Is Rick Santorum Next?
Last night, The Newshour With Jim Lehrer focused on the growing popularity and influence of web logs. Blogs may even have helped bring down Trent Lott by keeping the senator's racist remarks - made at Strom Thurmond's birthday - in the public consciousness long enough for the mainstream media to pick it up. Joan Connell of MSNBC.com noted: "... this story gathered momentum enough in the blogosphere to shake the foundations of traditional journalism, and then the traditional news organizations jumped on board."
Which weblogger led the charge against Lott? It may very well have been Josh Marshall, who authors talkingpointsmemo.com:
"Blogs sort of kept it from dying for a critical period, until the rest of the media paid attention.
"It was one of those things that kind of needed to be repeated and unpacked over time to really get a sense, and so, blogs, I think, were... had all the right characteristics to be able to do that."
Total time lapsed between Lott's remarks and the press making the story front-page news? Just two weeks.
Could Rick Santorum's days be numbered? Doubtful. The GOP was eager to have an excuse to cut Lott loose. Santorum is a rising star. I predict that the party and the president will defend him, to their detriment.
