Internet Proves to be Powerful
in Political, Legislative Battles
By Jim Buie
Copyright 2001
Impeachment Sparked Deluge of Downloading and Online Mobilization !!
"The success of Ventura and other Internet-savvy candidates in 1998 wasn't the only evidence of the Internet's emerging political power. The release of the Starr report over the World Wide Web in the fall of 1998 increased overall Internet traffic by as much as 80 percent, and sparked a deluge of heated discussions on and off the Internet.
Alerting and mobilizing people entirely over the Internet, Jim Robinson, the publisher of the conservative Free Republic web site, sponsored an "Impeach Clinton" rally at the Washington Monument on Halloween. It attracted more than 4,000 people, and set a new standard for grassroots organizing by Internet. "I don't think anything like this has ever happened before, where thousands of people who didn't know each other get together in a place thousands of miles from home," Brian Buckley, counsel for the web site, told The Washington Post."
"Conversely, more than 500,000 Internet users, fed up with the impeachment process, signed a petition and pledged more than $10 million through the web site Move On.org to defeat the politicians they believe ignored voters' wishes to censure President Clinton and move on to other business. MoveOn.org ultimately collected more than $2 million and donated it to progressive candidates in Campaign 2000. Since the election, MoveOn.org has established itself as an effective advocacy group."
http://www.us.net/indc/column2.htm#Impeachment
===================================================
the Internet
and the
Impeachment of Bill Clinton
by TechnoPolitcal
Blog Staff
~~ Bill Clinton's recreational dilly dallys and the disproportionate Republican impeachment , evolved , both from and into an important touchstone of early political & general internet history.
Matt Druge's pioneering website lit the Impreachment Scandal Fire, that spread in no small way by the internet, esp. so considering that there really was not that many people online in 1998.
The effect of the Internet on the Presidency of Bill Clinton cannot be underestimated. Clinton haters and muckrakers were among the first to use the Web to spread their wares, with Matt Druge becoming the first Internet news superstar by breaking the Monica Lewinisky story. (Though, where is Matt today in 2002?) As well the final report by the office of Special Prosecutor Richard Starr on the Whitewater ---(which grew into the Lewinsky mess)--- shook the world wide web in a way thatno event had no event had done so before.
“The release of the Starr report over the World Wide Web in the fall of 1998 increased overall Internet traffic by as much as 80 percent, and sparked a deluge of heated discussions on and off the Internet.” [111]
President Clinton had the mixed blessing of the Cyber-Activism and Political Information Portals (PIPs) taking root during his term.The Internet certainly was a contributing factor in his impeachment by the House as documented in these quotes from cyber-political journalist Jim Buie:
“Alerting and mobilizing people entirely over the Internet, Jim Robinson, the publisher of the conservativeFree Republic web site, sponsored an "ImpeachClinton" rally at theWashington Monument on Halloween [1998]. It attracted more than 4,000 people, and set a new standard for grassroots organizing by Internet,” [112]
However the Internet may haveplayed an even larger (but still minor in my opinion) role inClinton's subsequent acquittal by the Senate.
“… more than 500,000 Internet users, fed up with the impeachment process, signed a petition and pledged more than $10 million through the web sitewww.Move On.org to defeat the politicians they believe ignored voters' wishes to censure President Clinton and move on tother business. MoveOn.org ultimately collected more than $2 million[113] and donated it to progressive candidates in Campaign 2000.” [114]
-----------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
