Anatomy of a Political Firestorm

June 23, 2005

Anatomy of a Political Firestorm

The Chicago Tribune notes that what Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) "encountered over the past week is a convergence of an increasingly polarized two-party system with a high speed, high-technology process for spreading news and opinion in what can amount to a shrill and unforgiving wall of sound. With both political parties engaged in permanent campaigns, there is no respite and no relief, and any questionable words are met with a fast and furious response."

Best quote is from Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): "The hall of mirrors serves as amplification of statements and has become so powerful and the willingness of partisans to parse every utterance for potential error is so great that it is difficult to ratchet down the rhetoric once something like this begins. It just takes on a life of its own."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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June 23, 2005