Sen. Grassley to Bloggers: Please Stop Making Me Do My Job
Sen. Grassley to Bloggers: Please Stop Making Me Do My Job
At today’s Roberts confirmation hearings, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) shared his fond regard for the brief 1962 Court hearings for Byron White, which “lasted all of 15 minutes and eight questions.”
Grassley told Roberts to expect a much more probing set of questions, since…
…you are the first nominee of the Internet age. With millions of eyes scrutinizing thousands of downloading pages of writing, not to mention the hundreds of website blogs characterizing the documents that have been produced in an accurate — or more likely inaccurate — way, and opining on every record that you have been involved with, and doing it by the minute. So to some extent, there is no turning back from what we have created here, and you just happen to be the latest victim of such scrutiny.
Bloggers, always characterizing documents and opining! Why won’t they just stop paying attention and let Senators hold the trite 15-minute hearings they really want?
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Stand down, citizens. You will be informed of your opnions at the proper time.
September 12th, 2005 at 7:22 pmThe bloggers,once were scoffed at, are proving themselves to be a formidable force that must be reckoned with, whether members of congress like it or not.
September 12th, 2005 at 7:31 pmThe media have been found to be stooges and shills for the powerful. The blogs are here to stay — deal with it.
That’s right Chuck. And it all started with that damned rock-n-roll.
September 12th, 2005 at 7:34 pmMarie,
I’ve known many journalists over the years, then tend to be nice ‘lazy’ people. There’s a reason bloggers are generally more effective – we tend to be more committed because it isn’t the same job we’ve had to slug at for years. Instead it’s a topic/subject or cause we believe in…
The right wing has always feared the power of open information and the internet – as we can now see it’s for good reason. This kind of open free speech help bring about a new country during the age of our founding fathers – hopefully in our case it will bring on a new administration and a more enlightened population.
September 12th, 2005 at 7:36 pmHey! We don’t get paid and we don’t get the cushy health care package and pension you do, you lazy, pompous POS!
September 12th, 2005 at 7:41 pmTHERE’S NO LINK TO THE SOURCE! YOU ARE MAKING IT UP AND MISPRESENTING THE LIES I TOLD!
September 12th, 2005 at 7:43 pmRyan, you always express my own views so much better than I do! Thanks.
September 12th, 2005 at 7:55 pmI can tell you the real problem with the MSM. Ryan hit it right on the head. I work with the media everyday in my job. If it wasn’t for press releases, they wouldn’t do anything. Most writers just change around the words of a press release and then publish it.
I find it quite amazing how much of their jobs I do for them.
And no, I can’t help our cause, I work with the technology press, you know guys who “enjoy” their line of work. Yeah right. I would put the number at 50% of technology writers hate technology.
How many political writers hate politics?
September 12th, 2005 at 8:03 pmThe internet is among our last hopes as a democracy, if only everyone had access to it and used it effectively to search for the truth…..this kind of freedom cannot and I would bet will not be tolerated by the rabid right for too long. Expect the attack dogs to start loudly calling for limits to internet access and content. Expect the jerryrigged Supreme Court to “make it happen” for the GOP.
September 12th, 2005 at 8:09 pmWe on the right LOVE the exposition of your “ideas” and “humour”. Please keep “sharing” with us:
September 12th, 2005 at 8:19 pm1.) MORE Howard Dean !!!!!
2.) MORE Revs. Jesse and Al!!!!!!!
3.) MORE Ted “Lifeguard” Kennedy!!!
4.) MORE Barbra Streisand, Julia Roberts, Susan and Tim Sarandon-Robbins, Sean Penn, etc.
THESE are gifts that just keep on giving – to conservatives
Many thanks!!!
Aphrodite:
I’ve read enough of your posts … ask your doctor about lithium.
September 12th, 2005 at 8:29 pmaphrodite,
Keep on living in that Fox News induced bubble of ignorance. In the real world, GWB has got about 40% of the nation behind him. His mandate has left the building.
September 12th, 2005 at 8:34 pmMA is beginning to sound hysterical. When the word ‘REDRUM” appears, we will know MA has taken the last train. We should probably stand back and watch the slow-motion implosion.
September 12th, 2005 at 8:35 pmIn reading the posts above from Marie and Ryan,(ignoring aphrodite’s barf) I’m not sure I agree that the internet is as great as you make it out to be. Sure, there is lots of information out there and I can find out the answer to just about any question I’d ever have, but there is just as much mis-information out there. Anyone can start a blog and write any story they want. There’s no penalty if it’s made up, no code of ethics, nothing. Any schmuck with a computer can state anything he wants as fact and if one didn’t “use it effectively to search for the truth” one wouldn’t know any better. Call me a pessimist, but I don’t believe that the average computer user will take the time to do an effective search. I mean, look how many people voted for Bush. And look how many voted to re-elect! To me, that means there are far too many people who are gravely mis-informed, or just plain stupid. Either way, those folks armed with a computer is scary. For this reason, I think the internet has the ability to do as much harm as good. Also for this reason, I don’t think the politicians see the internet as a threat. It’s probably the best tool they could have ever imagined. They could easily use it to annonomously leak imaginary headlines to their advantage. Sooner or later, the sheep will get fed up with the vast amount of BS available and give up on this medium like they are giving up on TV and print. Anyway, that’s my $.02.
