Jerome Armstrong Is Out
By Erick Posted in Miscellanea — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Let me echo Kos on this, though my words and not his: it's rather sad that Jerome Armstrong feels the need to stop blogging because of all the conspiracy theories, etc. out there. This, as Kos rightly says, sets bad precedent. That anyone can come up with an insane theory and hound someone like Jerome or others over it because of who he consults for is pitiful.
The views I express are my own. They do not reflect on my employer. They do not reflect on my legal clients. They most certainly do not reflect on my political clients. While my political clients tend to share my views as I tend to align myself with similar people, they do not necessarily share my views on all issues and sometimes flat out disagree with me. I am positive, without even knowing him or talking to him, that Jerome is in the same boat.
We obviously disagree on most every political topic. And let us add one non-political topic -- I disagree with Jerome that he should stop blogging. Again, as Kos says, who better to blog about campaigns and politics than someone who actually works in campaigns and politics.
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Jerome Armstrong Is Out 8 Comments (0 topical, 8 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I have no idea whether it entered into Mr. Armstrong's thinking -- I had never heard of the fellow before -- but it occurs to me that 2006 will see campaigns, or more likely the political parties, attack the blogs that support their opponents.
When I say attack, I don't mean just criticize, abuse or pillory, I mean take legal action against. It could be an FEC complaint, a harassment lawsuit, anything ....Go after your opponent by trying to destroy his friends.
If the Daschle camp had heard of the consulting fees going to the authors of daschlevthune or southdakotapolitics before election day, you can bet the assaults against those guys would have been brutal. An FEC complaint would have been the least of it.
Political bloggers better be ready with fortitude and a fortune....Me, I have neither.
if an important candidate hired me to work on his campaign, I'd be inclined to quit blogging just to make sure I never posted anything that shouldn't be posted. We've seen how much hay can be made of a single slip of the tongue/mouse.
Armstrong should feel free to keep blogging as a matter of principle, but as a practical matter, I don't blame him for quitting.
Yesterday, Jerome was involved in a kerfuffle online regarding the Ohio Senate race, in which he is backing one of the Democratic contenders. That led to arguments about disclosure obligations, and, now, this.
Is that the Daschle people did know -- it was in Thune's 6/30/04 FEC filing -- but they couldn't get the MSM to bite on the story. Anyway, what complaint could they have had with the FEC?
....is tired of half-baked theories?
Oh, ye gods.
have you ever read theHIV does not cause AIDS guys over at Dean Esmay's blog?
http://www.deanesmay.com/files/ThinkingTheUnthinkable.pdf
Yeeesh!
Don't drown in your tears for Jerome or anyone else who decides to lay down their pens and go back to work actually making money or doing something they think is more productive for their cause, because I've been thinking for a long time about doing it myself. The blogosphere is a great circuit party but it can also be a tremendous waste of time, and a fairly good sized liability for someone who is really concentrating on strategy, and I think he realizes that. It's also incredibly interesting that this came on the same day that our own Tim Saler (who practically anyone could guess wasn't truly a Republican from readings his posts, but I'll give him credit for trying) decided to do the same.
He's just making up excuses for leaving the blogosphere, because he has bigger fish to fry. I think something more closely approximating the truth is that the Democrats are calling in their political operatives and gearing up for a full assault in 2006. The fact that it comes the day before Fitzgerald announces his findings, for both of these people, is highly significant for me. Dollars to donuts he got an email from someone saying: quit blogging, we need you to work inside the Company for a while and stop yammering. Strategy isn't strategy when the other side knows exactly what you're going to do, and that's the blogosphere in a nutshell. As far as Jerome himself is concerned, good riddance.