BillHobbs.com is a frequently updated blog of original reporting and commentary by Bill Hobbs, a longtime Nashville journalist and media relations adviser. I am currently serving as communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, a job I began on Oct. 29, 2007.
Mark Rose explores how the bloggers caused Harold Ford Jr. to flip-flop and reverse his initial praise of the much-hated Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London eviscerating private property rights in America. Rose:
Ford was hammered by bloggers as word of his Keloendorsement spread around the Internet. On July 8, the Chattanooga Times Free Pressblistered Ford, as well. Ford responded two days later with an op/ed of his own which began "Let me be clear: I support the rights of homeowners and business owners."
On July 12, Ford continued his damage control by responding to a series of questions posed to all Senate candidates by blogger and journalist Bill Hobbs. There, Ford asserted "Unfortunately, the Supreme Court's decision goes too far because it fails to denote the critical difference between rehabilitation with the consent of property owners on the one hand and development solely for corporate profit on the other." Remember that only two weeks earlier Ford had remarked "As long as people are compensated fairly, I can appreciate the decision."
Ford's image rehabilitation tour stopped by the Lebanon Democrat on July 18, in which his anti-Kelo piece appeared on the editorial page. Know that without the fallout following his Roundtable appearance, that editorial would never have appeared.
Although Ford's inner beliefs on the power of eminent domain may not have changed, his political position certainly has. I credit blogs for running rings around Ford, and more-or-less forcing him into a flip-flop. Ford is politically astute enough to know that he is a liberal running for public office in a red state. Amidst the vociferous public outcry following the Kelo decision, Ford found himself on the wrong side, and bloggers wouldn't let him off the hook.
Ford's new position means that Tennessee's entire congressional delegation is opposed to the Kelo ruling, and is exploring legislation to limit the scope of the court's atrocious decision. At the root of it all, however, is the growing power of alternative media to help shape public policy.
Links added by me.
Read the whole thing. Mark Rose operates one of the best political blogs in Tennessee. Read him often.
You can find all of my coverage of the Kelo decision here.
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