Posted on 05/26/2007 1:49:34 PM PDT by Eurotwit
A few weeks ago – in between Hillary Clinton’s official entry into the presidential race and the first Republican primary debate of the cycle – the fiery online conservative forum Free Republic marked a decade in operation as one of the premier online forums for right-wing political discussion.
It also experienced one of the biggest internal battles to rock the site since the 2000 election of George W. Bush -- a tumultuous campaign year that nearly tore the site apart, as its founder and chief administrator first cleansed commenting ranks of Bush supporters, then, later, rallied to his support.
At the heart of the latest controversy: the fight over the conservative bona fides of Rudy Giuliani.
Over the past few weeks, chaos has reigned in the “Freeper” community as members sympathetic to the former mayor's candidacy claim to have suffered banishment from the site. They were victimized, they say, by a wave of purges designed to weed out any remaining support for the Giuliani campaign on the popular conservative web forum. Another significant chunk of commenters have migrated away from the controversial site over the action, according to a number of former site members and conservative bloggers who have been tracking the situation.
In a plaintive post on the blog “Sweetness & Light,” exiled commenter Steve Gilbert, who says he does not support the former mayor’s campaign, blasted the site’s new “anti-Giuliani, anti-abortion jihad.” Since George W. Bush was elected president, he wrote, “there haven’t been any large scale [Free Republic] purges to speak of – until now.”
The fight began one month ago, when site founder Jim Robinson posted an anti-Giuliani manifesto titled: “Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee would be a dagger in the heart of the conservative movement.” Then the virtual ax started to swing. Longtime posters to the freewheeling discussion threads, used to serious no-holds-barred web etiquette, were still stunned by the intensity of the anti-Rudy activity; conservative blogs buzzed with the development.
“Jim Robinson has been going on a tear demonizing Rudy Giuliani, because Rudy (agreeing with the vast majority of Americans), is personally opposed to abortions on a moral level…” complained a user on the GOPUSA Web site. “Anyone who posts any support for Giuliani at the site, if it's at all forceful, will be banned.”
(“Normally, we don't allow complaints about other conservative forums,” chided the moderator, but “…because it is being discussed all over the Internet, I'll make an exception.”)
Just a few months ago, Rudy Giuliani placed second in an early Free Republic straw poll; now, his support on the site has been virtually eliminated. “After the ‘April Purge,’ I don't think there are any Rudybots left around here,” noted Free Republic commenter “upchuck” in one recent post. “And if there are, they're not posting pro-Rudy stuff :).”
The forums weren’t the only venue for the Free Republic’s new antagonism toward Mr. Giuliani, which coincided with a wave of comments expressing similar sentiments from other corners of the conservative movement. A few days after Mr. Giuliani’s equivocal Roe v. Wade comments at the Republican presidential debate on May 3, a new “STOP RUDY NOW News & Information Thread” was featured on the site, and a newly-created stand-alone category debuted via a link from the homepage: “The Giuliani Truth File.” (So far this campaign season, Mr. Giuliani is the only candidate – Republican or Democratic – to be singled out for that level of scrutiny from the Free Republic.)
Why Rudy? Why now? Some conservative bloggers and former commenters contacted for their view of the continuing controversy say they believe that site founder Jim Robinson holds ideologically middling Republicans like Mr. Giuliani responsible for the GOP’s congressional loss and current woes. (They asked that their names be kept out of this story for fear of antagonizing the famously frisky site regulars.)
Others claim that the former mayor’s top-tier status is spurring frantic site administrators into action. Finally, one popular theory holds that the Free Republic is secretly hoping for another Clinton presidency that would send its Alexa ratings soaring back to levels it hasn’t experienced since its halcyon days of the Clinton impeachment, when a since-soured relationship with blog pioneer Matt Drudge and overwhelming anti-Clinton sentiment in Republican ranks helped make Free Republic one of the hottest Web sites in the nation. It hasn't recovered that luster since the Bush administration took over.
“It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s an observation,” said one blogger, who describes himself as a half-hearted Mitt Romney supporter. “They’ve still got a brand name that means something, but they’re not what they were in terms of real-world impact. A Hillary presidency would get them there.”
