The Blogger as Celebrity
We open this reading with a text from CPAC darling Michelle Malkin:
Which is, in the History of Specious Sophistry, perhaps a first. We pause a moment to appreciate how cunningly this masterpiece of mendacity was constructed:
Malkin states that WE [CPAC persons] would be hypocrites if event A [one of their speakers was once a gay porn star] and should be embarrassed. (WE, in this case, however, does not include "ME" Ms. Malkin makes implicit.)
YOU [not ME, but the GOOD you, who read ME] should NOT, however be embarrassed.
OK. I'll bite. Why, Michelle?
Because THEY were mean, and THEY [the "liberals"] are in favor of niceness. Therefore, THEY are hypocrites because they're not being nice, and WE are nice* and shouldn't feel embarrassed.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
And we should forgive the speaker, Sanchez, for having been a ex-gay porn star. Why? Because we are all fallible. [*Proving our NICEness -- even though, by implication we're AGAINST niceness, because we oppose EVERYTHING that the Liberals believe in.]
THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is an elegance of weaseltry not often seen this side of a sanitarium.
One can only gape in rapt awe. In a culture of mendacity, in an age of mendacity, such a masterwork is tossed off as casually by Ms. Malkin as malapropisms are excreted by Bush.
We leave aside the Bizarro World of dragging up of tokens* a la the 2000 Republican Convention -- in this case, Sanchez, whose Corporeality within the Marine Corps is considered valuable, but whose identity as an ex-gay-porn-star named "Rod Majors" is neatly and schizophrenically consigned to rhetorical non-existence because it's inconvenient to our ends.
[*Again: we're against "quotas" but we play the "look at the minority what we gots here!" game as a matter of realpolitik. It's Looking Glass Logic, and thinking too long on it will make your brain hurt. Trust me.]
In other words: the Liberal hypocrisy of pointing out the Conservative hypocrisy about Rod Majors is hypocritical because Liberals believe in niceness, and therefore, we Conservativesare no longer hypocrites. (Malkin painstakingly details a "Linda Syndrome" moment from Mr. Sanchez/Majors, in her complete blog posting).
The fallability/forgiveness part would be more effective, however, if the mendacious Ms. Malkin would admit the former and not so selectively and selfishly apply the latter: forgiveness when it's convenient for Ms. Malkin (whom, one suspects, has been writing in the author-omniscient voice for so long that it is corrupting her into a grotesque overestimation of her importance in the Grand Scheme of Things. I merely point this out as a friendly warning that the Deity she implicitly importunes vis a vis fallibility and forgiveness might take her presumption with less glee than, say, your humble correspondent).
On a lighter note, the putatively 'reverend' Jerry Falwell has publicly forgiven Newt Gingrich for banging his office manager (probably on his Speaker's office desk) while impeaching Bill Clinton for a blowjob from an intern -- who wouldn't have even BEEN in the White House, had Newt not shut down the government, necessitating the operation of the White House by volunteers, e.g. interns. (BECAUSE it was illegal for the paid White House staff to work at the White House during the government shutdown!)
It's all in World Net Daily, the Right Wing's version of the Weekly World News (The black and white tabloid with alien photos on the cover).
Jerry Falwell and James Dobson (his doctorate is in child development, not theology -- his entrée to "godliness" came via his radio show and media empire) have exonerated Newt Gingrich as neatly as Michelle Malkin exonerated Sanchez.
I am utterly certain that will cut a lot of cheese with the Almighty Most High. James Dobson and Jerry Falwell have forgiven Newt. All's well with the world.
Media rules Reality, and Michelle Malkin, for better or worse, is out on the edge of the new Media -- which is what's causing the conniptions with the Old Media. (Probably why they're sitting on their thumbs, and letting all the good stories get away from them, while they pursue the corpse of Anna Nicole Smith, who was, for a time, outrunning them.)
CPAC seems to have been a strange snapshot of the Conservative movement and the Republican Party at this point in time -- right now most everyone can't quite figure out where the one ends and the other begins. (I predict that will change in the coming years.)
And, we live in an age where one can "virtually" attend such an event. Blogger Joe Magyer writes:
The bloggers at CPAC were treated as celebrities, as the jealous press looked on, that's the unwritten subtext. Understandable, even if a little loony: celebrity is not a meritocracy. It just is. Otherwise, how do you explain Ron Jeremy?
Speaking of hirsute celebrities you've probably never heard of, here's a shot down bloggers' row.
