There's yet another story out today about how Republicans are being trounced online. Today's particular story is in the Washington Post. Of course, the best way for a conservative to be quoted in the Post is to criticize the GOP. This story is no exception.
Two years ago, I wrote a piece for Personal Democracy Forum called: Why Republicans are Winning at Tech. I stand behind my theory that the technology Republicans mastered is less "sexy" than the technology liberals have mastered -- but is actually more effective.
Please keep in mind that the same stories that we are reading now were also being circulated in 2003 (during Howard Dean's rise). Everyone thought that the Democrats technology was going to destroy Republicans. We all know how that ended...
The truth is that the audiences are different. Conservatives, who think they can simply copy the rhetoric and tactics of the Left, and be equally effective online, are wrong. Sure, some of the technology is philosophically neutral. To paraphrase Mayor LaGuardia, "There's no Republican way to set up a blog." But while the medium is the same, the messages are starkly different. For example, bloggers are keen to talk about the "Revolution". My suspicion is that talk of a "Revolution" -- even if it is being used metaphorically -- is more appealing to liberals (and may actually be a turn-off to conservatives).
