Reflecting for a moment on bloggy history, I remember a time in the good old days when it was controversial that people on the internets could say whatever the hell they wanted, and there were no editors or whatever to object. Journalists tried to shove bloggers into their own paradigm, actually having panels on "blogger ethics," and the FEC was, for a time,* about to regulate all political speech off the internet. It was a bit crazy to have to go in front of the FEC, which admittedly by that point had become more sympathetic, and argue that Some Guy With A Website should have unfettered unregulated political speech in the same way that General Electric mass media subsidiaries do. During this time I realized that some in the official campaign finance reform community were actually interested in regulating speech, not just money, but fortunately they never quite got their way. Admittedly more surreal than testifying in front of the FEC was testifying to Bob Ney's (who I call NEYNEY) committee.
*More due to ignorance than malice.
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