(In the foreground, there's Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall.com, whose sunglasses evidently remained perched above her forehead for the three straight days of CPAC -- at least in every photo by every blogger at every event for every day of CPAC, which might indicate that they're actually some form of prosthesis)
Take a look at the Flick'r photo stream from the CRC Public Relations person, who accredited the bloggers' row.
It is very interesting to see the "cream" of the right wing blog community -- how OLD they look, and how utterly unhip.
It's a cultural disconnect that, translated into '60s terms would be a bunch of crew cuts with nicely pressed straight-leg trousers and white short-sleeve shirts, like, say an aerospace engineer, circa 1969, with electric guitars -- say, Gibson Firebirds, Guild Starfires, and, say, psychedelic Stratocasters. OK, but "Barbie's Dream House" it ain't: The hardware doesn't mesh with the user base.
There's the "Captain" from "Captain's Quarters."
And here is the CPAC "Blogger of the Year" N.Z. -- from Orange County, California, naturally.
And here's the Sunglasses lady's column in pictures: from which the "Captain" photo is herein linked. Linked back to. Screw it. Onward.
As far as the blog photos go, one begins to believe that the whole reason for CPAC is getting your photo taken with Michelle Malkin.
There are still photos from the 2006 CPAC that might as well have been taken in 2005 or even 2004. Future generations will be able to watch the yearly aging of Michelle Malkin from CPAC to CPAC, like the time-lapse film of a mushroom opening.
'Virtually' everyone who attended was either having their picture taken WITH her or were taking a picture OF her -- the most popular shot posted being that of her video interview with Newt Gingrinch (sic). She seems to be starting some kind of podcast TV network called "Hot Air" -- a title brayed, evidently, without any sense of irony.
Seems like an extension of the "Fauz Nooz" concept into the you-tub-o-sphere. Again, probably their big rollout. Some of you might recall that NEWSMAX was rolled out during the contested election of 2000 in Florida, as NEWSMAX people paraded behind the cable TV cameras anytime that they were pointed at a crowd protesting or gathered or having anything to do with what ultimately became the Supreme Court's most disgraceful moment: Bush v. Gore.
(Oh, and Roger Taney, be happy to know that "Wild Bill" Rehnquist has now assumed your mantle as the most horrific Chief Justice in the sometimes disgraceful behavior of the United States Supreme Court.)
The bloggers were "stars," at the convention/conference -- to the extent that Washington, D.C. is Hollywood for ugly people, the bloggers represented hipness for the unhip.
HERE is the "Conservative" idea of what a blogger looks like:
[Bluey is "director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation. He maintains a blog at RobertBluey.com"
He's also the former editor of the daily online edition of Human Events -- owned by Tom Phillips, see "Objective Journalism" for more on the Phillips publishing empire]
Or, just to wire it all together, Regnery/Eagle publishing to Heritage Foundation:
And here Bluey is, in a less artificial pose.
But these were the "celebrities" of CPAC 07, which, perhaps, explains the weird love/hate that the 'MSM' ("Main Stream Media") has for the bloggers and the blogosphere.
Oddly, neither the bloggers nor the "media" (mostly partisan press a la Faux Nooz) mentioned the presence of "Jeff Gannon" who was not on bloggers' row, but was caught by the Libertarian Party blogger Joe Magyer here.
See the blog Magyer did for the Libertarian Party for a superb "fly-on-the-wall" view of the foofawraw. And see the related blog by REASON Magazine associate editor David Wiegel. It's well worth the read.
But I don't think they'll get a lot of subscriptions from the Mitt Romney followers.
Luckily for the rest of us, the Libertarian Party sent that blogger, Joe Magyer, who, after being hassled by CPAC security, was seated on bloggers' row (below the salt, one would presume).
Above the Salt "celebrities" of the Conservative Blogosphere included: Mary Katherine Ham of Townhall.com, who posted this photo of Mitt Romney's troops, bused in for the occasion.
And Ed Morrissey of "The Captain's Quarters," one of the first of the hyper-rococco rightie blogs (in ornamentation, not content, necessarily), who noted Mitt's troops' lack of firepower.
And a blogatrix named Fausta Wertz. And the bloggers from RedState.com, the famed rightie blog that basically looks EXACTLY like a red version of DailyKos ... except, of course, that RedState.com proclaims that it's proudly owned by Eagle Publishing, which is, again, an imprint of Tom Phillips' publishing empire -- which includes Human Events Magazine, Regnery Press (Malkin's publisher), American Spectator Magazine, Eagle Publishing, and others.
