Clearing the Cache: George Allen, Not a Real Big Fan of the Internet
BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, May 27 2010
Credit: thisisbossi - Former Virginia Senator George Allen holds the distinction in this corner of the world of having seen his political career go down with an alacrity and certain that perhaps wouldn't have been possible in a pre-Internet age, when a YouTube video caught him calling a opposing campaign aide "macaca" and welcoming the young Virginia-born Indian-American staffer to America. In his new book out this week, "What Washington Can Learn from the World of Sports," (Regnery) Allen insists that he didn't know what the word meant, though he's still sorry he used it. "If I had known the nickname could be considered a racial slur," Allen writes, "I would not have said it. But that was how it was characterized. The poor judgment was mine."
- Also and relatedly from the Allen book, it turns out that one of the lessons that politics can learn from sports is to quit gathering into little groups and whinging. Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells' hanging of a locker room poster slamming players who do exactly that is, in Allen's telling, an allegory for the modern online world. "For with the rise of insular internet networks that serve as 'echo chambers' for certain political viewpoints," writes Allen, "our political culture today has a lot of whiners, complainers, and other aggrieved parties who can find a sympathetic ear very easily. And this, in turn, can prompt some in out day to feign offense at the drop of a hat (like those 'floppers' on the soccer field who try to coax the referee into calling a penalty against their opponent by pretending to be the victim of some horrendous violation. Representative democracy isn't always pretty. Naturally, imperfect people will act imperfectly."
- Greater Greater Washington's David Alpert sees DC's restored street car funding as a social media win.
- To the great shock of the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, people are writing crazy things on the House Republican caucus' new America Speaking Out platform. I dunno, "Waffles are always a good idea. Anyone else up for some waffles?" seems to me like a worthy suggestion.
- A trio of former Fortune magazine editors are starting up a conference centered on the idea that technology can solve the worlds problems. Or, as they put it, how "humanity can invent its way out of the messes it has helped create."
- Google adds half to its lobbying budget.
- Ben Scott, lead policy guy for the media advocacy group Free Press, is leaving to work on "innovation" at the State Department.
- GSA -- administrators of the federal government, more or less, has picked ChallengePost as its favored platform for government contests.
- Gawker poaches a political editor from Wonkette.
- And here's a rather odd exploration of whether Wikileaks' Julian Assange served as a muse for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" author Stieg Larsson, and other mysteries. (via Nat Torkington)