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* So who were those “knowledgeable people” whom state Rep. Aaron Schock consulted with on his now abandoned proposal to sell (nonexistent) nuclear missiles to Taiwan to pressure China over Iran? Bernie Schoenburg tried to find out…
“I have listened to knowledgeable people on this issue and they have said I am on the right track with a proposal that has a great chance to diffuse the crisis without military conflict but that I was wrong to include the possibility of selling nuclear arms to Taiwan as a bargaining chip with China,” [Schock claimed in his press release backing down from his proposal].
So I called Schock, a state representative and Peoria Republican, to ask who those advisers were.
There are, he said, “a number of people, both locally, as well as friends I have in Washington, D.C., that have chimed in on it.”
I asked if he was talking to any particular professor or military person.
“Well, they’re not wanting to get involved in the campaign,” he said.
OK, so what about his campaign manager, Steven Shearer, who worked for retiring Congressman Jerry Weller?
“Certainly, as the campaign manager, he has input, as well as other people on my campaign staff,” Schock said.
He said the unnamed “knowledgeable people” also had a part in his announcement speech, presumably including the Taiwan nukes idea.
* Billy Dennis read Bernie’s piece and had this to say…
Here in Peoria — the largest city in the 18th District and the city in which Schock lives — the Journal Star’s coverage of the issue is meager. The PJS’s lead reporter in the 18th District race is Karen McDonald. To date, her byline has appeared above one single article dealing with the controversy, the one in which Schock admitted to a mistake. McDonald attended the announcement in which he detailed Schock’s Taiwan proposal, but her article didn’t even mention it. She did no reporting on the uproar that followed Schoenberg’s column about it and has done no follow up reporting on what has been the single biggest story coming out of the 18th District race so far. She attended a candidate’s forum at which Schock and his two primary foes appeared, and her only mention of the controversy is that no one brought it up.
* And that brings me to my latest syndicated newspaper column, which talks about the influence that political blogs are having on the process here in Illinois…
Political blogs have been getting a bad rap in newspapers for years, but they’re rapidly coming of age and making an impact in campaigns throughout Illinois this year.
* The column goes through the now familiar story of how blogs participated in forcing Schock to back off his wacky idea…
While Schock refused to back down, bloggers kept digging. They found Schock had voted against a bill in the state Legislature to put economic pressure on Iran’s energy business - the driving force behind Iran’s nuclear ambitions - through state pension fund divestment, even though Schock voted for a similar divestment bill for Sudan.
Larry Handlin at ArchPundit.com pointed out Schock’s nuke idea would violate international law. A commenter at my blog noted Schock’s proposal was scarily similar to the Soviet Union’s attempt to put nukes in Cuba (which very nearly triggered a nuclear holocaust).
Billy Dennis, who led the charge on Schock at his Peoria Pundit blog, discovered the Chinese government had helped Schock pay for a trip to that country a few years ago.
It wasn’t until Schock abandoned his goofy proposal that the Peoria paper finally acknowledged almost all of the concerns raised by the bloggers.
* The column then moves on to other races….
Blogs are having a different impact in Congressman Dan Lipinski’s district. Lipinski is a conservative Democrat whose father, former Congressman Bill Lipinski, engineered an unconscionable free ride to Washington, D.C., for his kid, who hadn’t lived in Illinois for years.
Lipinski has strong opposition from Mark Pera in the upcoming Democratic primary. Pera’s cause is being championed by liberal Democratic blogs all over the country, so every local story that trashes Lipinski is put in front of hundreds of thousands of eyeballs that otherwise wouldn’t see them.
As a result, Daily Southtown columnist Kristen McQueary now has a whole lot more fans than she did before the campaign season began. That coverage, in turn, has raised big campaign bucks for Pera when highlighted by the national blogs.
* And more…
Bloggers in Illinois and nationally are expressing interest in Daniel Biss’ campaign for the Illinois House. Biss faces an uphill race in a district represented by popular Republican incumbent state Rep. Beth Coulson, but he’s raising a ton of cash because he has paid so much attention to online media.
Quite a few Chicago bloggers have been aggressively advocating for a financial bailout of the Chicago Transit Authority. Much of their reporting and analysis has been far superior to anything produced by the mainstream Chicago media.
I promised readers of the column a bunch of links to various political blogs mentioned in the story. I’ll post those later this morning, but loyal readers can help out by putting links to their favorite local political blogs in comments.
