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Bloggers and the State of the Union Address: Surprising Results From Historic Reaction Survey

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 February 2006, 15:00 CST

New Media Strategies, the industry pioneer and market leader in Online Market Intelligence, Brand Promotion and Brand Protection services, conducted a unique survey of reaction among bloggers to the President's State of the Union address.

Surveying the most influential liberal and conservative political blogs and communities, NMS research uncovered the following surprising results:

 --  Most conservatives love this line: "Second guessing is not a     strategy."      --  Many conservatives also rally around the President's defense of his     NSA program, arguing that this is a losing campaign issue for Democrats.     One Bush quote particularly noted was "I have authorized a terrorist     surveillance program to aggressively pursue the international     communications of suspected al Qaeda operatives and affiliates to and from     America."      --  But some conservatives cringe at this line: "We hear claims that     immigrants are somehow bad for the economy -- even though this economy     could not function without them." Some conservatives wonder why Bush was     praising immigration rather than addressing the problem of illegal     immigration.      --  Among liberals, meanwhile, President Bush's speech fails to generate     much outrage over specific language. Most liberal bloggers are keeping     their criticism general. The reason: many liberal bloggers feel as though     Bush's speech was just "More of the same," varying little from his other     State of the Union addresses.      --  Specific liberal criticism centers on a lack of a plan for Iraq and,     as one blogger puts it, "bizarre and ridiculous" talk about cloning,     embryos, and human-animal hybrids.      --  Both sides highlight the President's direct appeal to the Iranian     people.  While some bloggers feel he was being unrealistic by saying,     "closest of friends," others label it an unexpected and welcome gesture of     nonpartisan behavior. Also, both sides took interest in Bush's assertion     that America is addicted to oil. A FreeRepublic blogger writes: "He's     right. Unfortunately for us, democrats will not see this until either oil     from the Mideast is held for ransom and used as a bargaining chip for what     terrorists want. Then, of course, it will be the fault of Republicans."

Many conservative and liberal bloggers do unite on one hot-button, side-show issue. They both make Cindy Sheehan a top issue to rally around. Sheehan's detainment prior to the address has conservative bloggers charging Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) with conspiring to disrupt the speech by inviting Sheehan as her guest. A blogger in Redstate writes: "That's what Rep. Woolsey wanted. That's what Cindy Sheehan wanted. They wanted to turn the State of the Union Address into a frigging circus." Liberals accuse the Bush administration of suppressing her first amendment rights "like the Gestapo." Cindy Sheehan herself writes in DailyKos: "Officer Weight put in his report that I took off my jacket and stood up to show my shirt off... Well, no, I unzipped my jacket and didn't stand up until he told me to... if taking off a jacket is being disruptive, then what do we call using white phosphorous or d.u. in Iraq???"

The one unifying aspect of the evening was the Blogosphere's focus on Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine's left eyebrow. One blogger says the eyebrow has a "mind of its own." Additionally, some more creative viewers of the Democratic response admit to recording Kaine's speech for the purpose of playing drinking games based around how many times he raised his left eyebrow. On the issues, a few of the top conservative bloggers NMS surveyed said Kaine forced references to his faith, while some liberal bloggers criticized Kaine for avoiding the surveillance and Jack Abramoff issues. In MyDD: Direct Democracy a blogger writes: "By failing to cite the Bush administration's ties to Jack Abramoff, the Democrats missed a real opportunity to remind Americans just what Republican governance stands for -- cronyism and corruption."

"Over the decades, The State of the Union has evolved from a written report to Congress to made-for-radio and made-for-TV theater to now, the political live-blog event of the year," said New Media Strategies Founder and CEO Pete Snyder, former pollster to many top politicians. "This demonstrates the massive impact of blogs in shaping the media and political opinion. Now, newsmakers and politicians are increasingly looking to blogs as direct live-feed to the moods and opinions of the electorate."

About New Media Strategies

New Media Strategies pioneered the Online Brand Promotion and Protection industry. An Online Market Intelligence and Word of Mouth marketing firm, NMS uses the power of the Internet to give clients and their brands a competitive advantage online, while safeguarding their products and services from the effects of negative perceptions and attacks. Working closely with many of the world's leading corporations, NMS serves as the "eyes, ears, and voice" online for some of the biggest and best-known brands. Leading companies and organizations such as American Airlines, DreamWorks, HBO, McDonald's, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and USA Network all use NMS to add value to their brands and guard their bottom lines. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, NMS was founded by former pollster Pete Snyder, who also serves as CEO. New Media Strategies has been featured in the two most recent editions of Washingtonian Magazine's "50 Great Places to Work," and for the past two years, NMS has also been named one of the "Fastest Growing Companies in America" by Inc Magazine. To learn more, visit www.newmediastrategies.net.

 Contact Information: Howard Mortman 703-253-0050, ext. 122 Contact via http://www.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=F664F196348C3D46  Sarah Nicholson 202-298-7600 ext. 201 Contact via http://www.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=CD058DBAA5B479FD  

SOURCE: New Media Strategies

Source: MARKET WIRE

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