RightWing bloggers don't take their marching orders from the DNC?
That's what Tom insists, anyway. But a little while ago I channel-surfed into MSNBC's Connected program and caught a segment about a conference call held by the RNC to coordinate the activities of RightWing bloggers. I found the corresponding article on their Web site, which sums it up like this:
...the Bush administration is taking no chances. They have hired Patrick Ruffini, former head of Web outreach for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, to do similar work for the RNC. He and Ken Mehlman, the RNC chair, held a conference call yesterday afternoon to discuss the nomination of Samuel Alito and invited only conservative bloggers to attend.
....The uniform talking points handed down to the bloggers:
Then, Mehlman walked through all the qualifications Sam Alito is bringing to the table. He described Alito as the most qualified candidate in 70 years. He then warned that the there would be swift and ferocious partisan attacks.
Tony Maciulus, MSNBC
It's like I've said all along: Bloggers are amateurs, individuals doing it as a hobby, and they're more vulnerable to being suborned by the RNC than a professional news organization. I'm sure that the RightWing bloggers were flattered as hell to be hearing from the RNC, and to have bloggers validated as a political power...and I'm equally sure they were putty in the hands of these two professional manipulators.
RightWing bloggers are not journalists. They're political activists with a new soapbox. That's all.