Robinson himself could not be reached for comment, but his original post laid out his case against Mr. Giuliani – a graphics-heavy presentation of some of the former mayor’s most damning moderate quotes in mainstream media venues, along with a color-coded report card tracking his less-than-doctrinaire positions on abortion, immigration, gays and guns.
Robinson, it should be noted, famously blasted George W. Bush’s presidential candidacy back in 2000, before a dramatic late-campaign about-face that saw him emerge as one of the GOP ticket’s biggest supporters. But whether or not Free Republic experiences a similar election-year shift this cycle, the site’s current campaign is spreading a dangerous primary-season meme of Rudy Giuliani as big-city liberal – and turning one of the most influential web forums in conservatism into an exclusive gathering place for those who share that view.
To bed???
So much for ETERNAL vigilance.
;-)
Well, they said they were going to bed, so I said goodnight...lol...
I may soon myself too, though. :-)
Uh. You can’t ban yourself. You can only get banned.
That sort of takes the humor out of my silly joke.
I guess I need to go to bed...
I’ll sleep well because I know you’re vigilant.
:-)
Wow, thanks! I thought your joke was great, btw... ;-)
Night!
Welcome back!
:-) Night!
***Is “band of bothers” a typo or intentional? I kinda like it. ;-) Good post.
LOL, it was intentional. I tend to do that, as some notice on my daily morning postings. I wonder if someone would catch it. You sure did!
I also supported the Florida court decision and The REPORT.
If there were harsh words they came from both directions. They didn't have a monopoly on pestering, ridiculing, cursing and humiliating.
You know the kind of post like Guen's, who gets her kicks questioning a Freepers credentials or motives.
I'm sorry too.
I was heavily involved from the time, and onward to the present, of the actual vigil and the dastardly actions of killers taking a precious and innocent life. The acrimony, pestering, ridiculing, cursing, and humiliating from that point on as I remember was one direction, only, and we were defending.
Your support of the Florida court decision and kindred thought finds you in fine company, socialist sites, communist sites, far left moonbats like Daily Kos, DU, super liberal dems, and even Middle East terrorists. Oh, yes, Dr. Death, himself, Kervorkian, is on your side. We haven't heard back yet from Ted Bundy. Mikey Schiavo even campaigned for the far left candidates. You can find links to all these views on our unbroken string of Terri Daily posts.
Meanwhile the vile spew against Terri supporters from ClownPosse hung in the air like steam from a fresh daily kos in the meadow.
From the vigil on, it was one sided. It is also recorded.
Time proved any questioning of motives and credentials of those disruptors valid and prescient.
“Haven’t you followed any of the Terri threads these recent years? We were pestered, ridiculed, cursed, and laughed at by that band of bothers.”
I don’t forget stuff like that.
As author of this post:
Useless Eaters vs The Death Cult
various FR links & stories | 03-29-05 | the heavy equipment guy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1372897/posts
I certainly had my share of grief from Those Who Shall Remain Nameless, and a bunch of Clowns.
I don’t forget...
Me, too. I'd say intentional: Here is a band of bothers
Good point.
The WA public threads must be just for show ~
Salt River can post lies and propaganda unchallenged.
Thanks, hadn’t heard this. What WILL the progressive movement come to if our most progressive young chicks refuse to be sex objects for our most progressive young stud muffins? :-)
Oh pooh!
It's only a matter of time until she exerts the same sweet, calming influence there that she did here.
The outrageous lies you just said about my feelings on Ronald Reagan are disgusting. He's my hero too.
Please don't post to me again if you can't be civil.
That is extremely expressive :-) And true. I saw it every day too. Those I call visitors were the offenders against good manners, good language and forum rules. They never engaged in the give-and-take of grown-up discussion. Rather, they came to harass and mock. They jeered at Terri's injuries and rejoiced in her death, not, perhaps, out of personal animus to her, but as a victory over us backward religionists who believe in a right to life.
Not one of them ever answered my challenge to offer an innocent explanation of Terri's "collapse."
Those times are poignant and graphic reminders that the disruptors of the day were lusting for blood.
Is this what you call civility?
>> The piling on....calling the boss whenever things got nasty...to me that's what brownshirts are. SS stormtroopers...jackbooted thugs jumping in glee as more and more moderate conservatives were forced out of here. [#571]
...”band of bothers” made me laugh :-)
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