I saw this on Andrew Sullivan today and I have to say it resonated with me.
He and his reader believe the netroots are being played.
Here is the link
I can't find Andrew Sullivan's original piece on this subject, if I find it, I'll update.
If someone has covered this before please let me know and I'll delete, but I didn't find it on the front page.
The point the reader makes (which I excerpt below) is that the liberal blogs are way too focussed on McCain and Palin and that it is no accident.
Sullivan's reader writes:
It also occurs to me that in a way McCain and Rove have actually simply taken over the liberal blogosphere in some way. They are being played.
Just a few examples---yesterday Obama gave a fantastic interview at the Service Forum. Did the liberal blogs even cover this? No.
He gave a great speech on the trail. Are his town halls even posted or excerpted? No.
He then goes on to talk about how the netroots sites are the best place to find out what Palin has been doing and McCain's latest ads, but they aren't covering what Obama is doing every day and they aren't covering Biden. Despite the outrage that accompanies all these links to Palin and McCain, they are still giving them web-time. This isn't entirely true, I think he exaggerates, but he has a point about dairy space and time.
The liberal bloggers have become McCain central. They make people click on his ads, make the world spin around him instead of focusing on our candidate and what he is trying to do. There is ZERO coverage of what Obama is actually doing every day talking tough on the issues. There is ZERO coverage of Biden (who is on the trail but the blogs don't seem to care or cover him unless he is doing what they think he should be doing. Sadly AFP did cover him this week and people seemed to be too busy saying he was not doing anything to include the link with his forceful comments against McCain.
The writer theorizes that the republicans realized they were behind as a presence on the web. Rather than set up new sites they felt it was more efficent to use the infrastructure of established sites to their own ends.
McCain and crew realized early this cycle that they did not have a visible internet presence. So what did they do? They took over the liberal presence, they are manipulating the leading liberal blogs , just as they manipulate the MSM. All to their own advantage. And the blogs have all fallen for this hook, line and sinker.
The writer ends with the following statement:
The problem is not Obama, is that no one wants to follow his lead. Instead they are following McCain-Rove and they don't even know it.
I am not saying that I totally agree with this point, but i go on Huffpost or any other site and all I see are images of McCain and Palin. The writer may not be entirely correct but I think we should all consider the point being made.