Why I Blog - Why You Should Blog Too

John Kerry and his surrogates are in desperation mode at this point. They are dashing about the “swing states” telling one outrageous lie after another. Some examples: Bush will restart the military draft! Bush will take away your social security! It’s Bush’s fault there is a flu shot shortage! I won’t raise your taxes. I will fight a vigorous war against terrorism! The economy is a mess! Iraq is a mess! Our foreign policy is a mess! Mess, mess, mess! I have a plan! Etc.

Of course these are all lies, but even so, Kerry seems to be able to get away with telling them without any consequences. He tells a whopper –and it just seems to lie there, like a pile of dog droppings. Nobody seems to want to notice it. Nobody will touch it.

Kerry supporters, of course, either aren’t smart enough to figure out that he is a serial liar, or, even worse, they do know full well he is a liar, but because of their rabid Bush hatred, they don’t care. Not much anybody can do about those people. They won’t be changed.

The lack of response from Bush supporters is a little harder to explain. It has always been true that Republicans make terrible political street fighters. They want to play the game of politics in a genteel, polite way, using the Marquis of Queensbury rules. Democrats are perfectly willing to bite, scratch, spit, gouge, kick, use knifes and brickbats. Democrats play to win. For that reason, Republicans will never get much mileage out of an actual scandal on the part of a Democrat politician, while Democrats are always able to get tons of mileage out of even a hint of scandal on the part of a Republican politician. Democrats almost always get a total pass from their allies in the main-stream liberal press. Republicans are hounded and castigated mercilessly by the same press for their shortcomings, real or imagined.

What is the effect of this disparate treatment of lies and scandals? When the Illinois republican senate candidate was recently accused by his opponents of visiting a sex club, he had to drop out of the race in disgrace. Conversely, when a Democrat president was caught, red-handed, lying under oath, he didn’t have to resign from anything. In fact he became a hero to the coalition of the wild-eyed. He was given a kind of cult status by the press for sticking it to the GOP. Republicans don’t ever seem to be able to do anything in response to the lies, distortions, and unfair treatment by the Democrats and the press, except wring their hands and complain. They look pathetic. It’s frustrating.

There is another group who is more troublesome than either the Republicans or the Democrats. These are the moderates. They sit back, ill-informed, and wait to be spoon-fed their opinions in some vague way that doesn’t involve using their own gray matter. Where do the get their views? You guessed it; from the partisan press. Like Virginia O’Hanlon, the little girl who wrote the New York Sun newspaper to get information about Santa Clause, these people seem very naïve. Virginia wrote: “Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, If you see it in The Sun, it's so.” Like Virginia, they believe that if it’s in the Sun, or on CBS, or on NBS, or ABS, or any of the alphabet stations, it is true. And they vote based on that alone. Sad but true.

What to do? Yes Virginia, there is an alternative press! Our only option at this point is to go around the mainstream press. That’s the point of blogs. That’s the beauty of the internet. My advice? Blog away oh ye intrepid. Only a bloggers army can fight this fight. And it can have an effect --just ask Dan Rather. Oh yes, it's our duty to keep telling the truth --via the Blog!