First of all, welcome Washington Post readers who may have come here after reading Mike Shear's article today.

You should note that the great majority of diaries and posts on this blog are by unpaid people.  I blog and post here because I have two adopted children with brown skin, and I want to ensure they live in a discirmination free world.  I've concluded that George Allen -- who I voted for previously -- will not lead us to that world.

Also, you should know that comments on the "A-team" blog mentioned in Mr. Shear's article are sometimes deleted not because of abusive language, but merely because somebody makes too good a point.  It is not an intellectually free and honest blog.

In fact, if you see my back diaries, you'll know that we have been trying to attract intelligent pro-Allen commentary to the Raising Kaine blogsite.  As an ex-Republican myself, who spent quite a few years of my career in Republican appointed "excepted service" positions, we are after a greater truth here more than anything else.

  Michael Shear’s article “Paid Bloggers Stoke Senate Battle in Va.” [Sept. 17 2006] is almost a perfect example why newspapers are facing demise.  Desk bound reportage and a print medium that leaves little avenue for dissent are much less interesting to the new generation and provide much less information.

  In dissent to Mr. Shear’s article, note that most of the articles on www.raisingkaine.com are by unpaid bloggers who simply have an interest in government.  It’s clear Lowell would be doing his blog even without pay – given the blog’s long (in internet time) history. 

Second, the macaca issue was not created by the blogosphere.  Newspapers all over the world printed stories about a local political race because of the issue’s seriousness.  Did Mr. Shear think all the articles from online papers based in India were somehow “stoked up” by local Virginia blogs?  Mr. Shear should be glad that he gets numerous free news tips from these blogs, rather than criticizing them.

  Next, Mr. Shear may be defensive because Raising Kaine and other blogs often point out errors by the mainstream media.  Why, for example, have we not seen coverage of Media Matters’ unearthing of George Allen’s opposition to women in combat?  Or Mr. Allen’s nearly zero ratings on the legislative scorecards from women’s groups of various ideological stripes?  All these issues have been discussed here -- but not in the Post.

Frankly, the Post’s coverage of Virginia politics is sketchy.  There have been huge blogosphere debates about, e.g., Jennifer Allen’s (George’s sister) allegations of George’s physical abuse towards his siblings, as she wrote in her book “Fifth Quarter.” You can catch up on this controversy on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia....

So far, we have had no discussion in the Post about George Allen’s appearance in a photo with white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens members.  Shear vaguely mentions that Feld wrote about this photo, and Shear referred to the men as “allegedly” belonging to the group.  There’s no issue regarding the men’s membership in the group, and the Post was thoroughly scooped on this story by Max Blumenthal writing for The Nation.  http://www.thenation... 

The only issue is whether Allen knew he was posing with a known racist group.  Blumenthal writes that “Allen had not naively stumbled into a chance meeting with unfamiliar people. He knew exactly who and what the CCC was about and, from Baum's [Gordon Baum, CEO of the CCC] point of view, was engaged in a straightforward political transaction. It helped us as much as it helped him,’ Baum told me. ‘We got our bona fides.’ And so did Allen.”

Wouldn't you like the Post to do an in-depth article on that controversy?

  Instead of carping about competition from the blogosphere – paid or not – Post writers should be investigating the accusations in Jennifer Allen’s book.  It should be investigating whether, as Blumenthal writes, George Allen initiated the meeting with the reviled CCC, for political gain.

 

But I think he's spread too thin (along with Chris Jenkins).  The Post should have some of their national reporters on this, too.  The Jennifer Allen and Council of Conservative Citizens stories need to be investigated.  I don't want Allen to be smeared just because Gordon Baum says something.  But this type of story, and the sister's abuse stories, need to be looked at.  I know Jennifer Allen is now saying her family autobiography was fictionalized -- but that doesn't have the ring of truth.  When I read Ryan Lizza's articles, I got the feeling he had done some real digging on people who knew Allen.

Lizza and Blumenthal haven't written anything in a while -- maybe they will have something.