Cleveland Uber Alles

Untimely Dispatches from the Neighborhood of the Unrepresented & Inarticulate; Anecdotes that Pedal and Coast Through the Boot-Print of 20th Century American Urbanism

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

It's the Wonderful, Self-Correcting Blogosphere, By George See below for the earlier post which mentioned Democrat Congressman Sherrod Brown's guest-blogging at the TPM Cafe, and perhaps too casually linked to a post and comments at Brewed Fresh Daily . I want to note here that I no way meant to suggest that George from BFD had "defamed" Brown for not appearing at Meet The Bloggers (see George's link to the definition of vilify in this post); rather I was referring to language like this, from the comments section at Brewed Fresh Daily:

"If a candidate [i.e. Brown] can’t handle a few bloggers, hedozen'tn’t deserve to run."

And from George himself:

"In my opinion, Sherrod has a temper. If he were to do MTB, and someone, like Russo, were to push him on his record, he’d lose his temper. His campaign is carefully trying to control that. Sherrod is trying to stand on his voting record and politrhetorictoric, not engaging in Q&A with voters. His campaign is focused on pandering opinion to likely fundraisers around the country, not on answering “base issues” that directly effect residents of Ohio. "So, no. I don’t think he’s got what it takes to spend an hour in the hotseat. And for people like HeightsMom who think this is being blown way out of proportion—I disagree. The way Sherrod is handling situations like this reveal his character. This isn’t about Tim Russo—it’s about how Sherrod Brown handles himself in any situation. He’s doing everything he can to control the outcome thru manipulation. Is that what we want in a Senator?" And: "Feh. I grow tired of people talking about Brown’s legislative accomplishments. He has none. Sure he fought on the side of righteousness - and lost every single battle. He sat out of the 2002 Gov race where he could have taken on Bob Taft, he sat out of the 2004 Senate race where he could have taken on Voinovich. Then he proposed to sit out this one until he saw someone else prepared to take on the mantle. It stinks of careerism and opportunity, and yes, ego. "That doesnt strike me as a guy who will truly lay it on the line for the people he purports to represent. "His campaign from the gitgo has been inept - to the point of firing two senior staff members before it has even started - and the only people who have engaged him are a few bloggers. How on earth is he going to handle himself when the real campaign begins and they spend millions of dollars against him?

I made a mistake to link to the post at BFD without directly referencing these quotes, and I compounded my mistake, I suppose, via my use of the word "vilify" itself. Not to go all "Dictionary on Dictionary" with George, whose site is a valuable "central station" for NEO Bloggers, but definition number 1. for vilify over at Merriam-Webster's online site seems to suit the language I've quoted above. It's worth pointing out that I can't find a single instance of Brown publicly criticizing NEO bloggers, as George's post today seems to contend. On his own blog, Brown even has a friendly post up about Russo, and when Brown's staffer called to cancel his Meet the Bloggers appearance, the staffer was exceedingly polite went out of his way to point out that Brown in fact wanted to meet other bloggers, just not Tim Russo. It seems to me that a lot of the anti-Brown talk is just misplaced loyalty for Russo, who, by all accounts, seems to deserve a good word. But I can't see why Russo's spat with Brown is reason for the rest of NEO's liberals to dismiss Brown as a candidate for Sentate. I'll close, with this point, which is echoed in comments section of the post that George put up in response to mine: Time and energy would be better spent taking on Mike Dewine. Or as Roldo writes at BFD:
Ohio Sen. DeWine must be as happy as can be reading bloggers on the crucial U. S. Senate race. Isn’t it time to check out the real enemy?

1 Comments:

At 8:47 PM, Blogger George Nemeth said...

Brown06 is not associated with Sherrod Brown's campaign. I doubt he has the stones to criticize any of us in public. It tends to blow up in his face, like the incident at the ODP. As for the anti-Brown talk being misplaced loyalty, it may be for others, but not me. I don't think he's got what it takes and should step aside. His accomplishments as a congressman are pathetic and now he's asking us to make him a senator?

 

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