Bush and Blogosphere

From The Washington Post:

President Reaches Out to a Friendly Circle in New Media

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 16, 2007; Page A07

The day after his prime-time speech on Iraq, President Bush sat down for a round-table interview not with traditional White House reporters but with bloggers who focus on military issues, including two participating by video link from Baghdad.

Judging from some of the accounts of the Friday meeting, the president offered up little news. Here is what one of the 10 bloggers, Ward Carroll of Military.com, described from his notes as some of Bush's most notable comments:• "This strategy is my strategy."

• "I'm defining a horizon of peace."

• "I don't mind people attacking me. . . . That's politics . . . but I do mind people impugning the integrity of our generals."

Still, the hour-long meeting in the Roosevelt Room offered Bush another opportunity to break through what he sees as the filter of the traditional news media, while also reaching out to the providers of a new source of information for soldiers, their families and others who follow the conflict in Iraq closely.

"More and more we are engaging in the new-media world, and these are influential people who have a big following," said Kevin F. Sullivan, the White House communications chief."

Read more...


And read a commentary from Harper's Magazine:

The Bush Administration has utterly botched the war, but it does demonstrate “intelligent, razor sharp” planning when it comes to putting on media lovefests.