27 Feb, 2007
Jim Gilmore: The First Blogging President?
Posted by: Rob Bluey In: Politics| Technology
Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore promised today that he would start a White House blog if elected president in 2008. “I would have a blog,” he said during a meeting with conservative bloggers at The Heritage Foundation. “We’ll do a blog for the White House.”
Gilmore’s proclamation makes him the first Republican, and possibly the first candidate, to support the idea of a White House blog. Gilmore said he is a strong advocate for communicating on the Internet because it allows individuals to bypass the mainstream media.
The current White House communications staff has ramped up its outreach to bloggers under the direction of Press Secretary Tony Snow and Internet Director David Almacy. Snow has held two conference calls with bloggers and reads blogs daily. Gilmore, apparently, wants to take blogging to a new level.
The former RNC chairman also told bloggers that he’s the only conservative in the race. He recited a list of reasons why the leading candidates — Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney — are not conservatives.
“There isn’t anybody in this race who has a better resume than I do,” Gilmore said. “I’ve kept my word and did what I said I was going to do.”
In a swipe at Romney, Gilmore said he hadn’t “shifted” in his views. He called Romney a “liberal governor” and “liberal candidate” from Massachusetts. He was equally tough on McCain and Giuliani. He cited McCain’s support for a guest-worker program, opposition to tax cuts and embrace of campaign-finance reform as ideas that wouldn’t play well with conservatives. Gilmore said Giuliani’s support for gun control, gay marriage and abortion would never fly with the conservative base.
Gilmore’s remarks focused mostly on his national security background and work in the area of homeland security. Gilmore chaired a commission prior to and after 9/11 known as the U.S. Congressional Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, which offered recommendations that, if adopted, Gilmore said would have saved lives during the attack on the World Trade Center.
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