This is a big day in Washington…because some decisions are being pondered at the FEC that could impact weblogs’ so far relatively unfettered freedoms. Some links:
—RedState.org has a short MUST READ post on the hearings. It’s founder Matt Krempinsky (who we had the pleasure of meeting while being on a panel with him on blogging at Stanford. If the panel broke we would have fallen off the wall.)will be testifying. Read ALL of the links on the post. Krempinsky has been at the forefront of defending bloggers on this issue.
—Atrios will be there.
–Kos testified and writes about his testimony HERE.
–The Classless Society’s Scott Ferguson expresses some doubts here about some of the bloggers testifying.
OUR VIEW DIPLOMATICALLY STATED: The FEC needs to butt out of it, period. If they pass any regulation that goes after someone on the left then it must be applied exactly the same way to someone on the right. For every KOS deemed making a contribution in kind there must be a judgement that a Powerline is making a contribution in kind. If there is a new regulation that is not applied equally to bloggers no matter what their views, then lawsuits are in order.
Of course we believe Bob Shrum and Karl Rove both BELONG HERE so who knows where TMV would fit in…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.