Facebook for conservatives? The Atlantic: 'Ricochet' hopes to make conservatism fun again

[The Straight Story]

Facebook for conservatives?
The Atlantic: 'Ricochet' hopes to make conservatism fun again — online

If conservative ideas are dead, as many liberals claim, nobody seems to have told conservatives. Right-wingers believe their ideas are alive and fit for implementation. All that is needed, perhaps, is new personalities and institutions able to market conservatism in the post-Bush era. At least, that is the thinking behind Ricochet, a new online effort that launches in the next few weeks and aims to advance the right-wing conversation in the age of Obama.

The distinguishing feature of Ricochet will be its unique format, which promises to look unlike any other site on the net. "It will not be a news aggregator, or a megachat like Daily Kos, but instead will be a feed like Facebook or Twitter or Tumbler," says James Poulos, Ricochet's managing editor. Approximately 40 contributors will have an online conversation that is akin to a conservative cocktail party.

Ricochet is the brainchild of two established conservatives, former Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson and Hollywood producer-pundit Rob Long. "Rob and I felt there was plenty of space in the online world for a center-right website with a sense of fun, of talking back and forth among conservatives," says Robinson. The left outweighs the right-wing in cyberspace, he says, even with everything from The Weekly Standard to 'Townhall.com' populating the web.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37189215/ns/politics/

Good - maybe the rw idiots on facebook will leave and go there :)

[Swede]

1. Fun again. What,they're gonna party like it's 1959?

:shrug:

[kenfrequed]

8. "Nostalgia for an age that never existed"

The fifties weren't even the fifties they thought they were.

[ixion]

2. There's no word in French for 'Ricochet'

:+

[gratuitous]

3. Ah, a conservative cocktail party

A big amalgamation of lightweights, mean drunks, and other belligerents puking on one anothers' shoes whilst on constant alert for any deviation from party orthodoxy. Nothin' is better than that. Is it?

[Seneca]

17. There are times GD fits that description

:evilgrin:

[The_Commonist]

4. I guess they didn't learn with Conservapedia.

This will be yet another epic fail...

[maxsolomon]

5. how can living in constant fear ever be fun?

schadenfreude is the best they can ever hope for, and it's poisoned fun.

[onehandle]

6. Just let them have Facebook.

That would be punishment enough.

[NBachers]

7. "Again?"

I wasn't aware it was ever fun

[Goblinmonger]

9. Facebook's already pretty right leaning.

What do they want, online Nazi training camps?

[Salviati]

10. This must be some strange usage of the word "fun" that I was previously unaware of.

If you want a picture of conservativism, imagine an old man yelling at you to get off his lawn -- forever.

[surrealAmerican]

11. Funny how even the most right-wing lunatic fringe ...

... will call themselves "center-right".

Just wait until the site organizers see the sort of crowd a "conservative cocktail party" attracts.

[political_Dem]

12. For who? They weren't fun the eight years of the Bush Administration.

What makes these people think that being conservative is fun now?

[Kitty Herder]

13. Isn't Facebook Facebook for conservatives?

[librechik]

14. Fun Again? When were they ever fun?

except I guess watching other people suffer and gloating about how you made it happen is fun for certain types. The only fun the Freepers have is imagining what Obama would look like after crucifiction. So I don't know.

[Caliman73]

15. Conservative ideas dead?

Liberals don't claim that conservative ideas are dead. We claim that they are STUPID, have never ever been shown to work to anyone's benefit but the wealthy, and are detrimental to society. Unfortunately, they are not dead. They are alive and well with all the selfish, short sighted, wishful thinking racists, sexists, and homophobes who subscribe to the ideology.

[Seneca]

16. Yet another conservative lie

"The left outweighs the right-wing in cyberspace." Huh? This is akin to saying the media is "liberal". Right-wingers not only outnumber us, they are loud, rude, and vocal too. They need another website like Bush needs a lobotomy.