BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

February 18, 2004

You can't smash reform...
: ...but Iran's mullah's keep trying. Hoder reports that they've shut down two reformist newspapers.
But there are plenty of reformist blogs.

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Shhhh
: Om Malik gets an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) that specificially forbids blogging.

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How to join the revolution
: Glenn Reynolds gives good advice on how to join this citizens' media revolution.

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Bye-bye Howard
: Dean just posted his farewell on his blog:

Today my candidacy may come to an end--but our campaign for change is not over....
In the coming weeks, we will launching a new initiative to continue the campaign you helped begin. Please continue to come to www.deanforamerica.com for updates and news as our new initiative develops....
This Party and this country needs change, and you have already begun that process. I want you to think about how far we have come. The truth is: change is tough. There is enormous institutional pressure in our country against change. There is enormous institutional pressure in Washington against change, in the Democratic Party against change. Yet, you have already started to change the Party and together we have transformed this race. Along the way, we’ve engaged hundreds of thousands of new Americans in the political process, as witnessed by this year’s record participation in the primaries and caucuses.
The fight that we began can and must continue. Although my candidacy for president may end today, the most important goal remains defeating George W. Bush in November, and I hope that you will join me in doing everything we can to support the Democrats this fall. From the earliest days of our campaign, I have said that the power to change Washington rests not in my hands, but in yours. Always remember, you have the power to take our country back.

Howard Dean will be a trivia question in no time.

: Good riddance. When Dean was the frontrunner -- so annointed by reporters, not voters -- I feared for the outcome of the election. I heard nothing but Dean and his minions' anger and hostility and their desire to change, change, change for the sake of change. I thought he was hijacking the Democratic party and liberalism with his cultish following and narrow-minded focus. I assumed that he'd get the nomination and not the election.
But I should have had more faith in the intelligence, judgment, and wisdom of the people.
The voters rejected Howard Dean and his message of anger and hostility.
Good for you IOWA and NEW HAMPSHIRE and ARIZONA and MISSOURI and NORTH DAKOTA and OKLAHOMA and NEW MEXICO and MICHIGAN and WISCONSIN! "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

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Oh, hi, Al...
: The most amusing phone call of coming days will be Al Gore trying to endorse Kerry or Edwards. They, of course, should run far away fast.

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Dean paupers
: I wonder how many Dean paupers there are. Trippi tells the story of the person who sold a bike to give the money to the campaign. I'll just bet you have college students who gave their book money to Howard. They're grown-up and it's their right and privilege to do so. Still, the social pressure to give and give again was strong and I'll bet that today, there are a lot of Deaniacs who sacrificed for the campaign and now wonder whether it was worth it.

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Iranian blogs in the news
: AFP discovers the political power of Iranian weblogs:

If Iran's hardline clergy has had little trouble barring reformist candidates from parliament, it is finding it much tougher to keep dissent from spreading on the increasingly busy Internet.
Dozens of Farsi-language political websites have sprung up catering to Iranian web surfers hungry for news and views that go beyond the austere, official line of the Islamic Republic.
And while the ruling clerics look certain to tighten their hold on the political establishment in Friday's parliamentary election, they are fighting a losing battle to keep dissident websites in check, experts said.
"They are closing them down left and right," said one Internet executive who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But you close one, 10 more open."

Howard Dean and Joe Trippi didn't start the weblog political movement. Hossein Derakhshan and the Iranians did.

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Dean, toasting
: Dean's making an announcement at 1p today. Already, the Deaniacs are sitting shiva for the campaign on the blog.
: Dean's campaign obit from the AP.

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Blogs on the air
: Chris Lydon interviewed Iranian blog pioneer Hossein Derakhshan yesterday; sadly, I can't get the audio file to work.
Meanwhile, Boston.com reports that Chris' Minnesota Public Radio gig could turn into something bigger with blogs and broadcast:

It's just possible that Chris Lydon's current gig as a fill-in host on Minnesota Public Radio's "Midmorning" show could lead to bigger things. According to spokeswoman Suzanne Perry, MPR -- which produces such significant national programming as "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Marketplace" -- is starting to think about developing a national show about politics and blogging that would be hosted by Lydon, the former host of WBUR-FM's "The Connection." "We're always exploring new national programs," Perry said. Reached yesterday in Minnesota, Lydon said, "First, it's not that cold. Second, there are real radio professionals [here]. Third, they're wildly interested, as I am, in the Internet extensions of media."

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