Apparently trying to channel some of that Howard Dean politico-blog mojo, now our Canadian Prime-Minister-in-Waiting (for about ten years now) has a blog, too.
PM-to-be Paul Martin offers befuddled newbies a definition of the blog:
No, it’s not a swamp creature. It’s a term used to describe an internet trend that has exploded over the last decade. A blog is a small web page made up of short, regularly updated messages that are arranged in chronological order — like a “what’s new” page, or a journal.
. . . A blog could be Joe Citizen — or a group of Joe Citizens — simply wanting to vent about something. Or it could contain commentary and links about what’s on the web. It could be ongoing news about a person or idea, or it could even be a photo, essay or poetry blog.
OK… thanks. But, if you’ll excuse an impertinent question from one Joe Citizen out here in the hinterland, why exactly are you blogging?
Good question. One that I asked my staff when they first made the suggestion to me. After all, its not like I can pretend to be the kind of guy that spends a lot of time surfing the web. To be honest, until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know what the hell a blog was – I joked that I thought it was something that might climb out of a swamp.
“Swamp”! Hey, if it’s funny once, it’s twice as funny the second time, right? But seriously, Paul…
The media tend to chronicle my travels pretty closely but there’s lots that gets missed. For example, a couple of weeks ago, while campaigning in Windsor I had the opportunity to drop by the gravesite of my Mom and Dad and visit their old house. It wasn’t newsworthy but it was an immense pleasure for me.
What are you going to do with the weblog, PM-to-be Paul Martin?
…to make a long explanation short (I’m told that Blogs work best when kept brief) I’m going to keep doing this, periodically scratching out my thoughts and observations while this leadership race unfolds. Sometimes I’ll write about politics. Sometimes I’ll write about what I’m up to. I’ll try my best to keep it interesting. But no guarantees.
Fair enough, you can bet I’ll be reading and clicking. But where’s the RSS feed?