perfidy

Senator John McCain is by most standards a major political figure. Seriously in the running for the oval office, respected by the essential middle of the electorate, a reliable source for the money quote and well liked by the media.

And now, a blogger, thanks to a guest post at the Captains Quarters.

McCain has some interesting things to say about the North Korean nuclear test - or fizzle – depending on who you talk to. Worth reading, and I recommend that you do. But what interests me at this moment is the fact of his appearance on a blog. The political world has been edging towards the blog world for some time now, though it has been a sideways crabbing motion rather than a full frontal embrace of the medium.

Blogs have certainly had their impact on politics – one need only think back to the fall from grace of Majority Leader Trent Lott, the swift boats and the blogosphere’s moment of glory, folding memogate til it was all sharp corners and inviting Dan Rather to sit on it. And politicians have made use of blogs, as well. Dean’s staff, during his presidential campaign, made notable effect of a blog both to disseminate the governor’s message and for fund raising. Hilary Clinton’s campaign in waiting has hired a blog outreach director.

But here, here we have an actual political personage making an appearance on a blog, rather than being sandbagged by one, or having staffers manage one. This is a first, and it is a significant milestone in the growth of the political blogosphere as a force that does not merely discuss politics, but changes and directs events. In the recent past, the blogs, collectively, have been the kids exiled to the kitchen table while the adults ate the sumptious Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room.

By making yelling loud enough, the kids could on occasion prod the adults into action. Their cries were viewed with the same disdain as parents often feel when judging the concerns of the young – there’s probably nothing going on here, and if we find that you’ve been fibbing, well, there’ll be trouble. For the blogs to make a case, it was uphill all the way – first to overcome the natural disdain of the elder media, and only second the facts of whatever issue they pushed.

We can look at this as either a promotion to the adult’s table. Which, really, is still a bit of a stretch. But at least one of the adults has come into the kitchen and sat down with us and treated us, for a moment at least, as one of the adults. A precedent has been set, though. McCain, and his handlers must have had a discussion about what was the proper venue for the dissemination of this message – and not some random policywonkish statement on, say, the advisability of instituting ethanol quality standards or something equally banal but a national security issue of the greatest importance – and they decided that the best place for McCain to make this statement was on a blog, as a guest poster.

The blog world is poised in the archway between the kitchen and the dining room.

Political figures will now be taking even more interest in the blogosphere. They will be making more efforts to communicate to, and through, the blogworld. Some of these efforts will be hamfisted, clumsy or even desperate, since knowledge of the blog world is vanishingly rare outside our community. There will be those that get it, or know someone who does, and their success in this medium will add to their efforts in others, and in close races, or in hotly argued debates, having this additional means of communication and rallying support will make a difference.

[wik] Linked to OTB's Linkfest.