Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Blog/FEC Drama Once More, with Feeling

Well, Kos is at it again.

Yep, he's ripping into the Professor Carol Darr, head of IPDI and "clueless embarrassment" to GW, again for her prepared testimony at the public hearings on blogging and FEC restrictions this week.

Last time, I thought Kos went too far, resorting to namecalling and overall missing Darr's point. This time, while still holding tightly to the namecalling rebuttal, Kos knocks a base hit for his cause, catching Darr in what appears to be a change of tune.

In her submitted remarks, Darr argued against blogs' inclusion in the media exemption to campaign finance law because they might damage the "privileged status" the press now enjoys. Now, Darr comes to the same conclusion out of a fear that it will allow corporations to evade campaign finance law by putting up a blog and funneling money into it.

Kos' response: so what? Just by putting up a blog, he argues, a corporation can't guarantee influence. And he's right. While the Toaster would love to be influencing public debate on a national level, it's not. Not because it doesn't have the resources that a corporation could pour into a Toaster-like blog, but because it doesn't have the earned reputation required for people to take what blogs say seriously.

But, on the lingo for "corporate blog"...I got dibs on "clog."

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