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Michelle Malkin: "Conservatives Aren't Behind Online" -- Yeah. Right.

Submitted by Aaron Marks on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 17:36
in

I have a brief break at the airport on my way back from RightOnline, a conservative summit focusing on technology and new media for the Right, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, the Sam Adams Alliance, and the Leadership Institute. It was a solid conference, featuring some excellent keynotes by Barry Goldwater, Jr., Michael Steele, and Robert Novak.  Also featured, and perhaps even most prominently, was commentator Michelle Malkin.

As a quick aside, it was a very good conference.  There were a lot of excellent discussions – including a lot of throught-provoking analysis by The Next Right co-founder Soren Dayton – and generally speaking, I felt that the conference offered a lot of useful information for people right of center who are trying to get involved in the new media world.

At most of the conference, the discussion focused on how the Right desperately needs to catch up with the Left at many levels – grassroots organization, appeal to young voters, and most importantly (at least in terms of the focus conference), technology and new media.  After a great deal of discussion on the first day of the conference as to how the Right can catch up technologically, Michelle Malkin, one of the keynote speakers on day two, threw a huge curveball.  I didn't write down the exact words that she said, but this is more or less her statement:

"Conservatives aren't actually behind technologically, we're just doing it differently."

Again, this isn't her quote word for word, but its close enough that you get the gist of what she said.  And you know what, she's right – at least in one aspect.  Our side is doing our own thing.  Just look at barackobama.com vs. johnmccain.com and you'll see it.  Obama's site actually engages its users: at their core, every link, every page, every single item is not about Barack Obama.  It's crowd-powered – it is about what you, the average American, can do.  It is well-designed, well-organized, and well-branded.

And McCain's site? By modern design standards, it is mediocre at best.  More importantly, it's not about getting involved, and it fails at engaging visitors; virtually the entire thing is about John McCain.  And the best part is that this isn't John McCain 1.0.  This is John McCain's second website of the cycle.  So yes, they're certainly doing their own thing, but that's exactly it – they are way behind the curve.

That's exactly what this is all about.  I don't mean to pick on McCain – there are so many others that don't get it either – but he's at the top of the ticket and so, like it or not, what he does trickles down to the rest of the ticket.  We need to recognize that people don't use the internet solely for news and sharing information anymore.  This is Web 2.0.  These are the days of Facebook, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, MySpace, and other social networking sites.  People are using the internet because it empowers them – bloggers are stepping up as independent journalists and I'd argue have the potential to have every bit as much of an impact as the mainstream media. Social networking users are always "in the know" about their friends while controlling what people find out about themselves.

So Michelle, yes, we are different.  And because of this we are also behind.  Until we get this, we're going to continue to be outpaced online.  And the bottom line is that it's going to hurt us in elections.

 

Aaron Marks is President of Three Group, LLC, a Pittsburgh-based new media firm that focuses on providing technology-based solutions for Republican candidates and organizations, and in particular has built Web 2.0 campaign management software called Mission Control.  Aaron also worked in new media and voter outreach on Senator Rick Santorum's 2006 re-election campaign.

 

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Comments

You almost get the impression

Submitted by Repack Rider on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 18:52.

That McCain doesn't WANT to know what his constituents think.

Which, unfortunately for his campaign, means he cannot tap the passion that the Obamatrons display when they feel that they are helping craft the message.

I'd like to know how so many high-paid GOP consultants could be so out of touch with what seems to be working so well for Obama: enthusiasm.  Perhaps instead of whatever they are doing, mostly infighting it seems, they could try to whip up a little conservative passion.

Just for a laugh

Submitted by gunthestops on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 19:56.

 

Maybe this is why the Republicans are so far behind--lol

 

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=176740

Malkin made her case - 'be like them?' No way!

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 21:32.

I live-blogged and added some commentary on Travis Monitor blog:

http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/07/afp-rightonline-summit-malkin-...

This was a 'pump you up' speech in which Malkin made the point that we can win online but we dont have to 'be like them' ie the Nutroots leftists. That point is not one of denial that the left may be ahead in areas (yes Obama's website beats McCain's website, etc), but that we on the right  as she said:

"I reject the MSM narrative. ... I will make that my new slogan.""Our thing is defending what's right - with a little 'r' and a capital 'R'." (Not just electing everyone with an R next to our names.)

Noting the foulness of their rhetoric, their hypocrisy and their nuttiness, her response on being more like the Left netroots was: "Be like them? No thank you!"

HER POINT IS THAT WE NEED NOT EMULATE THE LEFT.

The examples she listed - Rathergate, Faux-tography, stopping shmanesty - were examples of victories on the right. In short, the point I got was not to be in denial of where we are behind, but to not fall in the trap of having an inferiority complex. eg the Liberal MSM narrative of young people, smart people etc. being more left.

my analysis and thoughts:

Despite the catcalls you can make about John McCain's vs Obama's website (McCain's website is way behind), the fact is that Obama's campaign is an over-scripted 'web 1.0' campaign, his website is 'high-touch' and personable, but the campaign is also over-controlling and over-scripted. Nothing really new except the hype. But the most amazing online story of 2007 and 2008 has been the Ron Paul 'revolution' (moneybombs, etc.) and the American Solutions "Drill here, drill now" campaign. Both these campaigns are all web 2.0, bottom-up grassroots activism-centric efforts ... and they are on the right.

