WP, pg1: How GOP, Rove, Limbaugh, and Drudge use "new media"

[DeepModem Mom]

New Media A Weapon in New World Of Politics
By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 6, 2006; Page A01

....(Karl) Rove said he has benefited on occasion from the new-media echo chamber. When he gave a speech last year saying liberals want to give terrorists understanding and therapy, he delighted when Democrats howled in protest. This guaranteed that the story would stay alive for days. "I was sort of amused by it because it struck me, well, they're just simply repeating my argument, which was good," he said....

***

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), fighting for his career amid allegations that he did not respond properly when told of Foley's e-mails, has gone to conservative media outlets to make his case. On Rush Limbaugh's radio show, Hastert agreed when the host said the Foley story was driven by Democrats "in some sort of cooperation with some in the media" to suppress turnout of conservative voters before the Nov. 7 elections....Many of the first generation of new media platforms, including Limbaugh's show and Drudge's Web site, first flourished because of a conviction among conservatives that old media were unfair.

All this has given Republicans a comfort and skill at using new media to political advantage that most Democrats have not matched. At the Republican National Committee, leaking items to the Drudge Report is an official part of communications strategy.

During the 2004 campaign, current and former RNC staff members said, opposition research nuggets on Kerry were almost always leaked first to the Web site. Sometimes they were trivial -- such as the fact that Kerry got expensive haircuts at the Christophe salon -- other times they were controversial quotes from his days as a Vietnam War protester. All together, these and other items contributed to Kerry losing control of his public image.

Ken Mehlman, the RNC chairman and head of Bush's reelection campaign, said his operatives leaked to Drudge because it inevitably drove wider coverage, including to old media organizations: "He puts something up and they have to follow it."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501811.html?nav=hcmodule

[WCGreen]

1. The Old Media doesn't have to follow it....

Faux get's it, repeats it and then CNN feels they have to run woth it and so MSNBC says me too me too...

And the echo chamber continues....

[grasswire]

2. it's the same old Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Nothing has changed except a few of the players. The Clintons were persecuted by the tag team of Murdoch and Scaife and Drudge and Moon. They would ricochet stories between their outlets and create false legitimacy.

It's still the same shell game.

[snowbear]

3. The Drudgie Freepers sound like Jim Jones Clan

That article says..

"Ken Mehlman, the RNC chairman and head of Bush's reelection campaign, said his operatives leaked to Drudge because it inevitably drove wider coverage, including to old media organizations: "He puts something up and they have to follow it."

[DeepModem Mom]

4. a.m. kick

[Kingofalldems]

5. So the Kerry adultery lie came from Mehlman?

[janx]

6. This has been obvious for quite some time.

The freepers are tools. It's depressing.