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Conservatives find a pipeline (Internet news)
Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | September 19, 2004 | Jim Wooten

Posted on 09/18/2004 12:47:24 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

This is the presidential election that changes all those to come.

The Internet, with its potential to assemble nearly instantaneously a self-selected panel of experts on most any arcane issue -- John Kerry's exploits and Navy operations in Vietnam and Dan Rather's apparent forgeries of George W. Bush's National Guard memos -- is the most important new media element of this and future campaigns.

On any complex story, journalists struggle to find insiders and experts. The Internet connects them. They enter and leave at will.

How else to explain the success of the swift-boat veterans, who combined a book, a few cable television ads and the Internet into a national political movement that rarely surfaced in the mainstream media, except dismissively? How else to explain the document and handwriting experts who began unmasking the suspected CBS forgeries within minutes of the "60 Minutes II" broadcast -- even as the allegations were hitting newspaper front pages?

Conservatives have turned the Internet into their information superhighway.

Conservatives, especially social and religious conservatives, don't believe the mainstream media to be open, friendly or receptive. When they have ventured into the community square, their ideas, values and lifestyles are ridiculed as mean-spirited, racist or intolerant.

Liberal gatekeepers, they believe, decide which of their ideas are worthy of admission to the community square. The result is that public debate about issues such as faith-based initiatives are framed by those who are viscerally or intellectually opposed or, at best, ignorant to aim or context.

That perception that the mainstream media are not a safe place for conservative ideas has had two major ramifications. One is that conservatives have found alternatives in neglected media, such as talk radio, and in emerging technologies, first cable and now the Internet.

Evangelical Christians, who may be the least tolerated or understood voice on the public square, largely retreated to cable and to grass-roots organizing, a precursor to Internet assembly. The Internet is a phenomenal tool for organizing and information-sharing.

The second ramification is that conservative ideas evolve largely out of the public eye, at think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and among politicians such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.).

When the president mentions an idea like Linder's FairTax, or champions medical savings accounts, a feature of Gingrich's positive revolution in how we use and finance health care, it's clear that conservatives have a Big Idea pipeline. It's just as clear, too, that the pipeline largely skirts the traditional news and opinion sources.

Liberals for the last 40 years have found it sufficient to expand the New Deal and the Great Society and to assemble winning constituencies every four years by frightening the old folks on Social Security and blacks on voting, as John Kerry and Democrats are shamelessly doing once again. But for us, the politicians of the welfare state, you'll be hurt, robbed or exploited, and everybody one tax bracket above you is "rich" and getting something you're not, they argue.

It's a strategy that's been tanking toward empty for years, but it's been successful enough that Democrats have seen no urgency about developing new ideas. Even welfare reform, which Bill Clinton signed, was a conservative idea forced on him.

Liberals have never thought the mainstream media hostile to their views and, consequently, have been lulled into intellectual complacency. Jesse Jackson has but to call a news conference and his ideas are out there.

Two sharply different views about America's presence and obligations in the world and about the kind of nation our children are to inherit are now before voters. The choice could not be more starkly drawn.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Wooten is associate editorial page editor. His column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bias; bloggers; internet; journalism; lies; media; msm; newmedia; news; oldmedia; slant; spin
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1 posted on 09/18/2004 12:47:24 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Smart man.


2 posted on 09/18/2004 12:52:41 AM PDT by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Holy Ratshiite, Batman!

THIS was in the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation?

EVERYBODY!!!!! RUN for your LIVES! The END is upon us!


3 posted on 09/18/2004 12:54:10 AM PDT by clee1 (Islam is a deadly plague; liberalism is the AIDS virus that prevents us from defending ourselves.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Pajamahadeen Rule... rise of the New Media
 I would only suggest an amplification on the theme of "Internet time", since that is such a vital attribute of the 'Net/blogosphere. Facts are checked and hypotheses are validated within hours, if not minutes, and by multiple sources. As you noted, the "swarm" takes up the challenge and with breathtaking speed provides us with hard information on which to act.
 


4 posted on 09/18/2004 12:57:52 AM PDT by backhoe (Just a Keyboard Cowboy, ridin' the Trackball into the Dawn of Information...)
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To: clee1; Sola Veritas
Wooten is an excellent conservative writer at the AJC.

