D.D. 12/02/05

There has been some speculation among the political blogosphere that this blog is run by a "high ranking" official in the Bredesen administration. At the center of the controversy is Sharon Cobb, who has been investigating the matter and has filed an request for information with the State to determine the individual using the computer of a commentator on her blog and others defending Bredesen's disenrollment of TennCare recepients. Here are some highlights from pundits on the issue:

This isn't about TennCare, (though it's certainly a concern of mine) it's about ethics and values and YOUR TAXES being used to blog. - Sharon Cobb

Cobb doesn't have a beef with state employees blogging from state computers. She has a beef with a particular blogger posting from a particular computer. Let's not grandstand and obscure the issue. Unless Miss Cobb is scouring sitemeters looking to root out state employees on blogs, we have to assume that this is personal. -A. C. Kleinheider

If Bredesen OR someone in his administration is knowingly allowing a person to go out in an attempt to anonymously counter the message of those the administration doesn't agree with then it becomes nothing more than state sponsored propaganda...on your tax dollar. - Blake Wylie

I find it utterly astonishing that anyone could take a serious, objective look at this dippy little blog (Bring the Noise that is) and operate under the assumption that it could be some penetrate-the-blogosphere strategy by the Bredesen Administration. - Roger Abramson

And, as for blogging on my dime, are we really going to police the behavior of state employees to that extent? Is it okay for them to go to the bathroom on my dime? Can a state employee flirt with the guy down the hall on my dime? Make personal phone calls? Just how inhuman are state employees supposed to be? No one sits at their desk all day and only does the work she's supposed to do. Everyone needs some mental health breaks. Who cares if a state employee clears his mind by blogging?" - Aunt B.

I'm more interested in whether the Bredesen administration, or some part of it, has decided on a policy of stealth engagement of the blogosphere, as that would be a major development in the history of the Tennessee political blogosphere. - Bill Hobbs

I have to agree with Bill Hobbs here. If this is a campaign on the part of the administration to engage the blogosphere, then the administration understands the power of the blogosphere in pushing stories to larger-audience media. For one thing, Sharon Cobb aptly points out that some of the investigative reporting that she reported on some time ago concerning the political nature of the TennCare disenrollment strategy are now making it to mainstream media. Just a few days ago, I posted a quote that I think captures the essence of the power of the political blogosphere:

"The beauty of bloggers is they have an audience of the right people. If they break news, then insiders in politics and mainstream media are likely to pick it up." - Kirsten Searer, Nevada Democratic Party

If Nevada Democrats "gets it," I don't think it's a stretch to assume that Tennessee Democrats get it too. For one thing, the Tennessee Dem's site Go4Truth is innovative and a good resource for serving as an official hub of interaction with the blogosphere. Go4Truth is an offensive method of pushing message into the blogosphere- does it take that much more imagination to assume that you would need a defensive method as well- which is the function that "Hitman" may serve. Consider that all of his contributions to the political blogosphere seem to be thus far, defenses against charges of the "TennCaregensia" as he calls them. If you recognize that the political blogosphere is a conduit from which buzz flows to larger audience media, then you would want to put a buffer in that line somewhere to prevent stories from picking up traction. And that's exactly what Hitman has done, especially in the case in question.

Of course, there is a natural tendecy to see connections where none exists. There is some merit to Roger Abramson's comments that no politican or political thinkers are this savvy, especially as far as the blogosphere is concerned. Which leads to the conclusion that Hitman merely happens to be employed by the State and merely happens to think that Phil Bredesen's leadership on TennCare has been a great benefit for the state. I'm sure that working for the Bredesen administration gives you a natural tendency to agree with the Bredesen administration, but that certainly doesn't prove, as pointed out, that Hitman is anything other than "some guy with a blog site blowing off some steam like the rest of us," as Abramson said.