The Decline of Blogs And Gaffes
CBS' Dick Meyer Takes Heart In The Dithering Of Two Traditional Campaign Weapons
Two things seem to be less important in the campaign of 2008 than recent campaigns: blogs and gaffes. These are signs of political maturity, otherwise known as good news.
First, blogs: 2004 was the Year of the Blogger - supposedly. They built up Howard Dean, devoured John Kerry and anointed themselves kingmakers and queenbreakers of the left and right. They weren't that.
In 2008, no one is pretending they are. The Daily Kos is being treated like the Oracle of Delphi. Little Green Footballs isn't compared to Tammany Hall anymore.
I like blogs. Some of my best friends are bloggers. We publish several here on CBSNews.com. More written words are intrinsically better for the planet than less.
But I didn't like blog triumphalism - the idea that a Web format could dramatically change human communication, journalism and the mechanics of democracy.
I didn't like the championing of the discourtesy that flourishes on so many blogs and that indeed infects too many of the comments on sites like our own. I didn't like the spirit of attack, antagonism and anger. I didn't like the fondness for rumors.
I cannot prove it empirically, but my strong sense is that political reporters and professional trend spotters are paying far less attention to blogs than they expected to this year.
While he does say the he likes blogs, it's pretty clear that when it comes to their existance on the political spectrum, they usually have negative effects (they can "change human communication, journalism and the mechanics of democracy.") You be the judge...