The American Spectator

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Garance Franke-Ruta from the American Prospect suggested out loud that the blogging industry impose "community norms" to prevent libelous postings, like the ones recently revealed to be the handwork of Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich staffer Joseph Steffen, which cruelly implied Baltimore Mayor (and potential Ehrlich rival) Martin O'Malley was unfaithful to his wife. (Steffen's comments, I should point out, were posted on the aptly named Free Republic, which is not a blog, per se, but a message board.)

I spoke to Franke-Ruta after the session and her concerns are well intentioned. But politicians ought to have no more protections from salacious blog posts than they do from sandwich boards. In the end, the government should no more do anything about them than John Adams should have imposed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798.

Blogs don't libel people. People libel people.

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