I started The Truth About Cars (TTAC) to publish no-holds-barred car reviews. I gradually added blog posts on car news. When I created the GM Death Watch, the series caught the attention of the autoblogosphere and then the mainstream media, taking the site to the next level. I followed the story for years. And then GM went bankrupt. And . . . what? TTAC had become something of a one-trick pony. I was in the process of reinventing the site when I was reinvented out the door. Thanks to its relentless focus on the ATF Gunwalker scandal, sipseystreetirregulars.com faces the same branding problem. On Friday, Sipsey Streeter Mike Vanderboegh asked his readers if one of his commentators was correct when he wrote . . .
As bad as this scandal is, [Gunwalker] has taken over your blog. You used to inspire us, but you have lost your balance over this rather minor trip of tyranny that is but a blip in the over-all loss of our freedom.
Can you say straw dog? Or, as my smallest Schnauzer says (in her own Schnauzer way), love me, love me!
Which, of course, we do. Ninety-two comments later, our man Mike has pledged to follow the Gunwalker story to the bitter end, come hell or high water. My bet is high water. The scandal’s floodgates open on June 13, when Congressional hearings on Gunwalker begin.
As for focusing too much on any one thing, I learned that lesson the hard way. While no one’s pushing Mike out the door, perhaps he will also see the benefits of a little bread and circus.
The great thing about TTAG is that you give us a little bit of everything, which keeps things interesting.
OK, I’ll be the first. Mike has done a truly outstanding job and has rendered an extraordinary service to his country and its citizens by doggedly pursuing this royal government screw up when no one else would by shining the light of day on the nest of cockroaches responsible. Along with David, they have become the 2A equivalent Woodward and Bernstein and we in the gun rights community are deeply in their debt.
At this point in the game no one knows how the final deal is going to go down. Under the circumstances and the current political climate, I honestly don’t have high hopes that the whole truth of the matter will become known, nor will appropriate justice be served to those responsible. Whatever the outcome, their work will stand as a testament to the power of the individual and underscore the principles on which our country and its constitution were founded.
Mike is a big boy and he can run his site any damn way he feels fit. Under the circumstances, I think that he’s providing a fair balance between his coverage of Gunwalker and the other content that we’ve grown to know and love. The lad from Alabama is a real piece of work and the real McCoy. I just wish that he’d finish that damned book, get it published and start making some money so that he doesn’t have to sell off the farm. On that note, anyone reading this ought to send a few bucks to his account for the services that he has and continues to provide the RKBA community.
+1 on everything you said. Thank you Mike and David for doing the legwork and research that no one else is willing to do.
I imagine that it is difficult for a blog to be too in-depth due to time constraints, and there is always a need to post new material. Then, what went before is often forgotten-our attention spans are always short. TTAC, for all its criticism (jealously?) of the slicks (especially C/D), is pretty lightweight stuff. The GM reporting, and the Toyota UA material was probably the best of it all.
Take for instance the recent comparo C/D ran between a Cayman and 911. The technical aspects of this sort of testing would be out of reach for a Web log. Also, the questionable (some might say offensive) treatment of the late C/D contributor, David Davis (regardless of one’s personal or professional views of his relationship to the industry), was either scandalous, boorish, or petty and juvenile. Did anyone find that bit of self-indulgent narcissism cutting edge?
The TTAG has done a respectable job anent the BATF debacle. It is too bad you do not have the means to send reporters out in the field to do investigative work full time. But who expects this? It is a job the MSM should be doing, but won’t for the usual reasons. Whatever you can do is helpful.
Sooo, because your quixotic journey ended up in the crapper – thats the fate of all who have passion for truth and justice.
I don’t think so. If Mike had given up – as you did – this may not be coming to hearings. I think we all can agree that monitoring a car company pales in comparison to what Mike has exposed.
To Mike – when getting bitten in the ass – its a sure sign you are in the lead.
Mine is simply a cautionary tale. And I’ve never given up. (My record on that score speaks for itself.) I appreciate the work Mike’s doing. My warning comes from a place of love, not jealousy.
I don’t share your esteem for Mike V. He seems to be one of the more extreme extremists, guys who say things that are so far over the top that it’s hard to take any of it seriously. His obsession with this one story is just another example of his out-of-control character. I’m frankly surprised you give him the time of day, Robert. He’s only slightly less obsessed about the “tyrannical” government in general and does some good ranting about that.