LA TIMES: No Disputing It: Blogs Are Major Players (FreeRepublic.Com & Buckhead Mentioned!)

The LA Times ^ | Sept. 12, 2004 | Peter Wallsten

[Drango]

does anybody wear pajamas?

I'm forming the virtual chapter of "Buff FReepers". Want in?

[mylife]

"Bastion of Right Wing Lunacy?"

L0L nice try Smearboy!

[kanawa]

I wonder how many other news items have been first reported on Free Republic.

Here's one...President Bush is eating in my undisclosed location

[prairiebreeze]

Karl, is that YOU?!

LOLOLOL! I'm lovin' this! Kudo's again Buckhead, Tanker KC and all involved.

Prairie

[longtermmemmory]

Yes they do list false FR accounts that can be used to get onto FR without having an account!

[Alia]

Addendum: Therefore, I VERY MUCH APPRECIATE FREEREPUBLIC!!! It's more than simply appreciate.. I'm grateful. There are posters from all over the world who post and get "posted" in FR. I no longer have to seek out "foreign sources" JUST in order to get a more comprehensive picture on the US; but I can now get it - focused. In past I had to weed out foreign commentary -- as their articles were written with focus upon their own countries (to their own country's benefit), with news on US being primarily, peripheral. Now I can get the news from within my own country, about my own country -- and with so many views, I get to become... news-educated. And by my own fellow countrymen.

[bvw]

Clearly Jim Jordan hates pajamas.

[bear11]

During this election, the divide between those who seek the truth and those who seek to deceive is strikingly clear.

I am proud to be on the side of the "good guys"!

[InterceptPoint]

Yes they do list false FR accounts that can be used to get onto FR without having an account!

I'm sorry to hear this but Jim should be able to lock them out if there are not too many of them and no dedicated effort to generate new ones. Unfortunately if there are enough DU'ers willing to share their login and password there is not much you can do about it.

[B Knotts]

It seems to me the amateurs are at 51 West 52nd Street in New York City.

After all, they're the ones who couldn't spot an obvious forgery, even when people warned them ahead of time.

[Ditter]

>>>"They don't understand we are sick of them">>>>>>
I passed the word to my local rag Houston Comical that if stopped publishing the "Deaths" page that I would drop my subscription. Except for wanting to know who has died in my city they print *nothing of interest* to me.

I actually heard the woman at the newspaper groan when I said that. It made my day! ha!

[Tamzee]

And another thing the article fails to understand is that the anonymity of the posters makes for BETTER info...

Nobody can sit on their laurels or resume at Free Republic, you sink or swim based solely on the quality and documentation of the facts you add to the discussion.

And BTW, you're a particularly excellent swimmer ;-)

[Mo1]

Nice monitor .. LOL!

[veronica]

"It was amazing Thursday to watch the documents story go from FreeRepublic.com, a bastion of right-wing lunacy, to Drudge to the mainstream media in less than 12 hours," said Jim Jordan, a strategist for independent Democratic groups opposed to Bush. "That's not to say the documents didn't deserve examination. But apparently the entire thing was cooked up by a couple of amateurs on Free Republic. The speed with which it moved was breathtaking."

They still don't get it. The network that thought America wanted to see Ronald Reagan taken apart in a sleazy movie-of-the-week, and the like-minded, just don't get it. You'd have thought that debacle taught them a lesson. I guess when Dan Rather is forced to admit the forgery, they'll get it, maybe a little bit.

[Tamzee]

And that's the problem that the MSM is having coping with us here on FR and in the blogsphere in general - the MSM can't handle the truth if it goes against their agenda.

Good point. If the MSM was interested in actually reporting just-the-truth, they'd consider the Internet and blogging a tremendous boon. The fact that we get in their way is telling.

[searchandrecovery]

How do THEY know who is an amateur and who is professional here?

Yea - what you said.

I think there's gonna be some great post-Rathergate fallout - good exposure for fr and the conservative blogs, and damage to Old Media credibility (we've always known cbs et al were arms of the dnc, but having actual proof is sweet).

[browardchad]

Nobody can sit on their laurels or resume at Free Republic, you sink or swim based solely on the quality and documentation of the facts you add to the discussion.

Hearsay and anonymous sources don't hold any water here or on any of the reputable blogs -- as opposed to the MSM.

They have strayed so far from the path of legitimate journalism that they cannot even admit that it is facts that make the case, not anonymous unsourced propaganda.

[badgerlandjim]

Buckhead - help is on the way!

[NonValueAdded]

Welcome to the FReeper Hall of Fame. I admire your humility and esprit de corps (mon dieu, he spoke French!) in this, your 15 minutes of fame! FReepers doing what FReepers do ... a loose collection of like-minded patriots, applying their experience and expertise in an instant analysis of the news of the day. You make us all so damn proud!

[hoosiermama]

ROFLOL