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| Home Front: Politix |
| Political Blogging Breakthrough |
| 2006-02-19 |
| (original opinion) Conservative bloggers should encourage more elected officials to give interviews for blogs. It could become a major political edge, because it doesn't have the "sound bite" problem. That is, if say a US Senator was an expert on a topic, he could give a response worthy of a Lincoln-Douglas debate, even if it ran several pages of detailed information, instead of just blurting out some talking point. Talk about possibly raising the quality of debate! Few people know it, but the US congress has some serious, world-class experts on certain topics, and yet they can never really explain all the stuff they know. And since bloggers aren't necessarily like reporters, trying to trip up and drag down everyone they interview, the politician could relax and say something intelligent for a change. Bloggers are also under no obligation not to publish written interview information. So a congressman or senator who was an expert on military appropriations could bring in graphics, charts, bibliographies, and any and every training aid he wanted, and it would appear all over blogistan, reaching a goodly number of people, and being archived for future reference. An important point to emphasize with such officials is that it is NOT a typical interview, that the blogger interviewing them is possibly just going to give them subject headers ahead of time and letting them fill in the rest, if that. And at no particular pace, or even sitting across from each other. No games, no tricks. Maybe a few real questions *after* they have analyzed what the official has written and said. This is critical, because bloggers don't want to just be given the typical press release made by some weasely vassel staffer. So they have to tell them ahead of time that blog readers can have a very high interest and expertise in their subject, so want the "advanced" material. Bloggers can also return to the official serious and educated feedback that they may not be getting anywhere else. Blog readers, as has been demonstrated in the past, can be as sharp as a tack and can spot data conflicts from a mile away. This can be priceless to those with limited and possibly conflicted advisors. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #1 Excellent idea, Moose. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-02-19 18:53 |