McCain Doesn't Hate Bloggers. Progressive Media USA Hates McCain.

He didn’t say it with Buzz Bissinger’s rabid hostility, and the clip doesn’t let us see the actual context, and he was obviously joking, but John McCain said he hates bloggers

The line comes from a Town Hall Meeting in Merrimack, New Hampshire on December 29, 2007. The recording comes from YouTuber IssueAlliance, whose account has over 700 soundbytes from the Republican presidential hopeful, taped at public appearances along his campaign trail.

Not all are insidiously edited like the above. Most break down McCain’s speeches into digestible chunks, aimed to elucidate the candidate’s stance on major issues. It’s a resourceful database, but it’d be better if it didn’t have a partisan agenda, or at least admitted its biases.

IssueAlliance’s YouTube page fails to note that it’s a pseudonym for Progressive Media USA, “a non-profit organization working to bring about progressive change by informing the American people about the risks of conservative policies and leaders and by ensuring that progressive voices are heard in the public debate.”

Apparently, that translates to planning a $40 million soft-money media campaign attacking McCain, a number of ads likening McCain to George W., at least one other anti-Conservative YouTube account that lacks any mention of its overlying affiliations, and being so mismanaged that you’re reprimanded by the Obama campaign.

I’m no ardent McCain supporter, but it’s absurd when an organization that preaches accuracy and transparency operates duplicitously. New media’s a powerful political tool. Let’s use it responsibly.