Comments on: Earl Mardle on George Allen’s crumbling campaign http://weblog.terrellrussell.com/2006/09/earl-mardle-on-george-allens-crumbling-campaign/ Ideas on interconnections, identity, and information from all sides. Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:03:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: jkd http://weblog.terrellrussell.com/2006/09/earl-mardle-on-george-allens-crumbling-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-138 jkd Tue, 05 Sep 2006 17:16:50 +0000 http://weblog.terrellrussell.com/2006/09/earl-mardle-on-george-allens-crumbling-campaign/#comment-138 This is all true, but I think it's impossible to address this issue without also including the <b>very</b> important role that the stodgy (note: not actually that stodgy), old-media Washington Post played in this whole affair. It was the WaPo that was actually the first media outlet (after the Webb campaign) to post the video online, and it was the WaPo that kept the pressure on the story for several days while it built into a national story. It was the WaPo that had its reporters calling the Allen campaign, pressuring them for quotes, and keeping Wadham's non-denial denials coming. I have a lot of bones to pick with the WaPo, but in this instance I think they - and especially through washingtonpost.com (which is a pseudo-independent entity) - were perhaps the most important element in sustaining and building this story. The liberal blogosphere added fuel to the fire, but without the WaPo's early and intense interest, it would'nt've developed into the potentially political fatality it's become. This is all true, but I think it’s impossible to address this issue without also including the very important role that the stodgy (note: not actually that stodgy), old-media Washington Post played in this whole affair. It was the WaPo that was actually the first media outlet (after the Webb campaign) to post the video online, and it was the WaPo that kept the pressure on the story for several days while it built into a national story. It was the WaPo that had its reporters calling the Allen campaign, pressuring them for quotes, and keeping Wadham’s non-denial denials coming.

I have a lot of bones to pick with the WaPo, but in this instance I think they – and especially through washingtonpost.com (which is a pseudo-independent entity) – were perhaps the most important element in sustaining and building this story. The liberal blogosphere added fuel to the fire, but without the WaPo’s early and intense interest, it would’nt’ve developed into the potentially political fatality it’s become.

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