My friends, with the DNC this week, I thought it might be nice to look into how political blogging can explode on the media.  Let me tell you a tale that is now being affectionately referred to as 'Pizzagate'.

Last Monday, a pizza delivery driver named Anna delivered $30 worth of pizza to a house.  The twist to this is that the pizza was being delivered to Curt Bramble, Senate Majority Leader for the state of Utah.  Mr. Bramble then allegedly began to berate the delivery driver, harass her manager over the phone, and even tried using his position as Senate Majority Leader to force them to accept a personal check.  When they finally agreed to accept a check, it wasn't to his liking, so he then finally put the bill on his American Express card.  All in all, not the best way for anyone to treat someone who provides you food, and definitely not how a political figure should act.

But, the story doesn't end here.  In fact, it just begins.  For, you see, it turns out this young lady is a blogger.  A blogger who let out her frustrations over this in a post, as any blogger in her situation would.  She didn't name names, but she did leave enough clues that it was obvious whom she was writing about.  That's when it hit the fan.

By Wednesday, the blog post had landed on Digg, and Utah bloggers began passing the blog all over the net in support for their fellow blogger.  As such, Utah's Media began to leap on this growing story.  It began with Utah's Nightide Project, a local talk radio show in Utah, covering the story.  From there the TV and newspapers picked up the story as it began snowballing further and further.

Come Wednesday night, the blogger girl tried to put out some of the growing firestorm by posting an apology letter on her blog that she had sent to Sen. Bramble.  But by then it was too little, too late. As TV stations and newspapers began to cover the story, a flurry of the senator's supporters began the backlash of trolling, attacking the poor blogger for daring to criticize their chosen hero and elected official.  A flame war exploded on her blog that spread across Utah's blogosphere as people chose their sides: The senator vs. "The pizza girl".

Now, with the week behind us, and the media starting to die down in Utah, the story is beginning to spread out across the net further, and is beginning to be picked up by larger and larger news media.  By the time this is all done, the poor blogger will have learned first-hand the most important rule of blogging: Whenever you write on the internet, be ready for the ENTIRE internet to read it.

So, my friends, what can we learn from this tale of blogging and angry politicians gone bad?  Well, first off, I'd like to think it shows just what impact any blogger - even the smallest one - can have in politics.  After all, politics is seen as 'The biggest game of all', to quote NBC.  And this story has shown us what can happen when the underdog comes up to bat.  And I think that's the appeal of this story.  Most of the country has worked in the service industry, and it is a sense of commodity to hear this tale and think of the bad customers we've all had in the past.

But, more importantly, I think it teaches politicians that they should behave nicer, even in private.  More and more, the news is filling up with stories of political figures getting caught with hookers or taking bribes or just not living up to their office.  These people are elected to represent us, the American People.  And it's about time they finally start acting like they represent us once again in this country.

So, as the DNC starts, a word of warning to the political officials attending the convention.  Be nice to that bellhop carrying your bags.  Treat that waiter or waitress with the same respect she's giving you when she takes your order.  And for heaven's sake, tip your pizza delivery driver well when you order in pizzas to the room.  For you never know what can happen in this new internet age.  This month it is Pizzagate, but next month it could be Obama in 'Drycleanersgate' or McCain in 'Tacogate'.

Try to keep that in mind when you interact with the service industry from now on.  Not all of the service industry is silent anymore.  I mean, look at me!  KPBS let me have a blog, so it's not as far-fetched as you think.