September 12th, 2005 at 8:39 pmROFLMAO!!! This is a parody, correct? Please tell me it is so!
September 12th, 2005 at 8:55 pmJay, haven’t you been paying attention to the debate over whether bloggers should be held to strict campaign fundraising rules? The Republicans all believe they should stay free, and the Democrats want to put bloggers under the government’s thumb.
Maybe it wont be right-wingers who end up censoring the Internet after all.
September 12th, 2005 at 9:22 pmOne other thing — I went and looked up the details of the Byron White hearings. Turns out they didn’t even HAVE hearings before the 1920s. Now we have people like Nico stressing about these hearings that will dominate the news for an entire week! Silly, silly – no historical perspective.
September 12th, 2005 at 9:24 pmThe internet, at the very least, will have our leaders thinking before speaking.
Grassley is anti-filibuster for appointments. He is an enemy of democracy.
See Chuck? Should have kept yer yapper shut and yer Depends dry.
September 12th, 2005 at 9:28 pm#14 Mikey, You make excellent points, and you are right to note them. But for all the misinformation out there, there is so much that is researched, and exposed that the MSM doesn’t take the time to discover. Rumors and “plants” from the administration are long-standing tools of the trade. Inaccurate information on the blogs has potential for harm, but the accurate ones have actually forced the MSM to do some real journalism. The bloggers and the posters are passionate, and information is a mighty tool; it just might be the one to bring our country back.
September 12th, 2005 at 9:49 pmYou know who has impressed me recently? Oprah Winfrey. Her 2 day coverage of Katrina and the levee breech opened the eyes of folks that usually don’t take the time to investigate Bushie and his crimes.
Examples, I know 3 moms who cant stand Bushie but have no idea how much destruction he has done to America. They are very busy women and do not have time for blogs or the internet.
They do make time to watch or tape Oprah and when they saw the reality of Bushie’s negligence they were truly outraged for the first time.
These ladies want to know more and now understand that they must make time to join the impeachment movement.
Thanks Oprah.
September 12th, 2005 at 10:00 pmHow dare ordinary citizens do the representative’s job! Off with their heads!
Grassley is afraid of the future, where the Senate will be replaced by wethepeople.blogspot.com.
September 12th, 2005 at 10:16 pmThat crazy democracy stuff. No wonder the President himself says that “It’d be easier if it was a dictatorship!” Conservatives hate the ehavy lifting of democracy. They just want to control the power over its production.
September 13th, 2005 at 12:00 amWell, yes. Fifteen minutes is really too long, maybe a “Hi, I endorse you.”
Otherwise maybe some should remnd them of how they endorsed Brown, and cost American lives.
September 13th, 2005 at 12:15 amThe internet is one way of taking some control back from an administration that doesn’t want the average joe to have any control. I like being a pain in the a*ss, a thorn in the side, to people who deserve it.
September 13th, 2005 at 12:20 amIt’s the reverse of “big brother is watching’. Well guess what, big brother, now ‘little sister’ is doing the same!
Marie, thanks for your thoughts in #19. I didn’t consider the effect of blogs on MSM. In thinking about it further (after dinner) it also occurred to me that many bloggers are not paid, which makes them independent, and obviously passionate about their message. And if it takes bread off the tables of the MSM people, you can be sure they will figure out that they need to do a better job. Thanks for your insight. By the way, go to google and type in failure. Check out the first result. Priceless.
September 13th, 2005 at 12:49 am[hanging head in shame...]
September 13th, 2005 at 1:20 amTwo years ago, Instapundit had an audience three times larger than Dailykos. Now, Dailykos is the equal of nearly the entire conservative blogosphere, and five other progressive blogs, Talking Points Memo, Eschaton, Crooks and Liars and AmericaBlog, all have audiences larger than Instapundit, which remains the largest conservative blog in terms of audience size.
Fox News? Dying. Conservative blogosphere? Anemic and wasting away.
Read all about it.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/9/9/2265/71257
September 13th, 2005 at 1:27 amMikey,
What you say is true, but most uninformed people I know are so because they only look at the mainstream press. Powerline, free republic and number of other sites including the nazi and white supremacy sites all demostrate that you can be a lying sack of crap and pretend to be a reputable blogger. But the great part of the internet is that historical documents, archives of news reports, government and research documents are all available. If you aren’t lazy, then you have to truly be crazy, or delusional to be like MrWrong or the other insane trolls. A rational person quickly discovers what’s on the other side of the looking glass called the MSM…
September 13th, 2005 at 1:29 am#25, I followed your suggestion. Google search – Failure. It IS priceless.
