Dave Winer, on political campaign blogging: “The first candidate that helps voters publish their own stories and ideas and drive the campaign is the one who really captures the energy of the Web.”
I agree, the essence of the Two-Way Web is that everyone has the right to publish. That could almost be “the lost amendment” of the American Constitution 🙂 There are plenty of great ideas out there in the wide world and most of them are just waiting to be discovered. The Web is an enabler of idea discovery.
Besides, who wants to read a politician’s blog. All they seem to do is talk trash. The following is an example of this, from New Zealand’s parliament house. I’m sure it’s the same sort of thing in other countries (ps GM = Genetically Modified).
“Hon Dr Nick Smith: Does the Prime Minister agree with the answer from the Minister for the Environment when asked: ìAre you happy to eat GM products?î, which was ìUm, I donít knowî, and is that Government policy?
Hon Dr Michael Cullen: It is always helpful when people take quotations in their full context. The Minister for the Environment actually said: ìUm, I donít know, I travel quite a lot, I probably have ingested it and not known it.î She went on to say, I thought, with her usual facility with words: ì I tell you, Iíve had a helluva lot more fears about some of the chemicals on our things.î
[and a bit further on]Hon Dr Nick Smith: Given that the Minister in charge of the Environmental Risk Management Authority does not know whether she is happy to eat GM products, can the Prime Minister tell us whether she is happy to eat GM products?
Hon Dr Michael Cullen: I think that the Prime Minister has eaten the Leader of the Opposition on a number of occasions in this House and he is some kind of GM product. [Interruption] I withdraw and apologise.
