"SWAC bloggers edit and purge ODBA" ... my response

After first trying two weeks ago to get the ODBA bloggers to boycott Bill Bolling's Bloggers Day (which they did not go for), Shaun Kenney chose to go public earlier this week with a dust-up that started with two Alpha males squabbling in the ODBA -- he and Spank That Donkey. I was surprised, to say the least, at what Shaun wrote:

And so it begins, as the SWAC bloggers edit and purge the ODBA.

That statement is a lie, and I talked with Shaun on the telephone Monday night for an hour about it, at which time he admitted it was wrong and said it "needed to be fixed." It is now Friday afternoon and it has not been "fixed." Is this Shaun's way of letting the lie fester and spread?

I read the follow-up stories in the blogosphere and watched to see who would jump on the blame bandwagon ... and who would stop to consider there are two sides to every story.

There were plenty of those who willingly believed without asking about our side of the issue. Hysterics have been played out publicly....

The SWAC bloggers had nothing to do with what occurred in the ODBA this week. The whole episode began with Shaun Kenney, DJ McGuire, and Chris. For reasons he felt were justified, the list administrator (who is not a SWAC blogger) removed Shaun from the ODBA message board, not from the ODBA. Kat removed herself from the board.

SWAC bloggers number eight if you include the now-dormant General Grievous' Dog ... with the others being In-Politically Correct, Journal of the Civilized Man, RightsideVA, SixtyFour81.com, Spank That Donkey, SWAC Girl, and Yankee Philip.

Of those eight, only three are ODBA members: Spank That Donkey, In-Politically Correct, and SWAC Girl. Of those three, only one was involved in the dust-up with Shaun.

How did this become the fault of the others, the majority of whom are not even members of the ODBA?

Shaun's statement that the SWAC bloggers (plural) were "editing" and "purging" the ODBA is ludicrous ... and he knows it. His accusation occurred just two weeks after he was the guest speaker at the SWAC-GOP Breakfast in Staunton.

My reason to be involved in politics is not for silly shenanigans like this. Defending this type of frivilousness is a waste of time and, yet, if I do not respond many will perceive that Shaun was correct in his statement.

It is time to move forward and not be sidetracked from working for our conservative candidates and the principles we believe in. I invite Shaun to do the same.