It’s fashionable for political bloggers to lambaste the mainstream media (MM) for this and that. I’ve done it myself.
But I truly believe it is ‘spot on’ to criticize the vast majority of the MM for either ignoring or not seeing in most cases, or misinterpreting in other situations, the nuances of the individual blogging entities within the on-line community.
Here is the example that hits closest to home for me: Markos Moulitsas Zúniga and the gang of hundreds/thousands at DailyKos (I’m there and elsewhere) are labeled simply as liberals. While that appears true for the most part, although some prefer the term ‘progressive,’ there are also political moderates who cast anchor there.
But of greater importance to me is a much finer differentiation that is overlooked. That being, liberals/progressive/whatever bloggers at Daily Kos who support those candidates whose general beliefs and values dovetail with those of the bloggers AND whose words and actions are also ethically in step.
And we hold those we support to what they say and do, pre-and-post-election. It’s not enough to simply be satisfied with victory. To employ a dangerously loaded phrase, it’s post-election ‘service with honor’ that must unfold–not service with personal enrichment.
A point in case is my feeling about Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. He and I appear to agree far more often than not on the various important issues but what I find so attractive (in the political sense!) about Schweitzer is his integrity, his honesty and his transparency. His continued insistence on getting a set of lobbyist rules and regulations adopted in The Big Sky State and his vow to accept no corporate campaign contributions during his gubernatorial campaign or thereafter sold me on him.
Yes, I am a Democrat. I probably always will be, primarily because I see the Democratic Party as the most powerful political entity that supports promoting the common good.
But despite my lifelong partisanship, I see no value in supporting such Democrats as former Illinois Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges or former Ohio Congressman James Traficant, who was nailed for tax evasion, racketeering and taking bribes. They may or may not have held political convictions similar to mine but each got what they justly deserved. As for the present, if charged and convicted, I will have no sympathy for Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) or Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
There are certainly some on the left but I see so many bloggers on the right who are blinded by their allegiance and view EVERYTHING through a prism of bias. Right and wrong have been deleted from their mindset. The Power Line site, Atlas Shrugs, Free Republic–all too often exhibit this ailment. In fact, the Free Republic mission statement is: “Broadly stated, the goals of this site are to further conservatism, expose political corruption, and recover a truly constitutional form of government…”
Methinks the FR foot soldiers could solely focus on their second stated goal or even the third and run with that for a very long time considering the current headlines. But no, it’s shades of Steven Colbert/The Colbert Report with his classic spoof: “Keep your facts, I’m going with the truth” mentality.
Now John Cole at Balloon Juice is different. He is what I call a principled conservative who maintains ethical standards regardless of political persuasion.
And no, I feel no moral superiority or smugness over anyone. To me, it’s just so apparent that we should live by and up to the values we profess. That is the most important aspect to an honest, dissonance-free life, It overrides any sort of blind political support or opposition and justly so.