September 13th, 2005 at 9:34 amBloggers are feedback from the public, which gets in the way of the crooks in Washington. We have a voice so lets use it.
September 13th, 2005 at 9:43 amDeadcon 2005:
There is a reason for the lack of log ins to the conservative sits.
Look at the potential audience they have. They aare the folks from Ks, Ok, Mo, and the south. They are lucky if they know how to read, let alone log into a site with a computer.
September 13th, 2005 at 9:47 amMikey,
I think you can easily make the case that just as many people voted for Kerry in the last election that were not totally informed on what he stood for. The democratic party’s stronghold on unions is a good example where they are just “sheeple” as many like to term the followers of Bush. I think blogs are most like huge “op/ed” pieces in the newspaper. They do deliver some news from time to time, but you have to go searching for it just like you would if you were looking at the op/ed page and then it would just be opinioned anyway. Blogs do from time to time actually create news such as blowing Dan Rather’s bogus story on Bush out of the water, but outside of that, they are most for entertainment purposes only.
September 13th, 2005 at 9:47 amRandy-
September 13th, 2005 at 10:58 amNice try with the “Blowing Dan Rather….” The blogs can be credited with exposing the perpetual and systematic lies and misinformation of THIS administration. Blogs have stimulated the thought process of many people by forcing them to actual read, research and think; hopefully those individuals who voted for Bush/Cheney will begin to follow this example instead of following GOP talking points given to them by Rove or MSM.
#20 – Susan, I saw the two Oprah shows about Katrina, and I, too, was impressed. She doesn’t usually get into the political area, and this is about as close as I’ve seen her get to it. Love Oprah or not, she has a huge following, and people will be inspired to look further and to be better informed. To quote Oprah, “This is America, and these are Americans.” ‘nuf said.
September 13th, 2005 at 11:43 amOMFG
I just got a CNN Breaking News e-mail with this body:
“President Bush says he takes responsibility for the federal government’s failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina.”
September 13th, 2005 at 12:24 pmHere is the link to Bush admitting failure:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/13/katrina.washington/index.html
September 13th, 2005 at 12:43 pmThere’s a reason bloggers are generally more effective – we tend to be more committed…
comment by Ryan, Princess of Darkness
What’s this “we” shit Ryan? Got a mouse in your pocket? Where’s your blog? Are you calling this fully funded Left Wing Bulletin Board a blog? It’s not. Are you saying that it belongs to you? It does not. Feel free to slip into vapors and throw a missy fit if I’m wrong but of course I’m not.
September 13th, 2005 at 2:55 pmOMFG
I just got a CNN Breaking News e-mail with this body:
“President Bush says he takes responsibility for the federal government’s failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina.â€
Comment by Skid-Mark
Oh wow man, far out. You mean he didn’t say “it depends on what the definition of is, is? Ok, here’s the real scoop. I think my superior, Evil Dick won’t make me kill you if I tell you. If George said that it means that he has absolute, unassailable, undeniable proof that the Democrats intentionally tried to murder 100,000 of their poorest, blackest constituents by denying them food, water and shelter during the biggest natural disaster this country has ever seen. Look for that to be in his address to the nation.
I hope he thanks all of Christian Right Wing Extremist Negro Haters here in Texas for taking them into our homes (not me of course, you’d have to be out of your fucking mind to let a NO Black into your house), feeding them at our expense and providing ample free everything. I doubt very seriously that the White homeless people in Mississippi and Alabama have it so good.
September 13th, 2005 at 3:13 pmHow would you like to have this shit going on in YOUR backyard every day?
http://www.khou.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.khou.com/catfight_091305.wmv
Here’s the story of Black VS Black
http://www.khou.com/news/local/crime/stories/khou050913_mh_jonesfight.5342d5ac.html
How many of these fine folks have you taken into YOUR city? I’ll start…In Houston we got 130,000….next..
September 13th, 2005 at 3:42 pmIn case you are wondering it’s true; yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
September 13th, 2005 at 8:19 pmRandy, I am breaking the rule of NO TROLLS but I have to remind you that Dan Rather’s sources were not validated, but the story WAS TRUE. The truth was lost (to your advantage) because of the poor journalism, but the facts did not change. Bush WAS AWOL and that can never be disproven – it is only forgotten. For now.
September 13th, 2005 at 8:20 pmBush WAS AWOL and that can never be disproven – it is only forgotten. For now.
Comment by Marie —
The dreaded NO TROLL RULE? You broke it by admitting Rather is a fool and doesn’t know the difference between a Selectric and Word? This is fucking amazing. You had a thought of your own and had to apologize before you expressed it. Dumbass, this is why they used to shoot people in the Soviet Union. You are not fucking allowed to have a thought other than the ones they give you, or you die. You can thank George Bush you’re not dead already.
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