Power Line
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- This article is on a political subject, specifically a conservative blog in the United States. See Electric power transmission for a wider-known use of this term.
The blog's primary themes are robust support of President Bush's administration (along with focused criticism when they believe Bush has departed from conservative ideology), robust support of the war in Iraq, and strong support for the appointment and confirmation of judicially conservative judges. It is also a strong blog theme to attack the perceived ethical and moral lapses, motives and policies of specific and generalized Democrats and those who they define as "liberals".
The blog focuses mainly on conservative political issues and agenda, but for non-political content, Johnson regularly posts historical articles about a variety of musicians and a broad sampling of folk, blues and jazz artists; Mirengoff posts regular reports on European soccer teams; Hinderaker covers beauty pageants. [link].
They also perceive systematic media bias, frequently assailing the integrity of the Associated Press, Washington Post and New York Times as extremely biased and often dishonest, and routinely challenge their reporting. They also post disagreements with the editorial opinions of their hometown Star Tribune newspaper.
Power Line gained its greatest recognition in the mainstream press in 2004 for reporting on the Killian documents controversy, dubbed "Rathergate," during which bloggers (from Power Line and Little Green Footballs) and their readers contributed their research to coverage of the documents authenticity and whether, at the time, the font used existed or was widely used. This may have contributed to the resignation of CBS anchor Dan Rather and the firing of CBS "60 Minutes Wednesday" producer Mary Mapes. Power Line became part of the Pajamahadeen when criticized by a former CBS News executive.
Power Line came under criticism when it stated that former US President Jimmy Carter was "[on the other side]," which was interpreted to mean 'sympathetic to terrorists'. Hinderaker later clarified his criticisms but also added to his attack, stating Carter was "aligning himself with America's enemies", "never met an anti-American dictator he did not like", and labeled him "a disgrace", and later a "nut".
Power Line theorized repeatedly that the then-alleged GOP talking points memoranda in the Terri Schiavo case were faked and were written by Democrats as a "dirty trick", contending that no Republican would write such a sloppy memo [link]. This was proven false when Brian Darling, legal council for Republican Florida Senator Mel Martinez, admitted that he wrote the memo. Power Line reported this promptly, but also continued to criticize the mainstream media as the main culprits in any misrepresentation, while disclaiming any error on their own part. [link], http://powerlineblog.com/archives/010121.php#010121.
The blog is very supportive of most the Bush agenda, and several times has declared Bush a visionary and even a genius. But Powerline authors were among many conservative bloggers who were critical of the President's 2006 immigration proposals, his support for a limited form of affirmative action at the University of Michigan law school, and his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
Coverage and commentary by Hinderaker, Johnson, and Mirengoff, all alumni of Dartmouth College, was instrumental in the 2005 election of "insurgent" candidates Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki to the Board of Trustees.
Power Line is part of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, which hosts a weekly radio show of the same name in Minnesota.
Awards
- 2004 - "Blog of the Year" Time Magazine
See also
External links
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