Rick, what’s fascinating to me is how far inside the establishment’s OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) blogs are.

You’re right, eight years ago the forgeries would have been effective. By the time any kind of response filtered through the barriers to grass roots comunication, the misinformation would have been assimilated into the received wisdom of the public, making the potential blowback worth the risk.

(Not only that, but the forger back then would probably have used a typewriter because, you know, computers were only used by geeks….)

In this campaign CBS caught serious blowback before the story had time to take off. By the time Edwards was riffing off the documents, everybody knew they were fake. And if the Dems stay on-script with this little operation, they’ll end up doing far more damage to themselves than the original “revalations” would have done to Bush. (Someone needs to tell Terry and Little John to STFU.)

In other words, the establishment can’t go from Observe to Act fast enough to keep up with the new media. The establishment was wrong-footed by the Swifties, then by the type mavens, and they’ll be wrong-footed by the folks who have an interest in the next bit of turf they decide to fling.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” — REM