Chamber Music

More on the blogosphere echo chamber from Abigail:

I understand James Phillips' concerns, which is why I was quite happy to see this morning that the AP had a story saying that the authenticity of the memos was being questioned. I just went back now to see what the time stamp was on the AP story and I saw stories by The Washington Post, CBS News and The New York Times (whose title actually includes the bit about Killian's son questioning them).

I've read the Post story, and it even quoted Lt.Col Killian's widow as saying that the memos are "a farce."

But this is all from this morning, so they were slow on the uptake again.

However, I do think that it is the local papers who will have to publish the story in order to have the largest effect. I'll check the Youngstown Vindicator tonight.

And I think the bottom line is that this is SO important, yes, even bigger than the AP fiction, that if they come out as being forged, CBS will HAVE to broadcast it and it will be big news. The "great unwashed" won't be able to miss it.

And Susannah:

I have had similar thoughts over the last few weeks, as a relatively new reader of many of these blogs (Hugh Hewitt is my usual jumping-off place).

However, I think your influence widens with a big breaking story like the CBS forgeries. Blog-a-holics like me e-mail links to their politically minded friends who don't normally read blogs. I sent links to Powerline and Hugh to a friend who is a campaign manager for a state race here in GA. I also e-mailed about it to GA political columnist Bill Shipp, to whom I had already responded about his recent column mentioning the Swift Vets, but omitting the bloggers' contribution to that story. I also regularly e-mail your web addresses to relatives. I'm sure I can't be the only one.

I'm sure she's not. The question is whether this story will reach those whose primary sources of news consist of local daily newspapers, weekly news mags (Time, Newsweek, etc.), and network television news. It's looking like it's too big to hold back, but the next few days will be critical to see if it gets wider play.