http://www.sfgate.com/...
01-29) 12:54 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The day after her swearing-in as the first female House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi took time to field questions from a few dozen Internet bloggers on a conference call that was off limits to mainstream media.
Last week, Pelosi's aides arranged for bloggers to question two Democratic House leaders on another conference call shortly before President Bush's State of the Union speech.
Pelosi also hired a full-time staff member this month dedicated to blogger outreach, and is making plans to launch a blog of her own. The day she was sworn in, bloggers were given special accommodations at the Capitol — and fed lunch — to cover the event.
What? I know that I've been busy lately but I'm still opening my mail and checking my phone messages...
It's all evidence of the newfound attention bloggers from left-leaning Web sites are commanding on Democratic-run Capitol Hill, especially from the new speaker, a San Franciscan with an appreciation for the power of the Internet and grass-roots activism.
Schooled by evidence of what Internet-driven politics can accomplish — from fueling Howard Dean's presidential campaign in 2004 to propelling Ned Lamont to victory over Joseph Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic Senate primary last year — Pelosi and other politicians have realized bloggers are too important to ignore.
But..but..but..I'm feeling ignored. Nancy how could you do this to me? I live in your district! I must have written or called your office at least thirty times in the last year on one issue or another! I've shown up to clap and cheer at your public events! And I can't even get lunch? I'm sure you'll be correcting that oversight at your earlist opportunity...
"They've gone from an initial writing blogs off, then moving to skepticism, then moving to, 'OK, maybe we can find a way of working with these guys,'" said John Aravosis, who runs Americablog.com.
"It's a power base and it's influential and it's an opportunity. And you know what? It exists," Aravosis added. "It should only scare you if you're on their bad side."
Nancy, Nancy, Nancy... Are you trying to tell me that you've met John Aravosis, and that I'm NO John Aravosis? Are some animals more equal than others? Have you met Markos, nancy? He's waaaaay cuter than John Aravosis and waaay more butch....
Trying to stay on bloggers' good side is one incentive for politicians to make nice, analysts said. Blogs also are a way for Pelosi and others to communicate directly with a politically engaged audience, without filtering by traditional media. She promoted Democrats' agenda for their first 100 legislative hours in a posting on Huffingtonpost.com.
Nancy and Arianna together? I don't know why that makes made me shivver, but it did... Please, please please don't tell me that somewhere there is a picture of Nancy and Arianna together in a hot tub with Arnold Schwarzenegger or I may never recover...
Democrats, in turn, credit bloggers with helping marshal successful opposition to President Bush's 2005 plan to overhaul Social Security by adding private accounts, a fight Pelosi led.
"It's a mistake to think that these people just sit behind their machines and don't do anything other than talk to each other and send money," said Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean's Internet-driven campaign. "These people are very active in their precincts, in their communities."
You tell 'em, Joe! You tell about all those Deaniacs in their cute color-coordinated outfits you paid to ring the doorbells off the wall in Iowa in '04! You tells 'em, I say! We are bloggers, hear us roar in numbers too big to ignore, and no ever gonna keep us down again! Where is Helen Reddy these days anyway, and wasn't she Canadian?
Friendly bloggers can help defuse attacks. Liberal bloggers rose to Pelosi's defense when she was criticized after the November election for employing nonunion workers at her vineyard. Thinkprogress.org trumpeted Pelosi's side of the story: Growers are prohibited by law from meddling in union contract issues before workers vote to organize.
Yeah, we bloggers are like the local police bomb squad. Exactly. When someone tosses a grenade we'll throw ourselves right on it to absorb the blast without thinking. Oh, no, wait...that's what Right Wing blogs do to stifle criticism of the Bush administration. Left Wing blogs, we're more like MacGyver and we'll figure out some neat trick to save the day without mussing up our hair.
Republicans are stepping up their involvement with blogs as well, and Pelosi's aides are planning new media training sessions for Democratic lawmakers and aides partly to expand use of blogs — one more sign that Congress' presence in the blogosphere will only grow.
"The speaker will be blogging," promised Karina Newton, Pelosi's director of new media.
"She understands the power that the netroots have."
Why do I get the feeling that Karina could have ended that sentence with a period right after the word "power" and conveyed exactly the same point? Lord Acton, Lord Acton, do you ALWAYS have to be so damn right all the time?
For a long time bloggers felt ignored and underrated and unrecognized. Now we are getting lots of attention whether it's CNN's blog-reading vixens or Time Magazine's vaguely making "You" Person of the Year. But this Associated Press story only made me feel left-out and less-than, like the years I've spent on and off-line didn't count that much.
It's a good thing I didn't blog and do the other political activities I've done just for recognition or praise, but because I wanted to bring about change in this country. And we did. I guess that will have to be recognition enough.