(
Cross-posted on my blog:
MarchSevent)
First let me say I think Kos was extremely wrong and has yet to apologize as I would.
Setting that aside the way in which the Kerry Campaign has decided to show Respect for the four dead Americans in Fallujahs.
Let me explain my problem with this.
When I created the Hart Blog (self-described regret from trippi we got there a couple months before him) a year ago there were three big discussions: who posts, should we have links, and should we have comments.
The first came easy the candidate, internet communications staffers, and any guest bloggers that we could get.
The second and third came with one main question what if one of the people we link say something we don't agree with? Thus created an intense discussion where I never wavered from the concept that we should have links and comments or we are simply a well updated site.
When we launched with both I was told by people at the Dean Campaign, the DNC, and all over the net the links were a mistake. I pointed to our two disclaimers and a commitment to the format. I said how can we expect to engage liberal activists if we don't hold a line of communication open. In the end ... everyone else did the same thing (except Bush). The Kerry campaign has ended this precendent - taking links from an attempt to start a conversation to a tacit endorsement of the site.
I think the Kerry campaign can link to whoever it wants (I have always wonder why Democratic Underground is linked and Pandagon is not). When the campaign linked to those sites they never said "Hey we linked to Kos"
Now they de-link him publicly for what he said. For me this has raised the importance of a link on their site. They only link to things they don't consider offensive - an endorsement. Candidates should be able to link to sites without being chastised for what they say. This is not the point of links, plenty of liberal bloggers have Instapundit on their blog rolls and plenty of right bloggers have Atrios.
What happens if Randi Rhodes says something they don't like, will they pull the compliments they made for Air America?
There is a lot of bad blood between Kerry and Kos and a quiet de-linking just like the quiet linking would be fine. Now the conservative blogosphere celebrates. This is a bad move and a bad precedent. It wouldn't be so bad if this wasn't one of the only times many people have even linked to the Kerry blog (low traffic in comparison to other campaign blogs).
That said ... the Kerry campaign should not re-link and should have it's staff go through the links it does have and doesn't and add and subtract as needed. If you are going to do soemthign do it all the way. Finally it should add some disclaimers.