Thursday, October 27, 2005
Progressive Bloggers need to chill...
A sad day for Bloggersville arrived this afternoon with a post by the number one progressive blogger, DailyKos.
At the root of the blogstorm was the withdrawal of ads by Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine from blogger Steve Gilliard of The News Blog. He'd posted a minstrel picture that depicted Republican Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele who is African-American as a modern-day minstrel; you see, Steele had refused to condemn Maryland's governor for attending an event at an all-white country club.
In taking up the cause for the less prominent blogger, Kos said:
Tsk, tsk, seems like bloggers are starting to act like the "establishment," punishing those who stray from the pack.
The truth of the matter is some images are just too painful. And as Kilgore learned too late, controversial ads have unforeseen consequences; especially when they use agonizing images from the past that remind folks of raw history to attack opponents.
It doesn't seem beyond the pale for Kaine to want to steer clear of controvery; especially with a dead-even race and an election less than two weeks away.
Why give the opposition an opportunity to taint your campaign? Mistakes by Kilgore's use of Hitler's image in commercials stopped any momentum he may have had dead on its track.
There is nothing cowardly about Kaine pulling his ad off a blog; and if DailyKos had not raised the issue, nobody would've even known about it.
As one shrewd blogger noted, "Kos is a single-issue voter on this one -- pro-Gilliard," the dissed blogger. But appreciatively from the five to one remarks on the link, progressives do not check their genius at the blogger check-in counter.
The idea of advertising is to bring people to ones side of the ledger. Instead of eating their young, progressive bloggers should support Kaine's campaign with their $$$$. Stop swinging at our side, Swing State.
And Kos, of "every time a campaign freaks out at a blogger and pulls their ads, we're going to raise a stink," keep in mind, too many stink bombs and you'll lose your audience.
A sad day for Bloggersville arrived this afternoon with a post by the number one progressive blogger, DailyKos.
At the root of the blogstorm was the withdrawal of ads by Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine from blogger Steve Gilliard of The News Blog. He'd posted a minstrel picture that depicted Republican Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele who is African-American as a modern-day minstrel; you see, Steele had refused to condemn Maryland's governor for attending an event at an all-white country club.
In taking up the cause for the less prominent blogger, Kos said:
We're bloggers. We'll say things that are "controversial." If campaigns don't think they can weather such storms, then by all means they should NOT advertise on blogs.Then he went on to depict Kaine as just another nervous-ninny Democrat; and lord knows the czar of bloggersphere absolutely despises "Democrats scared of their own shadows."
Tsk, tsk, seems like bloggers are starting to act like the "establishment," punishing those who stray from the pack.
The truth of the matter is some images are just too painful. And as Kilgore learned too late, controversial ads have unforeseen consequences; especially when they use agonizing images from the past that remind folks of raw history to attack opponents.
It doesn't seem beyond the pale for Kaine to want to steer clear of controvery; especially with a dead-even race and an election less than two weeks away.
Why give the opposition an opportunity to taint your campaign? Mistakes by Kilgore's use of Hitler's image in commercials stopped any momentum he may have had dead on its track.
There is nothing cowardly about Kaine pulling his ad off a blog; and if DailyKos had not raised the issue, nobody would've even known about it.
As one shrewd blogger noted, "Kos is a single-issue voter on this one -- pro-Gilliard," the dissed blogger. But appreciatively from the five to one remarks on the link, progressives do not check their genius at the blogger check-in counter.
The idea of advertising is to bring people to ones side of the ledger. Instead of eating their young, progressive bloggers should support Kaine's campaign with their $$$$. Stop swinging at our side, Swing State.
And Kos, of "every time a campaign freaks out at a blogger and pulls their ads, we're going to raise a stink," keep in mind, too many stink bombs and you'll lose your audience.
// posted by Howling Latina @ 2:56 PM 
