The Blogs Seem to Have Calculated Their Descent with Amazing Subtlety

Two years of mocking the Democratic blogs for donating to loser candidates has taken its toll; Republican blogs want to donate to their own loser candidates. Introducing Rightroots, an alliance of conservative bloggers who've created a list of endorsed candidates and a handy venue for bloggers to donate to their campaigns. Says Ed Morrissey:

We hope that all Republican candidates win their races. However, we wanted to focus on competitive races or on seats that have a broader impact on national politics. Obviously, we still encourage people to contribute to other Republicans; it's just that we feel contributions in these races will have the most impact.

The list is actually pretty smartly selected. The only Rightroots candidates already being helped by the national GOP are the Senate candidates and around half of the House candidates. The rest are longshot candidates for whom tens of thousands of blogbucks would make a difference. A good example is Diana Irey, the wife of a contractor who got a sweet deal with the Iraqi government. The GOP isn't taking her campaign against Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) terribly seriously, but getting warbloggers to throw money at a Murtha opponent is like getting a dog to drool when a bell rings.

But that's not the real issue here. The issue is their logo:

Why is the elephant ejecting the blood-red vines grown by the alien machines in "The War of the Worlds"? Is that a winning Republican message for the fall? "Vote GOP: Get Eviscerated By Extraterrestrial Tripods!" I guess it worked for Kang.

I groused about the politicization of blogging in the July issue of Reason.