Elephant Ears

This blog is dedicated to the political happenings in the Valley and Southwest Virginia. As the the name implies, this blog will have posts based on what is heard by this elephant's (GOPer's) ears. It is also a great treat to get while at the county fair or a carnival.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Internet Republicans?

Ben has an interesting post about Ken Cuccinelli's new proposal of a new group similar to CRs and YRs called the Internet Republicans of Virginia.
He thinks they should have seats on State Central as well as on the Congressional District committees much like the CRs and YRs have now.
Its an interesting idea, but I am not really sure we necessarily want that.

The CRs and YRs are basically arms of the RPV. They do not get involved in nomination contests and they work for any and all Republican candidates. Blogs don't operate that way.

The biggest problem I have seen regarding the blogs is that they are going to continue to lose credibility as more people see them as party and campaign tools and less as just personal opinions and thoughts. Just look at how much info is now fed to blogs by campaigns, etc (even some are on campaign payrolls).

Think about it folks. How much credibility do you give blogs now that are paid staffers of campaigns? The same will go for "high ranking" members of an IRV. Their blogs will be marginalized because people will see them as party hacks and less as activists trying to make a difference.

Blogs have a place in politics, but I am not sure it being a group of decision makers; not yet anyway.

6 Comments:

  • At 12/19/2006 1:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Nice thought by Cuccinelli in theory, but not wise in reality. I think even Republican bloggers ought to maintain some type of space from the RPV and State Central. Adding them to the Committee's would give the committee the potential ability to silence all critics. I like some independence from the "establishment"

     
  • At 12/19/2006 8:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Its still nice to see SOME Republicans at least attempting to think outside the box. You can't hit a home run with every swing, but Cooch is up there taking his cuts

     
  • At 12/19/2006 2:26 PM, Blogger GOPHokie said…

    I agree MC, you need to embrace everyone and I think this idea is a step in right direction for blogs.
    I just dont like all the skematics of the proposal.

     
  • At 12/20/2006 2:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "[blogs] are going to continue to lose credibility as more people see them as party and campaign tools and less as just personal opinions and thoughts."

    Exactly.

    Thank you.

     
  • At 12/27/2006 6:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    A lot less talking and more action would be better...

     
  • At 12/28/2006 3:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    If bloggers have issue with how the RPV is running the GOP campaigns, would we still be able to express those issues when we are another arm of the party? Sometimes winning requires tough love - and you can't offer much of that when the party signs your paychecks.

     

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