There is a lesson here and its not one the left will tell.  One comment in the conference said Morton Blackwell was right when he said "Technology is politically neutral." Politics is still local, and it remains about making personal connections and winning hearts and minds. These evolving internet technologies are new tools and we can gain an advantage as we utilize them more. But don't believe the lie that liberals have some dominating advantage, or that any advantages that they have are inevitable or permanent. Conservatives need to learn, study, copy and adapt when the left is succeeding at using certain tools better. There are lessons to learn. But don't stop there (go beyond the left), and don't fall in the trap of thinking they are 'winning' due to their own self-congratulations. Oftentimes, that too is hype. The fundamental ground-breaking 'wins' of the right is when we challenged the elites and their version of truth and wisdom, through highly connected bottoms-up activism. we have a unique heritage and records of success the left cannot match. It's time to stop the inferiority complex thinking and get to work and making it better for our side.

Elect vs. expose

Submitted by Patrick Ruffini on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 21:46.

Malkin is defending what she does well: exposing left-wing media bias and ridiculousness.

And she'll be doing a lot of it in an Obama Administration.

I'm tired of people who say that a focus on elections is just defending anyone with an "R" next to their names. There are plenty of conservatives who are running to take back the party from go-along get-along Republicans-first, conservatives-second. There's no excuse not to support them.

All the punditry and "faux-tography" scandals in the world won't do us much good in the minority.

Keep our eye on the prize

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 23:41.

I'm tired of people who say that a focus on elections is just defending anyone with an "R" next to their names. There are plenty of conservatives who are running to take back the party from go-along get-along Republicans-first, conservatives-second.

I'm with you on that 100%. I've been on the Club for Growth train for a while now, I am an R who won't hesitate to curtly tell 3rd party types they are wasting their time on futile big-fish-in-small-pond circle jerks, and I am sick and tired of the disgruntled conservatives who wont vote for McCain or help conservative GOP candidates to teach them a lesson. yikes. My retort to them is "That is sooooo 2006."  I'll give my "TOP 4/5 MUST HELP" candidates to anyone: Shaffer, Sununu, Pearce, and whoever is running in your district and/or for your Senate seat.

I took her speech as one that reminded us not to have an inferiority complex and think we had to copy the left. Sure enough, there are things in Kos that are best left on Kos. There were enough other wonky sessions to figure out what we need better (like here in Texas we need a conservative bloggers alliance/aggregation, and we'll build it, inquire at http://rightontexas.blogspot.com to learn more.)

The funny thing is, I can't think of a single leftie online 'victory' akin to Rathergate. dKos has great readship, but what does it actually do besides turn the Democrats a bit more nutty? Did it stop FISA? get troops out? And seriously, even if the left wasnt ahead online, would the election landscape be much different? I'm not sure.  The only 'online' victory I can think of in 2006 was Webb v Allen, it certainly wasnt their attempt to take down Lieberman, and the Wash Post did all the heavy lifting with story after story going after George Allen.

One lesson preached at RightOnline was that 'winning online' is really about winning issues, campaigns here in the 'real world'. I am sure you agree. Keep our eyes on the prize. Elections yes, obviously priority #1 right now, and also winning 'hearts and minds' on issues and winning people to our world-view, bit by bit, to advance the agenda over the long term.

 

 

 

the right seems to me to be far behind as

Submitted by mnmod on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 22:17.

thoughtful conservative blogs are hard to find.  This site has potential if more people participated. At current rate it will take about a million years to reach the 20 million comments mark that has been surpassed at dkos. As some of  those dkos comments are dumb and lefty viewpoint  gets boring after awhile,  suggestions for good center right blogs welcome.  I'm striving for more balance in my blog reading.

Quality not quantity

Submitted by Sean Hackbarth on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 00:49.

I don't expect The Next Right to ever have the traffic of a DKos. If the right people--those who seriously want to win elections and debates using the tools now available and have authority to make changes--then TNR will be successful.

Malkin is right - we're not idiots, so why try emulate them?

Submitted by retro on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 12:16.

                 "Thoughtful conservative blogs are hard to find."  

No they aren't - you're just not looking very hard. 

Also, can someone explain to me just what heck johnmccain.com has to do with conservatives or the conservative movement?  That site, and McCain himself, are nothing more than a squawking parrot for the rapidly dying RNC.

I get the feeling they're trying to change McCain

Submitted by JMR on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 15:24.

He's not ever going to be Ron Paul, but I'm glad someone here was willing to admit that Ron Paul -- despite a few lefty supporters -- was & is "on the right." McCain's campaign, even if they redesigned the website tomorrow, won't engage young people nearly as well as Obama's has because that's not the kind of guy Republicans chose when most of them ignored me & picked McCain. Let's let McCain be McCain. I'm sure he & his advisors have good reasons for what he's doing. I'm not so sure it's a path to victory, though.
JMR

Let McCain Be McCain

Submitted by Sean Hackbarth on Tue, 07/22/2008 - 16:07.

McCain shouldn't change because he's gotten this far campaigning the way he wants. He's comfortable, and when a candidate is comfortable they'll instill more confidence in voters. That's not to say the campaign can't do better. McCain's known for "straight talk" on his bus. That could easily be turned into a daily or semi-daily video weblog. All he would need to do is talk into the camera for a few minutes about whatever he wanted to talk about. He would build a better connection with his online audience and bypass the MSM that drools over Sen. Obama.

McCain's campaign won't ever be as sexy as Obama's, but by doing additional little things that will add up to exponential progress. Think of the movie What About Bob? and "baby steps."