Click here for DaTechGuyBlog.com Same Fedoras, Same Cannoli different domain.
Please Help DaTechGuy pay Da Bills
Click for the latest show
Dan tells us a little about his blog Catholic Spiritual Direction
You may note that the length of the videos vary widely. As a rule I come up with my questions totally on the fly and on occasion it just doesn’t come.
The on the fly method prevents one from trying to “drive” an interview to get a desired answer or result the “ambush”. This way things can go where the answers can lead you with the disadvantage listed above.
RcSpiritualdirection.com btw is the address but not the name of the blog.
One of the first principles of when you have something to hide is that sunlight tends to cause annoyance.
Nick Green is seriously annoyed:
Some believe you have a particular bias or agenda if you refuse to cover a story. Some people believe the fact that you decide to cover a story means you have some sort of bias.
In short, you can’t win either way.
So imagine my surprise today to find I’m the victim of an Andrew Beitbart wannabe, a blogger with a clear agenda of his own who has decided in his hypocrisy I have one of my own.
I had intended to leave comment there but as the page keeps erroring out I will post here something here instead.
Nick, you are a reporter who is paid to do this for a living, so perhaps you might be unaware of a few things, so allow me a mere blogger to educate you on a few things:
Robert Stacy McCain is a reporter who also blogs, he has been a reporter for a very long time. If you were familiar with his work you would know this. I on the other hand am a blogger who writes a few articles on occasion. If you want to call anyone an “Andrew Breitbart wannabe” it would be me not him. Oh an although he is a big boy Robert Stacy is a personal friend of mine so I take it ill if you wish to disparage him for telling the truth.
Oh and BTW “Andrew Breitbart Wanabee” is not a pejorative outside of your circle. He is successful, runs several sites with many writers working under him and manages to do that in the teeth of a media that hates him. Yeah I’d be Andrew Breitbart like a shot.
“Blogger” is not a pejorative term either, no matter how much you want it to be. Bloggers have been breaking stories that the Mainstream Media (that would be you) have ignored for the last decade. One prominent Example, John Edwards Story by Mickey Kaus, he was on it for a year when the rest of the media couldn’t care less. Bloggers with video camera have been covering stories that the MainStream media have ignored or spun for years. Another story that you guys never bothered to cover. The interesting procedures for verifying credit card donations by the Obama camp during the 2008 election.
What? You never heard of it? Neither did your readers because the MSM (that would be you) choose not to cover the story. The lawyers/bloggers did instead.
Yes Robert Stacy McCain is a conservative, I am a conservative, in fact I am a registered (gasp) republican! There is a long tradition of “partisian” journalism that has existed since day one of newspapers. Perhaps you missed that day in school or attended public schools. Either way I don’t keep my biases secret. People can choose to talk to me or not on that basis, and can judge my coverage of events such as the MayDay march in Boston accordingly, vs reporters who hold off the record lunches with the White house they are supposed to cover.
Now as to the e-mails, as Robert Stacy said there are occasions when people e-mail in anger but you must get a whole lot more e-mail than me. If I get an e-mail I don’t want I delete it. It’s real simple. I don’t have your experience but people you burn tend to no longer talk to you. When your primary job is to get people to talk to you, even if they don’t want to that would be “bad”.
Finally I actually should be grateful to you, thanks to your e-mail and torrid schedule I was not only able to get an excellent and popular post. But was able to score an interview with the candidate that you had no time for from 3000 miles away, get a second post and a column in the examiner out of it. Now I don’t know you as a person, you might be a nice guy and a hard worker, but if you want to keep dropping the ball on the Mattie Fein campaign, I’ll do what I can by phone to pick it up from the bay state.
…compares the two districts Ma-01 and Ca36 and their candidates Bill Gunn in Ma01 and Mattie Fein in CA36 and the respective coverage or lack thereof in the local papers in the communities they serve:
This year however there are some similarities. The economic slowdown is affecting the families of Southern California just as much as the workers of the Bay State and in both districts, indeed all over the country candidates are emerging to challenge the status quo.
In CA36 Republican Mattie Fein has taken up the mantle. In Ma01 Republican Bill Gunn is mounting the challenge. Their situations are similar.
But it is the differences that that tell the real story.
When local newspapers are less interested in reporting their local news then bloggers 3000 miles away you know you have a problem.
Stacy has a brief blub at the American Spectator and Ed Driscoll gives advice to A whopper jr Newsweek.
Doing the job the main stream media is is paid for but apparently chooses not to I spent 15 minutes talking with Republican Candidate for Ca-36 Mattie Fein:
On The Torrance Daily Breeze’s decision to not cover the campaign:
“I’m Concerned, this isn’t about looking for favorable coverage, it’s about looking for fair play. There are serious issues in the district and the voters deserve the issues on the table.”
The Irony of the Daily Breeze belittling her concerns over Harmon’s purchase of a Whopper Jr Newsweek while otherwise ignoring her campaign is not lost on her.
On Jane Harman Ducking her:
Jane Harman said she understood that the seat she has held for 16 years is not an entitlement but has ducked our attempts to debate her and avoided town hall meetings within our own district. We have also sent a letter to the Torrance Daily Breeze about sponsoring such debates, we have not received a reply.
Mattie Fein Ca 36 in my Fedora Photo Robert Stacy McCain
Jobs is the issue, people are concerned about their jobs and the job situation of their families and friends. We have also heard from Democrats who have expressed concern about Harmon’s rough relationship with the speaker and its effects on the district
On how she has been received:
We are very excited by the response we have gotten at events from the voters. Democrats, Republicans and undeclared voters are in the district are ready for change
Shades of Ma-01. A democratic district with an incumbent who has held office for nearly two decades and a dynamic candidate (Bill Gunn) shaking things up. The difference? The local papers don’t leave the coverage of the race to bloggers 3000 miles away.
Update: Photo added courtesy of Robert Stacy McCain. How bad is it when my fedora has more of a presence in a California congressional race than the local paper?