I'm not certain that I've yet named a blogger who isn't connected in some way through the Tom Phillips publishing operation. I guess he's kind of the Larry Flynt of right wing literature.
To give you a sense of how incestuous this all is, consider this post by RedState's Leon H Wolf:
"Behold, I Shall Weigh in on CPAC"
And then consider that the post immediately prior is by Bluey (Human Events Magazine)
And the post immediately following is "Thanks Captain Ed" by the single-named RedState correspondent "Erick."
And here's a roundup from RedState's Moe Lane.
But, finally, our tween-teen blogger probably sums up best WHY the bloggers' posteriors are being so fervently osculated by the politicos present:
(part iii tomorrow).
Courage.
NOTE: And here are some more photos from CPAC, at random:
...I said the other day I thought CPAC organizers would be justified in being embarrassed if the rumors about Sanchez's porn star past 15 years ago turned out to be true. Well, the rumors are true. But it is neither CPAC nor Cpl. Sanchez who should feel embarrassed.
It's the nasty, gloating liberals who claim to stand for tolerance, privacy, human rights, and compassion. I predicted the other day that left-wing bigotry would rear its ugly head. I was right. The e-mail I've received is more disgusting than anything Ann Coulter stupidly said at CPAC. And I can imagine the vitriol Cpl. Sanchez is enduring.
We are all fallible people....
Which is, in the History of Specious Sophistry, perhaps a first. We pause a moment to appreciate how cunningly this masterpiece of mendacity was constructed:
Malkin states that WE [CPAC persons] would be hypocrites if event A [one of their speakers was once a gay porn star] and should be embarrassed. (WE, in this case, however, does not include "ME" Ms. Malkin makes implicit.)
YOU [not ME, but the GOOD you, who read ME] should NOT, however be embarrassed.
OK. I'll bite. Why, Michelle?
Because THEY were mean, and THEY [the "liberals"] are in favor of niceness. Therefore, THEY are hypocrites because they're not being nice, and WE are nice* and shouldn't feel embarrassed.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
And we should forgive the speaker, Sanchez, for having been a ex-gay porn star. Why? Because we are all fallible. [*Proving our NICEness -- even though, by implication we're AGAINST niceness, because we oppose EVERYTHING that the Liberals believe in.]
THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is an elegance of weaseltry not often seen this side of a sanitarium.
One can only gape in rapt awe. In a culture of mendacity, in an age of mendacity, such a masterwork is tossed off as casually by Ms. Malkin as malapropisms are excreted by Bush.
We leave aside the Bizarro World of dragging up of tokens* a la the 2000 Republican Convention -- in this case, Sanchez, whose Corporeality within the Marine Corps is considered valuable, but whose identity as an ex-gay-porn-star named "Rod Majors" is neatly and schizophrenically consigned to rhetorical non-existence because it's inconvenient to our ends.
[*Again: we're against "quotas" but we play the "look at the minority what we gots here!" game as a matter of realpolitik. It's Looking Glass Logic, and thinking too long on it will make your brain hurt. Trust me.]
In other words: the Liberal hypocrisy of pointing out the Conservative hypocrisy about Rod Majors is hypocritical because Liberals believe in niceness, and therefore, we Conservativesare no longer hypocrites. (Malkin painstakingly details a "Linda Syndrome" moment from Mr. Sanchez/Majors, in her complete blog posting).
The fallability/forgiveness part would be more effective, however, if the mendacious Ms. Malkin would admit the former and not so selectively and selfishly apply the latter: forgiveness when it's convenient for Ms. Malkin (whom, one suspects, has been writing in the author-omniscient voice for so long that it is corrupting her into a grotesque overestimation of her importance in the Grand Scheme of Things. I merely point this out as a friendly warning that the Deity she implicitly importunes vis a vis fallibility and forgiveness might take her presumption with less glee than, say, your humble correspondent).
On a lighter note, the putatively 'reverend' Jerry Falwell has publicly forgiven Newt Gingrich for banging his office manager (probably on his Speaker's office desk) while impeaching Bill Clinton for a blowjob from an intern -- who wouldn't have even BEEN in the White House, had Newt not shut down the government, necessitating the operation of the White House by volunteers, e.g. interns. (BECAUSE it was illegal for the paid White House staff to work at the White House during the government shutdown!)
It's all in World Net Daily, the Right Wing's version of the Weekly World News (The black and white tabloid with alien photos on the cover).
... I was pleased to hear Mr. Gingrich state: "I've gotten on my knees and sought God's forgiveness."