George is in the conservative column.

The word gets out.....

***• In 1980, the South (Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma and all states below) had 26 U.S. senators — 20 of them were Democrats and just six were Republicans. • In 1980, the Senate swung toward Republicans, but then back to Democrats in 1986. • By 1994, the South had 17 Democratic senators and nine Republicans. • In 2004, the South has 17 Republican senators and just nine Democrats.

• In 2005, there's a good possibility that ratio could go to 22 Republicans and just four Democrats. So the facts are that the Republican and Democratic strength in the U.S. Senate in the South has completely reversed in 10 years. By next year, Democratic senators in the South could be one-fifth their strength in 1980. ***Source Zell Miller.

5 posted on 09/18/2004 1:05:29 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: backhoe

Thank you for the LINK backhoe!

Bump!


6 posted on 09/18/2004 1:07:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Thanks for looking-


7 posted on 09/18/2004 1:09:55 AM PDT by backhoe (Just a Keyboard Cowboy, ridin' the Trackball into the Dawn of Information...)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Miracles will never cease.

I always considered the AJC the "Birdcage Liner of Record".

I have gotten at least 3 dozen calls from them over the last 7-8 years, asking me to subscribe. My answer is always the same: Why should I pay my hard-earned $$$ to support your left-leaning rag? I wouldn't use your paper to mask off furniture refinishing projects. CLICK.


8 posted on 09/18/2004 1:10:51 AM PDT by clee1 (Islam is a deadly plague; liberalism is the AIDS virus that prevents us from defending ourselves.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

It looks to me like Al Gore's invention has come back to bite his ideological kinsmen in the keister. Oh how liberals must long for the days when their worldview went unchallenged and their slurs went unanswered.


9 posted on 09/18/2004 1:15:14 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (http://chucksutahblog.blogspot.com/)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
The Internet, with its potential to assemble nearly instantaneously a self-selected panel of experts on most any arcane issue -- John Kerry's exploits and Navy operations in Vietnam and Dan Rather's apparent forgeries of George W. Bush's National Guard memos -- is the most important new media element of this and future campaigns.

I'll bet Al Gore really regrets having invented the Internet now! ROTFLOL!!

10 posted on 09/18/2004 1:16:07 AM PDT by Prime Choice (The Religion of Peace ISN'T.)
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To: elhombrelibre

Wasn't it the democrats who wanted every family in America to have internet access? Wonder if they've changed their minds now? lol


11 posted on 09/18/2004 1:27:06 AM PDT by DancingMyRainbow
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To: DancingMyRainbow

Now they have to find away to put the toothpaste back in the tube.


12 posted on 09/18/2004 1:41:36 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (http://chucksutahblog.blogspot.com/)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
The second ramification is that conservative ideas evolve largely out of the public eye, at think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and among politicians such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.).

I had to read this a few times.. conservative ideas germinate right here on the internet and percolate up for all to see. The so-called 'public eye' is CBS News managing editor who set in a back room and plot fictional stories to smear Republicans. Remember the swiftees...

The loonie lefty liberals scoured FReerepublic looking for 'dirt' to smear Jerome Corsi. We are a free and open forum. Jerome Corsi is a patriot. He was here and helped shape debate. He's my hero.

Democrats use that forum to 'destroy' the character and place labels. It was Susan Estrich that called for the Democrats to go underground ... talk their talk on private conference calls.

We are motivated to be here out of love. The democrat motivation is pure hate.

13 posted on 09/18/2004 1:53:02 AM PDT by DaveMSmith (Providence Has Favored Our Undertakings)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Liberal gatekeepers, they believe, decide which of their ideas are worthy of admission to the community square. The result is that public debate about issues such as faith-based initiatives are framed by those who are viscerally or intellectually opposed or, at best, ignorant to aim or context.

Liberal gatekeepers.. guarding the gates off Hell!

