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.
Girl...
...I unnerstand. ;o)
I think she was banned, but am not sure.
But, what is for sure is that very few people were banned by JR.
Most of them fell on their sword, with some of them begging for their account to be deleted.
I’m not MENSA candidate, and I was out of town until the thread was in it’s midst,
but I saw so many people begging for their accounts to be deleted, that I came to the conslusion that it was a publicity ploy for TOS.
I found FR in 1998 because Drudge had it listed on his main page with the other hundred or so sites and columnists, even as Lucianne still is. I don’t recall the specifics, but my vague memory is that Drudge became unhappy with the anti-Clinton vitriol all over FR and delisted it. There was probably more to it than that, though.
There is a rumor that it was all coordinated, based on sign on dates on the Rooty-Tooty site.
But really, Howlin wasn’t banned unless she asked to be, because she was helping with the Fred Ping List, and she said she was leaving.
But, there are TWO over there who don't know that they've been outted. lol
"But really, Howlin wasn’t banned unless she asked to be, because she was helping with the Fred Ping List, and she said she was leaving."
I'm glad she went willingly.
And, I hope they are...ALL...happy there.
BTW, I saw a bit of coordination, myself.
BTW...I admire those who kept their FR names.
Shows class...
However, there is one who didn’t keep her name.
I totally understand why she didn’t.
If she is reading this, I want to tell her I miss her,
and will be forever grateful for our friendship.
I could see DU banning people in a heartbeat......but FR? Say it ain’t so Joe.
“But as someone who lived in NYC through Rudy’s tenure as mayor,....”
Then you know doubt would agree that ANYONE would have shown like a star after the Dinkins Administration. The GOP is looking really bad right now because of the illegal immigration divide. I agree with you Hal9000, Fred is looking good and warrents further watching. Election day is a long ways off still.
Couldn't handle the truth on Giuliani so they fell on their sword
But were they true Freepers moles from DU & CP giving us a hard time?
I think Fred could cut off the oxygen to some Democrats too.
I'm sure we're all grateful to Lucianne for her role in getting Clinton impeached. Without her, it might not have happened. But she was just one person in the improbable chain of events, and there were many others who were equally essential, going all the way back to Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick. Lucianne tended to overstate her own importance in the matter during her self-promotions.
The problem at Lucianne.com is that she really doesn't know how to run an interesting Internet forum. She though that everyone would migrate to her place. It didn't happen. She tried to impose ridiculous rules like not allowing members to respond directly to other members' comments - except on a single thread on Fridays - which made her look like a control freak. As a result, her forum is a dull place populated with boring people - which is okay, but it won't attract a lot of new readership.
People like Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, don't try to hide it. No one here pimps Hillary Clinton for president. She's irrelevent here (at least until she wins the nomination, if she does at all.)
I personally like the fact the Rudymites were shown the exit. That's just me however.
Sorry about that! Shouldn’t post when dead tired!
Pukin Dog comes and goes. He will be back sooner or later!
FINALLY...some truth from you.
“I rest my case.”
And rightfully so. The picture ALONE is worth a thousand words. Props to you for doing the right thing.
Kimberly
>>Maybe I’m missing something here, but why would one ping someone who has been banned from the website?
It seems it would serve little purpose, no?<<
I have read that... While there are occasions when the person’s contributions to the site are not wanted and the account is deleted, in many other cases the point is simply to stop further posting and in that case, I’ve read the person can still get their pings.
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