He has admitted his moral shortcomings to me, as well, in private conversations. And he has also told me that he has, in recent years, come to grips with his personal failures and sought God's forgiveness.
I have been very impressed with the spiritual maturity of this man and am convinced that he has been honest and forthright in clarifying his past failings and his quest, as a Christian, for God's forgiveness.
Mr. Gingrich, now 63 and a grandfather, openly discussed his two divorces with Dr. Dobson, including the affair that took place during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. It is a "very painful topic and I confess that to you directly," he stated....
Jerry Falwell and James Dobson (his doctorate is in child development, not theology -- his entrée to "godliness" came via his radio show and media empire) have exonerated Newt Gingrich as neatly as Michelle Malkin exonerated Sanchez.
I am utterly certain that will cut a lot of cheese with the Almighty Most High. James Dobson and Jerry Falwell have forgiven Newt. All's well with the world.
Media rules Reality, and Michelle Malkin, for better or worse, is out on the edge of the new Media -- which is what's causing the conniptions with the Old Media. (Probably why they're sitting on their thumbs, and letting all the good stories get away from them, while they pursue the corpse of Anna Nicole Smith, who was, for a time, outrunning them.)
CPAC seems to have been a strange snapshot of the Conservative movement and the Republican Party at this point in time -- right now most everyone can't quite figure out where the one ends and the other begins. (I predict that will change in the coming years.)
And, we live in an age where one can "virtually" attend such an event. Blogger Joe Magyer writes:
I found Bloggers' Corner, the home of us blogging folk, and pulled up a seat. I've quickly discovered something great about being a credentialed blogger at such an event: everyone wants to meet you. I mean everyone. It is crazy. One lovely lady just introduced herself to me as a rep for Jim Gilmore. Shame such a pretty face is wasted representing a Republican candidate. Another girl, who is a Congressman's new asst. press secretary, just introduced herself, gave me her card, and was very pushy about my following up with her. The P.R. people running Bloggers' Corner just brought me coffee. I've never had anyone bring me coffee before. Amazing. I feel important. If financial journalism doesn't pan out, being a professional conservative blogger sure sounds like a great fall back plan.
The guys in Bloggers' Corner are a motley crew. Most of them are middle aged with a spare tire or two. The rest are mainly youngling such as myself in their mid-20's. This group of bloggers represents most of the best known conservative blogs out there. You may be interested to know that, as if the 25 bloggers here were not providing enough self aggrandizing coverage, there is in fact a blog about the bloggers at CPAC. Believe me, you will never find a group of people more interested in self-branding then we bloggers....
The bloggers at CPAC were treated as celebrities, as the jealous press looked on, that's the unwritten subtext. Understandable, even if a little loony: celebrity is not a meritocracy. It just is. Otherwise, how do you explain Ron Jeremy?
Speaking of hirsute celebrities you've probably never heard of, here's a shot down bloggers' row.
(In the foreground, there's Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall.com, whose sunglasses evidently remained perched above her forehead for the three straight days of CPAC -- at least in every photo by every blogger at every event for every day of CPAC, which might indicate that they're actually some form of prosthesis)
Take a look at the Flick'r photo stream from the CRC Public Relations person, who accredited the bloggers' row.
It is very interesting to see the "cream" of the right wing blog community -- how OLD they look, and how utterly unhip.
It's a cultural disconnect that, translated into '60s terms would be a bunch of crew cuts with nicely pressed straight-leg trousers and white short-sleeve shirts, like, say an aerospace engineer, circa 1969, with electric guitars -- say, Gibson Firebirds, Guild Starfires, and, say, psychedelic Stratocasters. OK, but "Barbie's Dream House" it ain't: The hardware doesn't mesh with the user base.
There's the "Captain" from "Captain's Quarters."
And here is the CPAC "Blogger of the Year" N.Z. -- from Orange County, California, naturally.
And here's the Sunglasses lady's column in pictures: from which the "Captain" photo is herein linked. Linked back to. Screw it. Onward.
As far as the blog photos go, one begins to believe that the whole reason for CPAC is getting your photo taken with Michelle Malkin.
There are still photos from the 2006 CPAC that might as well have been taken in 2005 or even 2004. Future generations will be able to watch the yearly aging of Michelle Malkin from CPAC to CPAC, like the time-lapse film of a mushroom opening.
'Virtually' everyone who attended was either having their picture taken WITH her or were taking a picture OF her -- the most popular shot posted being that of her video interview with Newt Gingrinch (sic). She seems to be starting some kind of podcast TV network called "Hot Air" -- a title brayed, evidently, without any sense of irony.
