A few top-notch reporters are getting their "anti-blogger" pencils out...

[kentuck]

No doubt, they are already working on their article for "when" Lieberman is defeated in Connecticut. Their plan is to blame Lieberman's defeat on the "left-wing" blogosphere. The "Move-on.org" crowd they will call it. However, the "blogosphere" should be careful not to take too much credit for a Lamont victory, if it happens?

It is true that the blogs have been a very good organizing and fund-raising tool for Lamont. It is doubtful that he could win without the blogs. But, he would probably be a strong contender whether or not the blogs were behind him, simply for the fact that the voters of CT are so turned off by Joe Lieberman and his "kissing-up" to this Administration and acting like a "moderate" Republican at the very worst time. His judgement was terrible.

But, we can anticipate a slew of "anti-blogger" articles following the results of the race. Many of these M$N reporters simply do not like the blogs because they are a threat to their livelihood. And they will be looking for any excuse to tear down the "left-wing" blogosphere. We should sharpen our pencils and be ready for their attacks.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. it is a sexy story, it is a convenient one, and it is thoroughly wrong

Do bloggers communicate and organize? Sure. Just like the telegraph, the steam boat and the pony express before them. Do they impact society? yup.
DO BLOGGERS CREATE ISSUES?
Hell, no.

The damaging issues surrounding Dweeberman were always there, always pissing off his constituency, and always an issue for this election. The bloggers simply raised the MANY issues for all to see.

It is lazy, irrational and short-sighted for MSM to blame bloggerville for this election. But, MSM has been so wrong for so long, could we expect anything different from them? They see themselves as becoming marginalized, with every opinion being proved wrong or worse, uninformed. In that respect we truly are the enemy, for the truth comes closer to being put out here than through their ink-stained arthritic, and greedy fingers.
Being shown to be wrong is bad enough, being shown to be uninformed, foolish and worse than worthless equates to commercial death.

That is why I enjoy Ann Coulter. She is no journalist, no reporter, no MSM talking head. She is a self-promoting, calculating, and effective distraction. As pure entertainment, it is great. To take her seriuosly, well, only MSM would do that (see above why MSM hates the blogger world).

[madrchsod]

2. bloggers are the craigslist of political writing and reporting

msm just doesn`t get it

[zbdent]

3. The "Al Gore trashed the offices" rumor started on (sl)Drudge

and bloggers were made "mainstream" with the Dan Rather fiasco (still the MSM doesn't get the point that the only piece of evidence that showed W showing up for duty was touted as faked ... shakes head)

[EarlG]

4. It's sure going to be interesting when the results come in

No matter what happens, for better or for worse this is going to be placed at the feet of the bloggers. If Leiberman wins, the pundits will go nuts about how people over-estimated the "power" of the blogosphere. If Lamont wins, many pundits will no doubt, as you suggest, blame the "crazy left-wing MoveOn crowd" and their new vice-like grip on the Democratic party.

The blogosphere has been very active since 2000, yet has so far failed to favorably influence the outcome of elections between 2000 and 2006. That's not to say that that Internet activists didn't make a difference - see Paul Hackett and Francine Busby's extremely close races in heavily Republican districts - but there has yet to be a big race with a result that people can point to and say "the bloggers did that."

It seems to me that this is not necessarily a question of bloggers being "to blame", rather that the vast majority of bloggers and Internet activists simply reflect the current political Zeitgeist - much like conservative talk radio did in the 1990s. Rush Limbaugh was more than happy to take credit for the Republican Revolution of 1994, but whether or not his radio show actually influenced people or merely reflected their feelings about government at the time is a matter of debate. I'd say it was a bit of both, the same as we're seeing in the Leiberman/Lamont race.

I do think the fact that more and more people are getting their news from the Internet has definitely made a difference in the political landscape, but there are many other factors, of course. Leiberman was not expecting such a strong primary challenge and had no campaign organization in place. He realized way too late that he might be in jeopardy, and his strategy has reflected that. Once Lamont got himself into a position where he looked like a viable candidate, Leiberman's campaign started to look panicky, and that never goes down well with voters.

One thing is for sure though: as all the pundits keep saying, the outcome of the Connecticut primary is indeed going to "send shockwaves" through the blogosphere and the establishment, regardless of the result. Partly because it just will, and partly because that's the spin that the pundits have been putting on it, and therefore that's what will happen. There's nothing like making a prediction when you have such a heavy influence over the outcome of that prediction.

(By the way, I should add the disclaimer that as a DU admin I don't have a dog in this fight. As usual, we refrain from endorsing candidates in primaries and we will support the primary winners over their Republican opponents in November.)

[kentuck]

5. And a bigger question for the two major Parties?

"...the outcome of the Connecticut primary is indeed going to "send shockwaves" through the blogosphere and the establishment.."

I think that might be true. If so, we should be prepared to use this new-found "power" to assist with setting the agenda. Win or lose, the establishment media will criticize the "bloggers". The Democratic Party would be wise to pay more heed to the blogosphere. However, as we know, Chairman Dean already knows what the Internet can do. :)

[Solo_in_MD]

6. M$M can not stand blogs since they are an alternative view at times

with access to better facts.

Rathergate and the recent Reuters pic fiasco are examples where the commoners upstaged the established media...they really hate it when that happens.

The M$M needs to get off the sensationlism kick and return to quality.