democrrat acquaintance uses for paid blogging - ‘astroturfing’, that is a paid faux grass roots hype. It doesn’t apply to openly committed bloggers - although perhaps Patrick should consider a nice I’m With RUDY banner for his sidebar for those who missed the news story.
[…] Danny, of course, has a solid report on what he is calling the first blog scandal of 2008. Patrick says the blogger in question crossed a “bright red line.” And he nails it with this nugget: I think it’s perfectly fine for a blogger to sound some discordant notes and then be hired by a campaign. That’s not what this is about. Had Amanda Marcotte written a bad thing or two about John Edwards a couple of months ago, this wouldn’t have been a story. […]