Friday, December 9, 2011

A gift, and a great one.

I attended the Loudoun County Republican Christmas Party last night with many of my good friends and aquaintances. I had another great evening discussing policy and strategies.
At one point, I ran into Cara Townsend and her husband. I first met Cara in Janet Clark's office in Purcellville (seems like EVERYONE went thru there at one point or another, huh?) where she indicated that she was throwing her hat in for the 10th District against already declared John Whitbeck. I remember that we discussed the possibility of Randy Minchew entering that race and that he was going to be hard to overcome...but she took it in stride and we developed a loose friendship in the aftermath of that first meeting. Cara is bright, and has an impressive resume that didn't get highlighted during that run, but I wouldn't rule her out as a candidate in the future.
Back at the Christmas Party, Cara shared that she'd gotten me a gift. She then produced the book BLOG: Understanding the Information Reformation , by Hugh Hewitt.

I don't suppose that Cara had read the Virginia Virtucon piece , but the book was the foundation upon which the Virginia Virtucon offering was written.

To Cara...I appreciate such a thoughtful gift, and I truly appreciate your insight into these matters, because the book is dead-on. We are the new medium by which news travels. In NUMEROUS instances, blogs have actually broken stories and led events that would have otherwise been left to the dustbins of history.
Jim Riley at VV actually broke a fundraising pyramid story by a Virginia candidate, as well as a number of other often not reported stories.

To those who have blogs: Read the Virginia Virtucon piece and realize your power to inform the masses. But remember also, that with great power comes great responsibility. Your excellence in reporting the truth will lead the way to the empowerment of blogs over paper mediums and yellow journalism.
Unless you drop to their level and stop being accountable and also become yellow journalist no better than those you replaced.

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