Let's get this straight about Matt Drudge.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

Matt Drudge reports rumours. Sometimes they're true, sometimes not. Yes, he was right about Monica Lewinsky. That does not mean he will be right about everything. If he was, Hilary Clinton would be serving several hundred consecutive life sentences. He may be a useful source if you want to know what journalists are talking about, but remember this. The news media follows up lots of stories. Most do not get used, due to insufficient facts, or a lack of structure. We've heard from the agencies that Drudge claims were working on the Kerry issue. They've looked into it, and believe me, they'd like nothing better than to break a story like this one, it's a hell of a scoop. The reason the media is keeping it at arms length is because they recognize that there is insufficient evidence. Drudge gets away with it because he doesn't makes concrete claims that can be legally challenged. He quotes 'unnamed' sources, infers people are talking. Sometimes he's right, but not always.

[AngryYoungMan]

1. Do you think he gets "marching orders" or the equivalent?

Like, faxes from Rove etc. I'm so interested in how all that stuff works.

And you didn't touch my "Blue Jean" refererence in the other thread... :)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. Sorry. It's late. I'll get my Jazzin' done later.

I don't know who's feeding Drudge, but I think he has a direct line to at least the RNC. A line to Rove would probably have to go through an intermediary for plausible deniability.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Every media report about the Drudge story

that I've heard today has also stated Drudge is the one who broke the Lewinsky scandal. By doing this, they imply Drudge has credibility.

Unfortunately, most people don't see this obvious ploy.

[NV1962]

3. NSS

No Sh*t Sherlock!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

7. I know, but people are treating Drudge like he's fucking Reuters.

[NV1962]

8. Which is an apt description of what he really does, no? - n/t

[Screaming Lord Byron]

15. Yeah. It must be great to be an experienced journalist with ethics

only to see some shithack in a cheesy fedora get all the glory. Must be great.

[NV1962]

16. Greater even to be an experienced journalist with ethics and decorum

Journos are a dangerous breed of gossips - too many of them haven't figured out that circulating a story "internally" and not publishing it in "their" medium is not the same as "keeping things off the record."

That's what happened with "Monica" too: Newsweek sat on it for too long while gossping too loudly about it to really expect that they'd keep it unpublished. In other words: too many journos still haven't figured out the dangerous immediacy of the Net yet.

Either 1) publish it, or 2) toss it - really toss it, as in: shut the F up. Seeing as the Immoral Minority tries to slap us in the face with Janet Jackson's boob, I expect option 1) to prevail more often than not, in this campaign.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. Ha-ha

:7

[Fenris]

4. Drudge...straight...humor potential OVERWHELMING!

:o

[Screaming Lord Byron]

6. Awww, come on. It's not as bad as the 'people giving Drudge head'

line from earlier today. That's disturbing.

[Fenris]

13. You set me up!

Drudge and straight don't belong in the same sentence!

[HuskerDem]

9. Drudge pretty well proves the 100,000 monkeys theory

you know, give 100,000 monkeys a test and a pencil and one of them will get a perfect score.

Doesn't mean I'll be seeing a lower primate about my arthritis or wisdom teeth any time soon.

Likewise I won't be expecting drudge to provide me with legitimate "news".

[Screaming Lord Byron]

10. I know. Don't 'Flip Your Wig' , cos there's a 'New Day Rising'

Your name is a Husker Du reference, right?
Otherwise I just made a total arse of myself.

[King of New Orleans]

11. Husker Du is great

possible the greatest band of all time.

Unfortunately, I believe the poster in question is merely a Democrat from Nebraska (the Cornhuskers ya know).

Ya know New Day Rising should have been Howard Dean's campaign song. It was his theme and there was lots of screaming :)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

12. Ah, right.

Bloody great band.

[The Magistrate]

14. They Were A Great Band, Sir

A very hard and biting edge about them....

[HuskerDem]

18. Can't I be both?

:cry: We do have radios out here on the plains too ya know?