Shaun Kenney

John Doe — that most pseudonymous of all pseudonyms — is taking shots at the Virginia leftosphere, comments to which I added my own US$0.02:

It’s the echo chamber par excellence. What they are doing is simple psychology: create a bubble of “reality” that allows only for one version of events, repeat those events, and attack any opposition whatsoever.

And by opposition, they aren’t talking about strictly Dems vs. Republicans either… opposition includes those who they fundamentally disagree with their version of events, moderates in their own party, actual Republican candidates, or those who attempt to impose any form of ethical standard.

The problem for these sorts of bloggers is that they are the sound of one hand clapping. Compare their traffic to that of Bearing Drift, or any of the MSM sites. The only reason people head to the “splash and trash” sites is to make sure they aren’t being talked about that day.

That’s it.

Now Machiavelli might be proud. But you’re not seeing the rest of the blogosphere engaging the nuts anymore. The MSM doesn’t quote them for comment, the rightosphere blithely laughs at them, their own party sidelines them, and most of the old guard Democratic bloggers can’t stand what they’ve done to the conversation online.

I won’t even begin to talk about their effectiveness. They haven’t elected a single candidate. Ever. Sure they can win a primary or two, but the catch is that the rightosphere in Virginia has shown the ability to block tackle these guys. Poindexter-Ferguson? Leslie Byrne? Nye? Even Perriello got slammed early for the whole al-Jazzera stuff (and I happen to be really, really interested in his positions and candidacy).

The Virginia leftosphere has hit a wall. No one takes them seriously anymore; their credibility is shot to hell. On the right, you’ve got a lot of credible sources for information hammering away… what was mentioned at Sorenson in 2005 and 2006 is coming true.

Give it six months. The whole landscape will change. But the era of the “splash and trash” blogger is coming to a swift end as journalists and readers become much more aware of how bloggers inflate their importance, their stats, their comments (sock puppetry, anyone?), and hide who they are really working for.

Don’t think of them as rabid dogs. Think of them as wounded animals. There’s an SPCA for each and every one of them (a no-kill one, I hope).

Sure, I’ve been keeping tabs on the back-and-forth. The good news is that the dynamic on the left is dying, and there’s little the “splash and trash” set can do about it. They can’t even adapt, because virtually everyone despises them.

See? The conclusions of the Sorenson Blog Summits in 2005 and 2006 came true after all, didn’t they?

The last point is worth re-iterating: As readers, other bloggers, and journalists become more aware of how blogs inflate their importance, their stats, their comments through sock puppetry, and the fear of the blogosphere burns off, the MSM is going to quit referring to the Wild West and start homesteading themselves with reliable content that adheres to journalistic ethics.

When that happens… perhaps the egos will die off. Virginia can get back what we had before the 2006 election. To some degree, the camaraderie hasn’t gone away… the Democratic and Republican bloggers just aren’t as vocal about their communication as they once were. It’ll just be a bit more intellectually engaging than what we have today.

Of course, we’ll never get rid of those who look at the Democrats and Republicans as the political version of the Redskins and Cowboys game. Still, those folks have to be brought along in time… it’s easy for a lazy person to identify what they are against. It takes a more rigorous mind to assert what they are for, and while that’s tough for some folks, a dynamic blogosphere of interacting opinions would be a welcome replacement to the nonsense peddled by a few today.

This is beautiful , and Governor Roy Blunt deserves credit for succinctly and accurately blasting the Obama boosters and their defamation squads:

St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.

What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.

This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.

Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts – not a free society.

Damn straight. What’s more is that Blunt very carefully lays out the leftist bloggers… ouch. The party isn’t going to last much longer, and if the poll numbers (and long term results — how many elections have the progressive bloggers won, exactly?) continue to hold out, the Democrats are going to have a handful of Kossacks and their brownshirted ilk to blame.

Sooner or later, the conservatives are going to get tired of being pushed around — and they’re going to push back. Hard.  Until the Democrats themselves put an end to the most extreme elements of their party, they continue to risk being defined by them.

If last night were a boxing scorecard, it would have been McCain by decision, and there would probably be a rematch.

Probably. Because what I watched and listened to were two politicians afraid to engage one another directly for fear of being caught in any campaign-ending gaffe.

Both debated well. Both talked past one another. But did the American people really learn anything, other than both candidates have two very different visions of reality (and facts)?

If this were a boxing match, there’d be a rematch. But I doubt seriously if HBO would be interested in any pay-per-view deals.

Mark Stricherz discusses how the Democratic Party has lost touch with it’s base, and begins the process of analyzing how pro-life Democrats can take back their party:

Asked about how to change the Democratic Party back to its original connection with average Americans, Stricherz said that is was critical to democratize the internal process, but added that, “I just don’t see the constituency, the drive to bring that change… those with college degrees, who tend to be more secular are in control of the party, whereas more religious, working folks are kept out of the loop.”

“There have been some small victories from the pro-life people inside the Democratic Party, they are very small, but I encourage people to take up the fight… even if I am very skeptical about the results.”

…

Finally, he said that, despite current polls, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has a greater chance to win the election because “the Republican party has a more democratic process of candidate-selection, and therefore have chosen the strongest candidate; whereas the Democratic Party’s system promotes the desires of the political leadership and [they] have selected the weakest candidate.”

I empathize with this sentiment entirely. There’s just no room in the modern Democratic Party for pro-lifers, not because there aren’t pro-life Democrats out there, but because the leadership of the party has been hijacked by its most extreme elements.

It’s going to be foggy and raining for four days… so get yourself in the mood:

I recently bought The Wind That Shakes The Barley on the recommendation of a friend, but haven’t had the time to watch it yet.

This weekend though…

Here we go — Senator McCain is suspending his campaign, and Senator Obama is making overtures for a joint statement from both campaigns just before a 9pm EST presidential address.

Why is it that I get the feeling that I am going to be told what is best for me (and the economy) by my government?

Worth watching, folks…

Montpelier recently reopened, and although Mrs. Kenney and the kids never quite made it to Wednesday’s celebration, Rick Sincere has us covered.

I am currently reading Ammon’s biography of James Monroe, and there is a good deal of focus on the play between Jefferson and the rivalry between Madison and Monroe — a rivalry most Jeffersonian biographers leave out when discussing the post-Jeffersonian era of Republican politics.

I have always marveled at the differences between Monticello and Montpelier, and then the look of Ashlawn nearby. Sure, Monroe’s property much altered property at Oak Hill is a beautiful home, but the modesty of Monroe’s plantation home in regards to his peers in notable.

Monroe has a solid history in the Fredericksburg area as being the location of his early law practice (though it would seem the most of his law career was spent in Richmond), and like myself, Monroe did a lot of travelling between Charlottesville, Richmond, and Fredericksburg.

I have yet to read a biography on Madison… and I am certain that when I do, Madison’s biographers will be as gentle on their subject as possible.

Still, I seriously doubt that many Virginians truly understand the heritage of great minds handed down to them by such notables as Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, Taylor, Tyler, Harrison, and Lee. True, it is a heritage marked always by the enslavement of their fellow human beings (The Hemmingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed is next up on my plate, amidst the several books I am reading concurrently), but the dichotomy only serves to help intensify the conflict between their ideals and those ideals in practice.

The price of the bailouts so far, beginning with Bear Stearns and most recently adding AIG.

That’s the price of socialism, folks.

My color IQ was 4 , with a very slight propensity not to be able to see in the blue spectrum.

Interesting… nothing outrageous, but according to this test I don’t have perfect vision.