No, not talking about your hooters, Jessica; down, girl.

A bunch of pasty little twinks, a bunch with that silly facial hair endemic to lefties.

You are going to get your heads handed to you on Election Day.

By the way, did it have an eagle on it?

Or to e-mail a blogger who specializes in a particular issue and ask for help? In case anyone is wondering: we would be more than happy to be helpful — and we’d actually be discreet and prompt…

personal ad of the year!

I am also not concerned with off-the-record, so long as the fact that some materials are off the record is known. I would suspect that Clinton wants to know how to “build influential blogs” and what they might need given the costs of technology, (techs who fix glitches, more and faster servers, bandwidth, etc.,) and he might be interested in seeing whether he can provoke needed help. As long as the potential strings are understood, help should not be scorned.

I think the model of doing back office research for spokespersons, and perhaps having some critical influence on who is a spokesperson is something Blogs should take up. Between 1990 and 2002 I played such a role with Paul Wellstone, along with about 25-30 other Wellstonians who just happened to be big public policy and history readers. What we did was read, critique, and comment on books, academic articles, popular press articles — bringing them to Paul’s attention, and trying to write those short pieces in line with subjects being debated in the Senate, or where he had speaking engagements. It was a delight to do it — all you needed to do was keep in mind the question — Given what interests Paul right now, is there anything of value in this article, book, academic article, and how can I boil the fact, the argument down into his style? No one had a monoply on this — people read in terms of their own expertise and interest, but just once in a while you would hear your words on the Senate Floor and it would be great. I suspect the Blogostan is full of people who would do the same if they knew their effort didn’t instantly hit the round filing cabinet. (Just imagine Emptywheel, Jane, Christy and many others here offering House Judiciary Committee members sample lines of questions for a Plame Investigation?)

Clinton is an exception to the rule — he actually reads whole books. But also remember the Q and A from Mondale’s exit interview on TV when the Carter Administration was over. He was asked what was the first thing he would do in private life, and he answered, He wanted to finally have the time to sit down and read some whole books. The Senate and the Vice Presidency did not allow time for that. If Bloggers can retain enough diversity and at the same time organize clear relationships with spokespersons (elected and otherwise) it could be most fruitfull. And Wellstone was not the first Senator who had this kind of relationship with “friendly readers” — my Neighbor played the same role vis a vis childrens’ mental health for both Humphrey and Mondale. And, there is nothing particularly wrong with taking points our pols take up — and making certain that far more elaborate versions of these issues are well covered in the blog essays — meaning that if well done, the MSM might do something on the same topic.

It turns out that Chimp got started on drinking Jaegermeister by his daughter Jenna, who told him that he really needed to check out the new hard beverages circulating on the DC bar circuit.

Go Big Dawg.

(I still can’t imagine any other President – current or former – who would ask to meet and listen to bloggers…)

The short:

I’ve always been a diehard supporter of Bill’s until recently when it seemed that he aligned himself with the Bushes… I am concerned that he is a part of a bigger picture with regard to a power structure in the world that we rarely see talked about. (No tin foilhat here just keeping my eyes open.) I’ve seen this touched upon from time-to-time but not really addressed. I know Bill could be a big asset to our cause but we don’t need to fall all over ourselves assuming that his involvement is totally benign.

http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/sh…..aryId=2902

and beautifully described by Paul Bass in the Hartford Courant here:

http://www.courant.com/news/lo…..808.column

“The candidate, Democrat John Edwards, did squeeze in one private meeting with perceived powerbrokers. In a Yale medical school cafeteria, Edwards glad-handed, praised and answered questions from Connecticut’s local bloggers.”

I know Lorenzo is a sunflower – you got a problem with that?