By Donna Smith
Former U.S. Republican leader Tom DeLay, known as "The Hammer" for his tough tactics on Capitol Hill, hasn't nailed the art of typing but that's not keeping him from a new career as a blogger.
The former U.S. House of Representatives leader's entry into the blogosphere brought an onslaught of nasty responses during a trial run on Sunday, December 10.
"I guess liberals are the only ones around on Sunday afternoons and they inundated us with vile, nasty comments. We pulled it down and cleaned it up," DeLay told Reuters.
In an interview, he said he writes out his submissions for
The blog was formally launched on Monday, December 11, with a call to action for conservatives in which he said his blog could serve a role.
"Our liberal opponents would have Americans believe that they are becoming more conservative; that they are moderating their radical agenda so that they can claim to be the final arbiters of 'mainstream' political thought," DeLay wrote.
"The time has come for a call to action for all conservatives to rededicate ourselves to our principles, to taking direct, grassroots, political action and work together to reclaim America," DeLay added.
Once one of the most powerful politicians in Washington, DeLay was indicted on campaign finance-related charges and resigned from Congress this year. Delay's seat in the House of Representatives was one of those lost in November, when control of Congress slipped away to the Democrats.
DeLay, who denies any wrongdoing, blamed Republican losses on a failure to communicate and said his blog will provide a forum for conservative commentary with links to other blogs on the Internet.
DeLay also started the Grassroots Action and Information Network, which promises to be a force for the conservative movement "and a staunch opponent of secular progressive pressure groups and radical leftist agendas."
The former owner of a pest-control company, Delay was first elected in
1984 in the "Republican revolution" that took control of the House in 1994 for the first time in 40 years.Closely allied with Christian conservatives, DeLay was a prodigious fund raiser and helped push Bush's agenda through Congress.
Stephen Hess, a media expert at Brookings Institution, said blogging was a logical choice for the former congressman as he tries to reclaim power broker status.
"Tom DeLay plans to be active and have a voice and when you make that decision, blogs are an opportunity, and when you think about it a very cheap one at that," Hess said.
According to Technorati, a Web site that tracks blogs, there are currently about 63.2 million blogs on the Internet. Of those about
850,000 are tagged "politics." Technorati says some 175,000 new blogs are created every day.Experts say good bloggers can rise above the crowd to attract a devoted audience.
Roger Simon, a novelist and screen writer who co-founded Pajamasmedia.com, said the blogosphere was a "brutal meritocracy" and offered this advice: "The blogs that are successful are written by people who can write."
Micah Silfry, executive editor of Personal Democracy Forum, which examines the impact of technology on politics, said it is hard for politicians to become bloggers. They are used to talking at people, not to people, and to be successful they have to have real conversations, he said.
"Politicians have figured out mostly defensive tactics to deal with the blogosphere, but not how to join it," Silfry added.
DeLay said he was happy with the response to his blog. "It's pretty amazing," he said. "I am just knocked away by the number of people involved. ... People have a lot to say."
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.
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