Free Republic

For several years now, a common refrain among left-wing online political activists has been “We need to own the Internet the way the right owns talk radio.” Based on recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, it looks like the left has succeeded — with Democratic presidential candidates as the primary beneficiaries. Last fall in this space, I asked, “When will the right recognize the cost of conceding Web 2.0?” With that cost now readily apparent in the form of online campaign contributions for the 2008 presidential campaign cycle, the only remaining question is whether conservatives can do anything about...

..."The credibility that they've established is based on the laziness of reporters who have used them as a source." That last quote is quite chilling: A Los Angeles-based husband and wife---just two people with goodness knows what agenda or leanings---have somehow managed to establish themselves as a pretty big boulder in the information stream. Most people accord the Mikkelsons a fair amount of credibility as the best source for confirmation or refutation of widely distributed Internet memes. Given how much reliance is being placed on their determinations, it seems like we do very well to know where they're coming from....

...For the Boudreaux photo, one would have to assume that Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux Jr. is pretty darned stupid to have 1) written a sign saying that he had killed the boy's dad and then impregnated his sister, 2) posed for a photo next the boy holding that sign, and 3) allowed the photo to become public. Given the disparity in the status assigned the two entries, one has to assume that the Mikkelsons believe that it is at least possible that LCpl. Boudreaux is that stupid, but that it is not at all possible that the Muslim protesters...