K. Daniel Glover of National Journal’s Technology Daily has published a story on the FEC vs. blogs controversy. You can’t read the article without a subscription, so I’m not going to bother with a link, but the article quotes three Democrats–FEC member Danny McDonald, FEC member Ellen Weintraub, and Rep. Martin Meehan of Massachusetts–saying, basically, that people are making a mountain out of a molehill.

McDonald, a Democratic appointee, called Smith’s comments an “overstatement” and the reaction to it unwarranted.

Weintraub said the notion that the FEC is going to regulate blogs is “preposterous.”

Meehan said the idea that the FEC would regulate individual bloggers is “about as believable as the ‘Bill 602P’ hoax…”

Trevor Potter and Mark Glaze of the Campaign Legal Center have made similar arguments.

Rightwing Nuthouse, Mike Krempasky, and Winfield Myers have all responded.

Myers’ entry addresses Glaze’s remarks:

I fail to see how [Glaze] refutes Bradley Smith’s charges. It admits that the court decision must be enforced, and that the FEC must “initiate a rulemaking to work out how to deal with different kinds of Internet political expenditures.” This is precisely Smith’s point: given the interconnectivity of the Internet, which after all is its strongest point, how will posts from different blogs, or email lists which are passed all around the Net, be spliced so as to ensure that free speech isn’t trampled?

It would take the wisdom of Solomon to split this baby, and I know I speak for many (even most) bloggers is saying that I trust neither the FEC, nor Mr. Potter’s lobbying firm, not the U.S. Senate, nor any other body to decide what I may or may not write on this blog, or read on a blog written by anyone else. I charged yesterday that this represents an extension of McCain-Feingold into the blogosphere, and Mark Glaze’s press release only strengthens my conviction that I was correct.

***

Previously:
-The FEC vs. Blogs

Update: Paul Rodriguez interviewed FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith on Rightalk. Click here for a link to the audio.

Cam Edwards, who also interviewed Smith today, says: I told ya so!

Partial transcript of Cam’s interview is here via Red State, which has launched a new section on its site dedicated to FEC matters.

Power Line weighs in here.

Dave S. says:

The blogosphere is a truly organic, participatory medium that transcends “media” and achieves parity with casual conversation, in a sense. It just happens that there may be as many as tens of thousands of people participating in the chat. They wouldn’t dare attempt to fine any of us for simply telling a buddy at work to check out the Bush-Cheney ’04 website, and that is exactly what blogs do.