William Jacobson notes something interesting
RNC Report — 100 pages and not a single word about bloggers
That’s right, nothing. The other day I noted, regarding the report, “seriously, how many bloggers, from big to small, were ever engaged by anyone in the GOP?”
For the RNC to produce a 100-page report and not have a single mention of the need to interact with and support the conservative blogosphere tells me that the RNC simply has rearranged the deck chairs on the HMS Consultant.
On the Left, the bloggers are routinely and constantly engaged. Though, it tends to be a way to spread the talking points and funnel money for those blogger’s support. But, surely the DNC and other high end Dem groups solicit ideas. From the GOP? Bupkiss. Nada.
The Other McCain on this story
The idea of “citizen-journalism†is quite nearly alien to the consultant class. The teamwork concept of voluntary collaboration mystifies people for whom politics is a paid gig. Take away their consulting fees, and these guys wouldn’t have anything to do with politics.
Now, we can’t say the GOP doesn’t try at all: I’ve been invited to numerous conference calls because of this little blog of mine (and because of posting at the much bigger Right Wing News), but they tend to be calls to share talking points, not engage and solicit. Look, it can be little things. One great thing Bush-Cheney 2004 did was offering web graphics with embed code. Copy and paste, no muss, no fuss. There were lots of other outreach programs, as well. For McCain and Romney that was nowhere to be found, though they did offer some basic graphics. Republicans at the national level need to reach out and engage Conservative bloggers. Doesn’t even have to involve money (though paying to put ads on our sites, just enough to cover costs, would be nice). Solicit ideas. Engage. Listen.
