Next: On Virgil Goode. Previously: Virginia Blogosphere Sample, Part Two: The Smackdown.

Scandal Body Count Rises

445 words.

I’m finding this “Waldo scandal” and its aftermath really entertaining. I must be incredibly bored this week. Anyway, I apologize for talking about this again, but it’s like watching a train wreck. :)

I don’t read too many blog comments so I’ve probably missed half the story, but here’s the body count from what I can gather.:

  • There was a big fight in the Virginia blogosphere over Sen. Goode’s Islamaphobia.
  • Waldo booted Staunton blogger General Grevious’ Dog from the Virginia Political Blogs for posting terrorist propaganda.
  • Smart conservative bloggers denounced the move while respecting his right to do so; other conservative bloggers, mainly from Staunton, complained about free speech violations and intellectual property rights.
  • Waldo changed the “Virginia Political Blogs” aggregator to “Waldo’s Virginia Political Blogroll.”
  • JC Wilmore “outed” alleged lawyer John Maxfield of The Journal of the Common Man, a Dog supporter and fellow Staunton blogger, as just another kid with a pseudonym.
  • Waldo booted The Journal of the Common Man from his blogroll. I don’t know why, but probably because it wasn’t a very good blog and Waldo thankfully has high standards.
  • General Grevious’ Dog shut down, because of a “direct threat.”
  • Even as I’m typing this, John Maxfield’s “Journal of the Common Man” has somehow morphed into John Maxfield’s “General Grevious’ Dog.” Weird, but not entirely unexpected.
  • The Old Dominion Blog Alliance has a somewhat diminished reputation, seeing as how they took in SWAC Girl, In-Politically Correct, RightsideVA, General Grevious’ Dog, and Journal of the Common Man, all supposedly Staunton-area conservative blogs.
  • Everyone is looking at SWAC Girl to see what her response will be. We’re waiting… (Ha! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
  • Long-time Virginia bloggers are waxing nostalgic about the past, present, and future of the Virginia blogosphere.
  • The respected Virginia bloggers are still respected, and the bottom feeders are still trying to capitalize on others’ success.
  • Oh, and despite all the distractions, Sen. Goode is still Islamaphobic. He should get some help for that.

P.S. The greatest quote by far comes from Cory Chandler, in an eloquently written piece entitled The World Turned Upside Down: “No blogger is forced to be included in [Waldo’s] aggregator; anyone may decline. Perhaps Mr. Maxfield will do so. If Mr. Maxfield thinks he does me a favor by inflicting his content on me through the aggregator-by “sharing [his] intellectual property with [me]” (and the term “intellectual property” seems very broad if it applies to Mr. Maxfield’s drivel)-I hope that he does decline and urge him to do so with utmost speed.”

(Updated slightly with more links and some italics.)

Thomas Krehbiel writes The Krehbiel Strikes Back, a moderate commentary on news, media, politics, and culture.

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Next: On Virgil Goode. Previously: Virginia Blogosphere Sample, Part Two: The Smackdown.

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