Seems like an extension of the "Fauz Nooz" concept into the you-tub-o-sphere. Again, probably their big rollout. Some of you might recall that NEWSMAX was rolled out during the contested election of 2000 in Florida, as NEWSMAX people paraded behind the cable TV cameras anytime that they were pointed at a crowd protesting or gathered or having anything to do with what ultimately became the Supreme Court's most disgraceful moment: Bush v. Gore.
(Oh, and Roger Taney, be happy to know that "Wild Bill" Rehnquist has now assumed your mantle as the most horrific Chief Justice in the sometimes disgraceful behavior of the United States Supreme Court.)
The bloggers were "stars," at the convention/conference -- to the extent that Washington, D.C. is Hollywood for ugly people, the bloggers represented hipness for the unhip.
HERE is the "Conservative" idea of what a blogger looks like:
[Bluey is "director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation. He maintains a blog at RobertBluey.com"
He's also the former editor of the daily online edition of Human Events -- owned by Tom Phillips, see "Objective Journalism" for more on the Phillips publishing empire]
Or, just to wire it all together, Regnery/Eagle publishing to Heritage Foundation:
Mr. Bluey, a contributing editor to Human Events, is director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation. He is the former editor of HumanEvents.com and managing editor of Human Events. In addition to maintaining his own blog at RobertBluey.com, he also writes for RedState.
And here Bluey is, in a less artificial pose.
But these were the "celebrities" of CPAC 07, which, perhaps, explains the weird love/hate that the 'MSM' ("Main Stream Media") has for the bloggers and the blogosphere.
Oddly, neither the bloggers nor the "media" (mostly partisan press a la Faux Nooz) mentioned the presence of "Jeff Gannon" who was not on bloggers' row, but was caught by the Libertarian Party blogger Joe Magyer here.
See the blog Magyer did for the Libertarian Party for a superb "fly-on-the-wall" view of the foofawraw. And see the related blog by REASON Magazine associate editor David Wiegel. It's well worth the read.
But I don't think they'll get a lot of subscriptions from the Mitt Romney followers.
Luckily for the rest of us, the Libertarian Party sent that blogger, Joe Magyer, who, after being hassled by CPAC security, was seated on bloggers' row (below the salt, one would presume).
Above the Salt "celebrities" of the Conservative Blogosphere included: Mary Katherine Ham of Townhall.com, who posted this photo of Mitt Romney's troops, bused in for the occasion.
And Ed Morrissey of "The Captain's Quarters," one of the first of the hyper-rococco rightie blogs (in ornamentation, not content, necessarily), who noted Mitt's troops' lack of firepower.
And a blogatrix named Fausta Wertz. And the bloggers from RedState.com, the famed rightie blog that basically looks EXACTLY like a red version of DailyKos ... except, of course, that RedState.com proclaims that it's proudly owned by Eagle Publishing, which is, again, an imprint of Tom Phillips' publishing empire -- which includes Human Events Magazine, Regnery Press (Malkin's publisher), American Spectator Magazine, Eagle Publishing, and others.
I'm not certain that I've yet named a blogger who isn't connected in some way through the Tom Phillips publishing operation. I guess he's kind of the Larry Flynt of right wing literature.
To give you a sense of how incestuous this all is, consider this post by RedState's Leon H Wolf:
"Behold, I Shall Weigh in on CPAC"
And then consider that the post immediately prior is by Bluey (Human Events Magazine)
And the post immediately following is "Thanks Captain Ed" by the single-named RedState correspondent "Erick."
And here's a roundup from RedState's Moe Lane.
But, finally, our tween-teen blogger probably sums up best WHY the bloggers' posteriors are being so fervently osculated by the politicos present:
I finally asked the surprised Romney:
Mr. Romney, What should younger bloggers like me be posting on?
Quote: "Get the truth. The mainstream media is biased, so the younger bloggers are depended on to get the whole story out."
My mom and dad were extremely pleased. They were able to whip out the camera and take a shot before Romney was sucked away.
(part iii tomorrow).
Courage.
NOTE: And here are some more photos from CPAC, at random:
- here's a 56 picture batch from Kristina Grabowsky
- Some more pictures HERE.
- Bolton, Ingraham and DeLay here. (And read the blog while you're at it).
- And another 49 views from Alarming News' Karol Sheinin
- the kid
- on bloggers row
- with Mitt Romney on blog row
- newt and the bloggers
- coulter and mitt
- And, here's what Scooter Libby can look forward to based on his felony convictions.
posted by ed waldo | 10:38 AM
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