Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Ad Age magazine says Democrats Have an Early Lead ... in the Web 2.0 Race, but the Republicans are "catching up as both parties realize MySpace and other social-networking sites can't be ignored." Much of the story echoes my previous post regarding Andrew Breitbart's comments about the difference between how liberals and conservatives use the New Media.

AdAge starts with a recounting of Fred Thompson' blistering 38-second online video reply to leftwing propaganda filmmaker Michael Moore...

John Durham, who led internet strategy for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, was impressed with Mr. Thompson's grasp of the YouTube medium. "He is smart enough to understand he needs to cede a certain amount of control for a certain amount of visibility," he said.

The new talk radio
But Mr. Thompson's savvy could be seen as a rare standout on the Republican side. Even Republican supporters concede that the Democrats have the upper hand in Web 2.0, which has become the Democratic version of talk radio. It's an issue that has been the subject of recent debate, naturally, around the blogosphere.

A big part of the problem, according to Rob Bluey, director of the Center for Media and Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation and a contributor to RedState.com, is that Republican bloggers are more interested in being pundits than activists.

"You have [left-wing bloggers] Markos Moulitsas at DailyKos, Jerome Armstrong and Matt Stoller at MyDD and they live for stirring up their base, creating a brouhaha and getting people to do things," he said. "The right may be more interested in commentary and analysis and ... it doesn't do much for advancing a candidate or getting legislation passed."

'Noise' extension
Mr. Moulitsas himself said the right views the web too much as an extension of its broadcast domination. "They are, in effect, an online extension of the Rush Limbaugh/Fox News noise machine," he said. "And while they can be very effective at what they do, it's not as exciting for the average Joe or Jane looking to have a voice in his or her nation's politics."

How did the Democrats develop their 2.0 prowess? Some observers point to the outcome of the 2000 election. After all, dominant activist positions are rarely born out of places of power. For another example of that phenomenon, consider the rise of Republican talk radio during the Clinton years.

"The Democrats have done a better job of building a culture of grassroots activism -- fueled mostly by their minority-party status over the past decade," said Michael Bassik, VP-internet strategy at MSHC Partners, which placed online ads for John Kerry and the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 campaign.

"There was more motivation among Democrats to use the web as an outlet for frustration and they saw it as a great tool for activism," Mr. Bluey said. "You have to give Howard Dean and Joe Trippi a lot of credit for it."

Will Republicans catch up? Even Trippi, Dean's web guru, thinks so, according to the Ad Age article. Read the whole thing here.