Local Government TV

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

You Have A Right to Know

Blogger Chris Casey has chided me because my detailed interview with LV Congressman Charlie Dent is just too damn long. Come to think of it, my conversation with Dent's challenger, Sam Bennett, was pretty lengthy, too. In both cases, it took numerous posts to answer questions that actually come from you, my readers. A portion of Dent's interview remains unpublished. Of course, Casey's blog vanished the moment I responded to his criticism.

Poof!

So should I forget the whole thing? Should I eliminate the actual words of candidates and replace them with the ill-informed rants of Internet pundits like me, who think we know everything?

Here's my answer. You have a right to know.

This is not a newspaper, but a blog. The MSM often will publish just a one or two sentence answer to complicated policy questions. In fairness, they have space restrictions. But all too often, we bloggers just follow suit. We simply react to what we see in the paper instead of doing our own spade work. People end up making decisions based on sound bites and slogans.

You deserve better. At the least, you certainly deserve answers to your own questions.

Thanks to the Internet, you can get them. No space restrictions here, baby. You can read a candidate's own words instead of being spoon fed by the MSM or someone else telling you what to think. The rest of the interview will be posted.

It's good for democracy.

For those of you interested in making up your own minds, I recommend those interviews. I will eventually put them together and link to them on the sidebar.

12 comments:

  1. I agree, Bernie, and I think your interviews were fantastic. It's great that the space is available to run lengthy interviews with candidates; voters will be better off for it.
    --Greg from Keystone Politics

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  2. Well said, Mr. Palmer.

    It seems the people most likely to complain are those whose minds were made up well before the interviews were posted. For those of us who were looking for in-depth information on which to base our congressional vote, these segments are greatly appreciated.

    Those who don't care for long transcripts can simply not read them, but at least there is an option for those of us who want more details on each of the candidates' platforms.

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  3. Casey claims he was just kidding, Bernie. Just like that blog in which Casey has you murdered. Ha. ha.

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  4. Greg & Pete,

    Thanks, but it is the candidates themselves who deserve the thanks foir making themselves available. Greg, it was very kind of you and Rob to send me that video of Don C from Denver. I'll never forget your courtesy.

    Anon 9:27,

    I don't wish to belabor the point, but Casey is in no position to be doing humor blogs about me. Not very long ago, he wrote a blog in which I was brutally murdered, so it's a little difficult for me to accept anything he writes.

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  5. I agree w/ Greg Palmer and Anon 859am - I know both candidates and I still learned something about each.

    Great job!

    The Banker

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  6. Bernie just needs to draw attention away from his lack of credibility, after his ridiculous Palin Post picture mistake
    Always make someone else look worse, that makes him feel better.

    The Rogue Blogger from Bally!

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  7. Rogue, aka Team Casey member,

    No question I screwed up on that Palin picure. I admitted it and updated the blog to reflect my error. That's why this blog has credibility.

    Bloggers who have no credibility give themselves great names but have nothing else to back it up. In your case, you don't even have a blog.

    Bloggers who have no credibility write posts that go "poof," as Casey's did.

    Bloggers who have no credibility do creepy things like writing a blog "novel" that viciously murders a living, breathing blogger.

    People like you and Casey damage the credibility of all bloggers, even those who are trying to get it right.

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  8. Uh Bernie, casey's post did not go poof. I looked at it three times today, your comment and mine are still there. So I guess you are wrong again. Poof! goes my comment!

    The Rogue Blogger of Bally!

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  9. Team Casey member Rogue,

    Casey's post most definitely did go "poof." I posted a comment defending my interview on Casey's blog, and noted that Casey's own interviews of other elected officials was insulting to them. He always claimed that Parts 2 and 3 and whatever would be posted the next day, but that never happened.

    I have another problem with his post. Not too long ago, Casey portrayed me as a brutal murder victim in a little work of fiction that resulted in a death threat. I was more than a little disturbed that Casey went to great lengths to point out precisely where I live. That blog went "poof" too. In fact, for a time after that post, Casey himself went "poof," something he always does after going too far.

    So when Casey decides to do a little parody about me, I start getting uneasy.

    Shortly after my comment posted, Casey's blog went "poof." He even put up a rambling explanation for the deletion that makes absloutely no sense.

    After I posted my blog tagging this poof blogger, he quickly resurrected the post.

    Of course, you know all this, but just want to mislead people.

    Casey is a disgusting person and you are an anonymous slug who lacks the courage to identify yourself while making all those personal attacks. Incidentally, I hope you enjoyed your weekend at the Jersey shore. You must have forgotten to use your anonymizer.

    Now who else has posted attacks from the Jersey shore??? Hmmmm.

    Oopsie.

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  10. O'Hare who screwed up his real life is now the Emporer of his own little blog world. All who disagree with 'HIS' facts will be eliminated. This is your hero.
    Good for you.

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  11. Bernie,

    I'm not involved in the continuing Blog Wars - call me Switzerland!

    However, your interviews with both candidates were good, detailed and informative. I also liked the fact that you solicited questions from your readers. You used one I offered for the Bennett interview.

    Perhaps in the future we can expand this format to more bloggers and even host a Blog Debate hosted by bloggers!

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You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.