Remember when W unveiled his agenda for his second term at the republican convention? He presented it immediately after he accepted the nomination. This vision was crystallized from debates and discussions held here. Faith-based indeed. Remember President Bush's first State of the Union speech. Mayor John Street of Philadelphia sat next to Mrs Bush in the gallery. Late in the last campaign for Mayor of Philadelphia it was discovered that mayor street had 'bugs' - listening devices in his office - he blamed his republican opponent. The FBI then came out and said.. 'we put those listening devices there'... so what does john street do? He blames the administration of conspiring against him... because he is african-american

The first capitol of the United States of America is Philadelphia. It was moved to Washington DC so southern politicians could bring their slaves with them - it was difficult to do that in Philadelphia being Philadelphia had anti-slavery laws.

I submit that Washington DC is nothing more than a movie set... sitting on a district carved out of Maryland and Virginia. The heart and soul of our Federal government rests where it was founded: in Philadelphia. It never left. Millions of visitors come each year to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell - I see them every day. I am fortunate to work right there. Right in the cradle of Liberty.

During the President's first term We have had a lot of new construction.. We have a new National Constitution Center and a new Liberty Bell Center. I can tell you that during construction up until now, the correspondences were astonishing to me. They are as plain as day. An example, we (the company I work for) had a small company that did work for us 'wiring' computers and telephones. They would move the equipment during office moves, plug them into the equipment into the network, etc. We had a renegotiation of the contract with the companies owner and he came in really high on the bid. A lot higher than the other competitive bids. The 2 guys that actually did the work are union: Bill and Bob. The owner was given the opportunity to present a lower bid, but he refused. We went with another company... who had a different union.

My friends Bill and Bob were out of a job. Their union decided to protest outside of our home office - company headquarters. They protested handing out flyers to all employees stating unbelievable things to all of our employees when they came to work. Their propaganda was over the top and they blamed our company's CEO as being anti union, etc. This nonsense lasted several weeks and finally they pulled out all the stops and showed up with a giant inflatable rat and set it up in front of the home office.

Giant demoRat tries to scare people away from liberty

They brought a tape that looped over and over blasting flagrant nonsense about how they were unfairly treated and our CEO wasn't fair because he wouldn't negotiate with him. The accused an employee of assaulting him and had the police there

All this nonsense has deep meaning to me. Put it this way: The giant inflatable rat represents the crypto-gangsters of the demoRat party and their propaganda flyers represent Dan Ratter's fake memos. Believe me when I say that how these phone-y democrats behave today in this campaign is totally transparent to me. Use your imagination.


14 posted on 09/18/2004 3:17:36 AM PDT by DaveMSmith (Providence Has Favored Our Undertakings)
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To: DaveMSmith

agree.....


15 posted on 09/18/2004 3:23:09 AM PDT by prognostigaator
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To: backhoe

Did Bush Refer to Memogate?

Today President Bush spoke about women's issues at an event in Charlotte. Was he making a reference to Memogate? You decide.

"One of the interesting things about a changing economy is that our workers are more productive than ever before. That means instead of using a hoe, you use a backhoe. Or instead of using, you know, a regular old standard typewriter, you use a computer. In other words, that's an example of becoming more productive."


Hmmm.

Link: http://ratherbiased.com/news.html#37


16 posted on 09/18/2004 3:25:26 AM PDT by dinasour (Pajamahadeen)
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To: DaveMSmith

We took a trip to Valley Forge and to Philadelphia last year.

We loved Philadelphia.

There is so much to see, do and learn.

The city is beautiful.

The people are wonderful.

I rave about Philadelphia every chance I can.


17 posted on 09/18/2004 3:26:14 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: dinasour
One of the interesting things about a changing economy is that our workers are more productive than ever before. That means instead of using a hoe, you use a backhoe.

Drat! I've been outed by the President himself.

18 posted on 09/18/2004 3:41:06 AM PDT by backhoe (Just a Keyboard Cowboy, ridin' the Trackball into the Dawn of Information...)
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To: backhoe
Drat! I've been outed by the President himself.

Dan will be at your house later this morning demanding an explanation.

19 posted on 09/18/2004 3:46:25 AM PDT by dinasour (Pajamahadeen)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I'm new here on FreeRepublic and I just want to say I appreciate your articles. They are articulate and to the point. I find myself reassured that W will win on November 2nd, because Right is Might and the ones seeking TRUTH shall prevail. Lets keep up the good fight, God is with us.


20 posted on 09/18/2004 3:52:00 AM PDT by red in brea
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