Power Line
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- See Electric power transmission for the more common use of this term.
Power Line is an American political blog, providing news and commentary from a conservative point-of-view. It is written by three lawyers who attended Dartmouth College together: John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. The site gained wide recognition for its role in covering the Killian documents scandal that led to the departure of Dan Rather from the CBS Evening News. Power Line is among the most popular collaborative blogs active today.
The blog celebrated its fifth anniversary in late May, 2007.
In 2004, Power Line was named "Blog of the Year" by Time magazine.[1] When AOL added blogs to their news website, Power Line was one of the five blogs included and its authors plan to post unique content every day on the AOL site.[2] A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Power Line as one of the five best-read national conservative blogs.[3]
The authors also write for newspapers and magazines, appear on radio and television. Hinderaker and Johnson are fellows of the Claremont Institute.
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[edit] Political positions
Power Line's authors typically support President George W. Bush's administration and the "Neoconservative" agenda, especially the Iraq war and the War on Terrorism. But they have criticized the President for being insufficiently conservative on issues including immigration and affirmative action. The blog advocates the nomination and confirmation of judicially conservative judges, and regularly features analysis of court decisions. Power Line often vigorously criticizes Democrats and liberals for dishonesty, lack of morals, bad judgment and disloyalty to the United States.They occasionally attacks Republicans for similar shortcomings, such as Senator John McCain for his position advocating the US should not torture suspected "terrorists" or "enemy combatants." ([4]),([5]).
The Power Line authors believe the media suffer from systemic liberal bias because too many reporters and editors are partisan liberals. They frequently question the integrity of organizations such as Associated Press, the BBC, Reuters, and the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Power Line authors have repeatedly advocated criminal prosecution of the CIA and media outlets that publish national security information. They also post disagreements with the editorial opinions of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, home to two of the Power Line authors.
[edit] Rathergate
Power Line gained widespread recognition for its 2004 reporting on the Killian documents controversy relating to a CBS report on George Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, starting with a post entitled "The Sixty-First Minute".[6] Conservatives (including Power Line, National Review Online and Little Green Footballs) used the term "Rathergate" in referring to the controversy. The blogs and their readers contributed research in assessing the authenticity of the documents, presenting evidence of forgery. Power Line helped advance the story, triggering coverage by mainstream media outlets. Dan Rather apologized and resigned from the CBS anchor chair. Power Line became identified with the Pajamahadeen when criticized by a former CBS News executive.
- See also: Killian documents and Killian documents authenticity issues
[edit] Schiavo memo
Power Line speculated that the Republican talking points Schiavo memo was most likely forged by Democrats as a political dirty trick.[7] When the memo turned out to be written by a Republican aide, Brian Darling, Power Line acknowledged the revelation, but continued to criticize the mainstream media for suggesting the memo was a "a product of the party's leadership or had an official status."[8] Critics accuse Power Line of using innuendo and guilt by association on this and other occasions.[citation needed]
[edit] President Carter
Power Line frequently criticizes former US President Jimmy Carter. They have called him a "nut" and have implied he is disloyal to the U.S. when they described him as being "on the other side" after the Iraqi legislative election, January 2005, which Carter had said "would not take place". Hinderaker later wrote that Carter "started aligning himself with America's enemies", citing an alleged request that the Soviet Union expand Jewish emigration to help Carter in the 1980 Presidential election, and added
- In more recent years, Carter has never met an anti-American dictator he didn't like. Whether it was Castro, Ortega, Arafat...whoever. And he used the occasion of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to attack the current American government...just as those who awarded the prize had expected. No class.
- ...
- Jimmy Carter is a disgrace. We've said so before, and we'll continue saying so as long as he merits the criticism.
[edit] Other coverage
Coverage and commentary by Hinderaker, Johnson, and Mirengoff, all alumni of Dartmouth College, was instrumental in the 2005 election of "insurgent" candidates Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki to the Board of Trustees.
The blog also covers some lighter material. Johnson regularly posts historical articles about musicians, Mirengoff reports on European soccer teams and Hinderaker covers beauty pageants. [9]. Hinderaker also hosts a weekly radio show as part of the Northern Alliance Radio Network in Minnesota (Johnson left the show in February of 2005, but is an occasional guest).
