Power Line
Encyclopedia
Power Line is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 political
Politics of the United States
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...

 blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

, providing news and commentary from a conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

 point-of-view. It was originally written by three lawyers who attended Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 together: John H. Hinderaker
John H. Hinderaker
John H. Hinderaker is a conservative American lawyer and a blogger at the Power Line weblog, as well as a fellow at the Claremont Institute. He is a 1971 graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and received a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1974...

, Scott W. Johnson
Scott W. Johnson
Scott W. Johnson is an American lawyer, executive and a blogger at Power Line.- Legal and business career :Johnson was born in Fargo, North Dakota to a Jewish family...

, and Paul Mirengoff
Paul Mirengoff
Paul Mirengoff is an attorney and former blogger at the Power Line weblog.Mirengoff graduated from Dartmouth College in 1971, and from Stanford Law School in 1974. He is currently practicing law in Washington D.C. as a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. For several years, he worked for...

. On Jan 28, 2011 Paul Mirengoff posted on the blog that he was leaving it, thanking John, Scott and the readers for the opportunity of participating in the blog. When Mirengoff left the site, Hinderaker and Johnson recruited Steven Hayward
Steven Hayward
Steven Hayward is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.Born in Toronto, Hayward attended the University of Toronto and York University. His first book, Buddha Stevens and Other Stories, won the 2001 Upper Canada Writer’s Craft Award; prior to that, the individual stories that would eventually...

 to replace him. The site is published by the Malchow Group, founded by Joe Malchow, another Dartmouth College graduate. The site gained wide recognition for its role in covering the Killian documents
Killian documents
The Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73...

 scandal that eventually led to the departure of Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...

 from the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....

. The blog was founded in late May 2002. Audience estimates suggest that the column has five million pageviews per month, making it one of the largest blogs.

In 2004, Power Line was named Time magazine's first-ever "Blog of the Year."
When AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

 added blogs to their news website in 2007, Power Line was one of the five blogs included.
A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee
National Republican Senatorial Committee
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to that body. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee...

 described Power Line as one of the five best-read national conservative blogs.

The authors also write for newspapers and magazines, appear on radio and television. Hinderaker and Johnson are fellows of the Claremont Institute.

Political positions

Power Line's authors typically support the conservative agenda, especially the Iraq war and the War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...

. But they criticized former President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 for being insufficiently conservative on issues including immigration and affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...

. The blog advocated the nomination and confirmation of judicially conservative judges during the Bush administration and regularly features analysis of court decisions. Power Line often vigorously criticizes Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 and liberals for dishonesty, lack of morals, bad judgment and disloyalty to the United States. They occasionally attack Republicans for similar shortcomings, such as Senator John McCain for his position advocating the US should not "torture" suspected terrorists or "enemy combatants."(http://powerlineblog.com/archives/015358.php#015358),(http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014292.php).

The Power Line authors believe the media suffer from systemic liberal bias because too many reporters and editors are partisan liberals. They frequently question the integrity of organizations such as Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

, and the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Power Line authors have repeatedly advocated criminal prosecution of CIA leakers and media outlets that publish national security information. They also frequently criticize the Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...

of Minneapolis, home to two of the Power Line authors.

Rathergate

Power Line gained widespread recognition for its 2004 reporting on the Killian documents
Killian documents
The Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73...

 controversy relating to a CBS report on George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, starting with a post entitled "The Sixty-First Minute".
Conservatives (including Power Line, National Review Online and Little Green Footballs
Little Green Footballs
Little Green Footballs is an American political blog run by web designer Charles Johnson.Media observers in the United States long described the site as "right wing", but since 2007, the site's emphasis has changed, such that "LGF has become better known for the various fights it picks with many...

) referred to the controversy as "Rathergate". The blogs and their readers contributed research in assessing the authenticity of the documents, presenting evidence of forgery. After a Free Republic
Free Republic
Free Republic is a moderated Internet forum for activists, and chat site for self-described conservatives, primarily within the United States. It presents articles and comments posted pseudonymously by registered members, known as "Freepers", using screen names...

 contributor pointed out that the alleged documents used a proportional font, Power Line helped advance the story, triggering coverage by mainstream media outlets. Dan Rather apologized and resigned from the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...

 chair. Power Line became identified with the Pajamahadeen
Pajamahadeen
Pajamahadeen or Pajamahideen is a portmanteau of pajamas and Mujahideen meaning "bloggers who challenge and fact-check traditional media" The word refers to news bloggers, suggesting their goals as overthrowing the news establishment...

 when criticized by a former CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

 executive.

