Everyone knows there is a brewing Civil War in Iraq.  Yesterday, the GOP.com blog wrote about the good news in Iraq, focusing on how mail carriers are carrying one third the amount of mail they did before the invasion instead of one fith.  I could focus on the absurdity of the blog post, the fact that in that same article on mail carriers there's a discussion of how they are routinely shot at.  Nothing needs to be said about that except that the GOP blogger didn't even link to the article she cited, since that would make it easier for her own GOP loyalist readership to realize she is cherry-picking information.  That's how bad it's gotten.

Now, one thing to note about how these organizations work is that the internet department usually has to fight with the communications department to put out anything that deviates from press release speak.  'Why should I let the blogger write anything' is the question for the Comm Director, and usually when there's no fire drill and a clear sense of how to operate, the middle managers let the bloggers write a little something here or there.  That's how GOP.com seems to work, though I imagine the internet department at the DNC has more clout within the building for a variety of reasons.

Having been in a blogger capacity in a few organizations where the communications department ran the show, I can tell you a few things happen during a panic situation.  In organizations like the RNC where the internet department has little clout, the blog gets silent.  The message hasn't been built yet, and it's very clear that the stakes are too high for some random junior staffer to say a little something like they usually do.  That's what it looks like is happening right now at GOP.com.  They don't know how to respond to the port fiasco and the brewing Civil War in Iraq.  And they are not even allowed to change the subject, probably because the Communications shop is too busy to even approve any new post even though it's been a day since they put anything up.  That must mean things are really bad in there.

Get ready for some new talking points.