Local partisan blogger walks back insinuations about two very different CMs

He's been attacking Karl Dean's critics for so long that yesterday's salvo against CM Jamie Hollin should have come as no surprise to anyone, but partisan blogger and aspiring candidate for big cheese of Tennessee Young Democrats, Sean Braisted clearly overreached in his latest digs.

Those of us who actually paid attention to the Metro Council meeting debate on Hollin's co-sponsored non-discrimination ordinance (and make no mistake that he was one of the primary architects of the bill motivated by the sad episode at Belmont) recall that Michael Craddock made no effort to argue against the bill. Now, I've been as critical of the Madison CM since 2005 as any other local blogger; but Craddock not rising to speak on a polarizing and controversial bill is about as regular as an Alberta Clipper through Ashland City in August. So, you long-time council watchers will note that Craddock's silence on nondiscrimination when given a golden opportunity is remarkable.

But the facts didn't stop Braisted:

Hollin [is] working to help Michael Craddock become Nashville's next mayor.  Now, its no secret that there isn't much love between Hollin and Dean, but while the mayor might've been a bit slow walking up to the plate on the Contractor NDO, Craddock was actively working to oppose this, and other measures intended to give gay men and women a certain level of protection in their jobs.

Everything about Craddock indicates a deeply homophobic man.  Why Hollin, who clearly has a disdain for this element of our political society, would actively work to help make the man mayor, is beyond me.

Glory be. Hollin is working to help Craddock beat Dean. In other news, politics makes strange bedfellows. Take Craddock's fellow conservative Charlie Tygard, who also voted against Hollin's ordinance: Tygard is widely acknowledged to be one of Karl Dean's staunchest supporters even going so far as to say so in a recent Tennessean story. But he opposes nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. And yet, none of Braisted's blog trolls are going after Tygard or Dean.

Moreover, Braisted played the good soldier and soft-pedaled Dean's actual slow walk to nondiscrimination. The Mayor's original stand was to oppose based on the misguided notion that "less regulation is good." Dean's come-to-Jesus moment on Hollin's NDO afterwards was patently arbitrary: Mike Curb told him he supported it. So, if Mike Curb told him he was ambivalent on it or opposed it, the Mayor would have fought Hollin, and thus, sided with council conservatives like Tygard and Craddock (who voted against Hollin on NDO).

So after blogging, Braisted vouchsafed an audience with Hollin whereupon learning that his information was wrong. Instead of writing the standard "Correction," Braisted wrote an update indicating to me that it was Hollin, not the blogger correcting misinformation. Note the mealymouthed wording:

*Updated: After a lengthy and informative conversation with Councilman Hollin, he rightfully corrected this statement about Craddock actively working to oppose the contractor NDO. In fairness, he didn't speak out on the matter as some of the other conservative council-members did. He has, however, actively opposed other pro-gay rights measures on the council.

As did Karl Dean's "deeply homophobic" man, Charlie Tygard. But Dean gets a pass from Braisted.

A couple of years ago I couldn't convince Braisted about the importance for neighborhoods of council meetings and of zoning and planning meetings. Nowadays he's in with both feet, never having met a developer's tear-down plan or a Mayor's growth scheme he didn't like. My guess is that his newfound interest correlates to his party aspirations and helping his Dem friends out where he can. I'm sure the Mayor's Office honchos appreciate his willingness to play whack-a-mole on their critics because they've made it clear that the Mayor won't be taking this kind of low road.

I just wonder if we are going to see Braisted ask Re-elect Dean to pay him as a campaign consultant in the same way CM Jerry Maynard did. He is certainly putting in the hours at his blog.

Pandering to the Anonymous Mob

PiTW demonstrates the more repugnant dimensions of blogging by listing and feeding Tennessee's internet trolls.

Aunt B suggests that the trolls may not be independent but beholden to mobilized-for-battle party factions. If that is the case, then PiTW is enabling some ugly partisan behavior rather than providing readers a forum to crowdsource news.


UPDATE: Southcomm looking to get in on some of that anonymous echo chamber action. Up those pageloads, boys.

A Troll Grows in East Germantown

I discovered tonight that I am being "tracked" by a blogger in East Germantown who calls me his enemy, without ever having met me. I also see that he has linked me in name as a "socialist busy body," which would make me something close to a Stalinist Gladys Kravitz?

Bush Administration Dragnetting Phone Records, and AT&T Helped

On the heels of news that the Bush administration has obtained phone records from AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth (otherwise known as "AT&T"), George W. Bush told a Mississippi audience yesterday, "We've not been ... trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans." But according to my dictionary, "trolling" includes "to patrol ... in search for someone or something."

Hence, the Bush administration has indeed been trolling through innocent people's phone records using an ends-justifies-means rationale without sanction from a judge to do so. To make matters worse, the branch of govern-ment closest to millions of innocent Americans, charged with defending the rights of the same, has done nothing to check or balance the Bush administra-tion's end-around the Constitution: Congress has either sat on its hands or rubber stamped or defended the President against the best interests of the American people. Even Tennessee Senator Bill Frist shielded Bush from criticism, saying, "I strongly agree with the president of the United States that our ultimate responsibility is the safety and security of the American people." Of course, why would we expect any better from the same Tennessee Senator who accused a fellow Senator of giving comfort to terrorists for arguing that the President is not obeying the rule of law. Kudos to Republican Senator Arlen Specter (PA), who says that he intends to summon officers from AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth (otherwise known as AT&T) to testify before Congress. According to reports, the Bush administration is cronied up with AT&T's Senior VP and with Verizon's General Counsel. And cronyism tends to signal abuse.

I called our residential phone carrier, BellSouth (otherwise known as "AT&T") this morning in order to request a list of our phone records that were either strong-armed or willingly turned over to the government during the dragnet of innocents. As I was waiting for someone to pick up, I got that recorded message that my call would be recorded "for quality assurance and training purposes." And I couldn't resist adding under my breath, "or for the President to troll in case you don't stay in your place, peon." The living BellSouth representative who picked up told me that our records could probably not be obtained by me without a subpoena. I told her that I understood, but that I still wanted to make the request to the appropriate BellSouth office. She gave me the address (Administrator-Subpoena Compliant, P.O. Box 54407, Atlanta, GA, 30308), and I intend to follow up. I also contacted Qwest, the lone carrier that did not turn over customer phone records to the government, in order to inquire about switching to their service. However, they told me that they only provided long distance service in Tennessee. If they offered residential service here, we would definitely bail on our newest big brother, BellSouth (otherwise known as "AT&T").