*** UPDATE *** As promised in my column, here are a few state and local blogs to keep an eye on. My apologies in advance for all those I missed. If yours isn’t here, or your favorite one isn’t listed, do so in comments…
* Open Line (Aurora)
* Lynn Sweet (Sun-Times)
* WurfWhile (DuPage Dems)
* Elginite
* Dog Fight in the 50th (Chicago’s 50th Ward)
* Clout City (Chicago Reader)
* Illinois Transportation Issues
* Spontaneous Solutions (IL Policy Institute)
* Public Affairs (Berkowitz)
* Team America (Lake County, 10th Congressional District)
* Clout Street (Tribune)
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 9:47 am
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IlliniPundit
One of several people responsible for energizing the political blogosphere in Champaign-Urbana. I don’t live in the CU anymore, but I still frequent the blog.
Comment by Kiyoshi Martinez Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 10:10 am
Thanks for the hat tip, Rich.
Here in Peoria, blogger C.J. Summers of the Peoria Chronicle is having a tremendous impact on city politics. He’s a master of the well-sourced FOI. He’s a citizen investigative journalist.
And over in Pekin, Knight in Dragonland has been known take on the local newspaper and its political coverage.
Comment by Billy Dennis Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 10:39 am
Nice column, bloggs show a positive use of the information age. Plus I got quoted in the column!
Comment by Ghost Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 10:47 am
Rich-
The link at the bottom of the S-T online article to “the Capitol Fax blog” actually goes to your e-mail instead of here. If you’d rather people go directly to the blog instead of your e-mail, perhaps you can get the S-T to fix the link.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 12:08 pm
LOL. That may be beyond their abilities.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 12:14 pm
Ellen of the tenth
And mine: Faithfully Liberal
Comment by Aaron Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 12:15 pm
NOTE: The correct link to Knight in Dragonland is here:
http://knightindragonland.blogpeoria.com/
Comment by Billy Dennis Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 2:07 pm
Glad you see you cite the Team America site in Lake County. It is shaping up to be one of the better ones.
Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 3:50 pm
I would also recommend to you Rich and the rest of the bloggers out there - never forget that words have power.
That means your efforts can help in the cause of justice, but can also cause injustice if you aren’t careful.
Nobody wants to see another, for lack of a better term, “swift-boating” of a candidate - especially one within our realm here in Illinois where we have the power to stop it.
Comment by GoBearsss Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 4:48 pm
I think the bloggers in this state are, for the most part, a pretty decent bunch. There are exceptions, of course, but they’ve always been called out (the low-blow attacks on Debbie Halvorson come to mind). I wouldn’t worry about that too much.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 4:50 pm
What’s a blog?
Comment by dan l Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 4:57 pm
Dan l: It’s short for “web log” or something like that. Don’t worry. It’s just a fad. Like CB radios.
Comment by Billy Dennis Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 5:05 pm
Ah. I am intrigued by this idea of blogs. Perhaps Rich Miller has one.
Comment by dan l Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 5:07 pm
Never heard of him.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 5:08 pm
I understand they are a good medium for distributing news and information about your cat.
Comment by Billy Dennis Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 5:11 pm
It would be interesting to see what blogs are most popular in Illinois.
Comment by dan l Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 5:35 pm
ok, seriously Rich…..you have got to quit beating a dead horse on this shock thing. You have killed the horse….and have been beating it….for weeks…..give it up
Comment by KJ Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 6:08 pm
LOL. As long as the PJ-Star keeps up with their shenanigans, I’ll keep pointing it out. Get used to it.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 6:56 pm
Team American is a liar obscessed with Ellen of the Tenth who says anything all unsupported. Capitol Fax has consistently left Ellen of the Tenth out of it’s blogroll despite the huge amount of research she does and her unbelievable accuracy. Methinks CapitolFax is in love with Mark Kirk.
Comment by Billie Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 7:13 pm
Billie, you have no idea what you’re talking about. That blog is mostly national stuff. Not exactly fodder for me.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 8:11 pm
Billie
Unbelievable just about sums up the ellen of the tenth blog.
Comment by 10th Indy Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 8:31 pm
Admit it Rich! You are part of the conspiracy!
Comment by John Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 10:05 pm
I was going to mention: http://popgarage.blogspot.com/ but it’s not a political blog, and it’s mine! just for a change, when you need a break or a brake ;’)
Comment by Hazardman Monday, Nov 19, 07 @ 10:19 pm
[…] So many weak cliches and distractions … so few proposals to arm Taiwan with nukes “deeply thought out plans” backed by “knowledgeable people”. […]
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