Schiavo memo

Power Line speculated that the Schiavo memo
Schiavo memo
During the Terri Schiavo controversy in March 2005, a talking points memo on the controversy was written by Brian Darling, the legal counsel to Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida...

 was most likely forged by Democrats as a political dirty trick. When the memo turned out to be written by a Republican aide, Brian Darling
Brian Darling
Brian Darling is a senior fellow in government studies at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank based in Washington, D.C. Darling has been involved in U.S. politics since the early 1990s, in roles as a congressional aide, lobbyist and legal counsel...

, Power Line acknowledged the revelation, but continued to criticize the mainstream media for depicting the memo as "a product of the party's leadership or had an official status."

President Carter

Power Line frequently criticizes former US President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

. They have called him a "nut"
and said in a post about his actions regarding the Iraqi election in January 2005
Iraqi legislative election, January 2005
Elections for the National Assembly of Iraq were held on January 30, 2005 in Iraq. The 275-member National Assembly was a parliament created under the Transitional Law during the Occupation of Iraq...

 that he is "on the other side".

Hinderaker later wrote
that Carter "started aligning himself with America's enemies", citing the possibility that Carter asked the Soviet Union to expand Jewish emigration to help him in the 1980 Presidential election, and added
In more recent years, Carter has never met an anti-American dictator he didn't like.... [H]e used the occasion of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to attack the current American government.... Jimmy Carter is a disgrace. We've said so before, and we'll continue saying so as long as he merits the criticism. If you want to learn more, read Steven Hayward
Steven Hayward
Steven Hayward is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.Born in Toronto, Hayward attended the University of Toronto and York University. His first book, Buddha Stevens and Other Stories, won the 2001 Upper Canada Writer’s Craft Award; prior to that, the individual stories that would eventually...

's book The Real Jimmy Carter.

Judicial nominations

The bloggers often comment on nominations of federal judges, especially to the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

. Mirengoff has suggested that "Republican Senators should feel free to vote against Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. Sotomayor is the Court's 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice, and its third female justice....

. Half of the Senate Democrats voted against Roberts and a strong majority voted against Alito... for no other reason than their desire not to have another 'conservative' on the Supreme Court.... Thus, non-liberal Senators have every right to vote against her for that reason."

Other coverage

Coverage and commentary by Hinderaker, Johnson, and Mirengoff, all alumni of Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, was instrumental in the 2005 election of "insurgent" candidates Peter Robinson
Peter Robinson (speechwriter)
Peter Mark Robinson is an American author, research fellow, television host and former speechwriter for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan. He is currently the host of Uncommon Knowledge, an interview show by Stanford's Hoover Institution. He is also a research fellow...

 and Todd Zywicki
Todd Zywicki
Todd J. Zywicki is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law, teaching in the areas of bankruptcy and contracts, where he has taught since 1998. He taught previously at the Mississippi College School of Law, where he held a faculty position from...

 to the Board of Trustees.

The blog also covers some lighter material. Johnson regularly posts historical articles about jazz and other musicians, Mirengoff reported on European soccer teams and Hinderaker covers beauty pageants.
Hinderaker also hosts a weekly radio show as part of the Northern Alliance Radio Network
Northern Alliance Radio Network
The Northern Alliance Radio Network is an American radio talk show, the first in the world hosted entirely by bloggers. The show airs in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul on AM1280 The Patriot.The program is hosted by six bloggers:...

 in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 (Johnson left the show in February 2005, but is an occasional guest).

See also

  • Jim Geraghty
    Jim Geraghty
    Jim Geraghty is a conservative blogger and regular contributor to National Review Online and National Review. In addition to writing columns for National Review, Geraghty also blogs for National Review Online and is a former reporter for States News Service.During the 2004 US Presidential election,...

  • Hugh Hewitt
    Hugh Hewitt
    Hugh Hewitt is an American radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network, lawyer, academic, and author. An outspoken Republican, evangelical Christian, he comments on society, politics, and media bias in the United States. Hewitt is also a law professor at Chapman University School of Law.-...

  • Michelle Malkin
    Michelle Malkin
    Michelle Malkin is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author. Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites. She is a Fox News Channel contributor and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-SPAN, and national radio programs...

  • Ed Morrissey
    Ed Morrissey
    Ed Morrissey is an American conservative blogger, columnist, motivational speaker, and talk show host.He goes by the nickname Captain Ed and he currently lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota....

  • No Left Turns
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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