Here’s my dirty little secret – I am a political blogger. I write about politics in my own little blogspot. I keep this from all of my friends out of sheer shame, and no, I won’t tell you the URL.
It gets worse – not only do I have a political blog, I am addicted to reading other gossipy political blogs. I refresh my Internet window constantly, trying to read the new Wonkettes’ (now two men) commentary on the breaking news of the day. As humiliating as this habit might be, it’s one of the most influential and entertaining things I can do while sitting in my pajamas in my dorm room.
When blogging, I can pretty much say anything I want. I can hear about a breaking news story and a few minutes later post my thoughts on it.
The readers of my blog most likely haven’t had time to form their opinions yet, and my blog inevitably influences them. While this power is purely hypothetical in my case, bloggers like Ana Marie Cox, the former “Wonkette,” or Garret Graff of “Fishbowl DC” do this on a daily basis.
This is a heady power to have, but at the same time it raises the important issue of credibility. I could very well write a fictional blog about how President Bush killed my dog and nothing would happen to me. As Jessica Cutler (a former senatorial staffer known primarily from her racy blog and book The Washingtonienne) put it in a telephone interview: “When a blogger makes a mistake he goes to the kitchen and makes a sandwich.” Blogging is the only form of media truly detached from any kind of censorship. Bloggers are completely free to say almost anything.
While this power sounds dangerous in theory, it’s usually not in practice. My homepage is set to msnbc.com, not domepunks.com. I do not rely on blogs for my actual news; these sites are merely entertaining for me. My own blog is just a place for me to be opinionated, change a few minds and not be told to shut up. Believe me, I do not want to steal Anderson Cooper’s job. While some bloggers are insane, and some people consider Wonkette their main source of hard-hitting news, the average blogger is simply having fun being opinionated and hopefully making people think.
Sometimes bloggers hit it big. After years of tirelessly typing away in their blogs while sitting in their office cubicles (or in my case, class) the bloggers attract the right kind of audience. By the right kind of audience, I mean book publishers and television producers. In 2004, Cutler’s racy blog, in which she anonomously wrote about the details of her sex life with various D.C political players, was brought to the media’s attention. Jessica lost her job for “inappropriate use of Senate office computers.”
A year later Cutler published The Washingtonienne, a replica of her blog veiled under the guise of fiction. Some accuse her of taking advantage of the situation, but Cutler describes herself as ” totally over-hyped.” She said that the book deal was simply “the best thing offered at the time.” Cutler said that she has unintentionally benefited from the whole ordeal and plans to continue a career in writing.
“Some people will always want to dismiss me as a whore, or as someone who didn’t start their writing career the ‘right’ way,” she said. “That’s something I’ll have to live down over time.”
While Cutler is not the first blogger to benefit from her blog, she is the most admirable and understands the role of the blog the same way I see it. She doesn’t mind being typecast as a sex columnist, and considers herself lucky to have gained the opportunities she has through blogging.
Bloggers don’t need a book deal to be noticed and considered influential. Blogging is arguably becoming increasingly important in the American political landscape. Campaigns now hire people whose sole job is to read and comment on blogs. Senator John Edwards (D-NC) has a blog on his web site in which he and his supporters write about the issues facing America. I also might remind you of the “Deaniacs” of 2004. The online community made the mainstream media rethink their assumption that Kerry would win the Democratic nomination.
I may never amass the readership of a Wonkette or a Washingtonienne, but I will keep on blogging with the belief that I am playing an important role – the role of voicing my views in a country that only benefits from a vast variety of opinions. Maybe I’ll change one mind, or hell, even get a book deal.
