"I'll trade you one Hugh Hewitt and a Michelle Malkin for a Daily Kos..."

Nick Gillespie | August 12, 2005

Liberals lag conservatives in political blog presence

In a detailed report on the political power being wielded by bloggers, who have become a potent force in national and state campaigns, the study found that while liberals have "a decided advantage" over conservatives among the top 40 blogs (24-16), "conservatives hold a whopping 133 to 77 advantage" among the next 210 blogs.

Whole thing, by Wash Times' Donald Lambro, here. The actual report online here.

Hugh Hewitt Wikipedia entry here.

Jennifer Love Hewitt stuff on Ebay here.

Results of Google search for phrase "Hewitt's Just Different" here.

Comments

Jeff|8.12.05 @ 2:00PM|#

Shiftless hippies, all of 'em.

|8.12.05 @ 2:03PM|#

Yeah, but the "omygod, didYouSeeWhatBrianWasDoingToday... He'sSoHot," horrible-blogger-template bloggers outnumber the entire political blogdom by about 100 fold.

|8.12.05 @ 2:11PM|#

and livejournal.com is responsible for skewing those numbers. As Maddox says, "Here's a little trick you can use to find out whether a link someone sends you is worth checking. If it contains the words 'live, journal,' or any combination thereof, you can safely ignore the link without missing out on anything." He has a lot of pithy wisdom about blogs in the rest of the article.

|8.12.05 @ 2:20PM|#

Not that it really matters. Blogs are media outlets that preach to the choir. Has anyone ever really had their mind changed by something posted on these sites? Web surfers visit blogs that post opinions/stories they agree with. Thus, the "power" of blogs exists only to reenforce whatever opinions the reader already has.

There are more conservative blogs than there are liberal blogs, yet Bush's popularity has plummeted in recent months. Liberals lead among the top 40 blogs, yet few Americans believe in some of the wild theories posted by the far-lefties. Further proof that most Americans are far more moderate and tempered in political attitude than most people in the media- mainstream or not mainstream- give them credit for.

As for the "big stories" broken by the blogs, none would have come to the attention of the American public on the whole had they not eventually been reported by outlets in the MSM. Still, its kind of fun to see a big-name newspaper get scooped by someone on the net.

|8.12.05 @ 2:21PM|#

Do blogs like H&R and Catellarchy fall into the liberal or conservative category?

Where does something like Moderate Voice fit in?

Is this yet another case of poor reporting?

Will Nick Gillespie finally lay off the Hewitt pr0n?

|8.12.05 @ 2:22PM|#

Yeah, fine, whatever.

Any report that continues to perpetuate the linear left-right model of politics should be taken as seriously as a report supporting intelligent design. By that, I mean both explainations may have been fine at the dawn of the Age of reason, but we should really be looking at models of the world that actually resemeble it.

I understand the newspaper's desire to dumb things down. After all, the last thing a newspaper would want to do is educate its readers, or imply that nuance and complexity might be at work. But I expect more from a "report".

|8.12.05 @ 2:26PM|#

So Portlander, you obviously expect near nothing from an article in a decidedly conservative newspaper about a report from an openly progressive PAC.

Since we're complaining about traditional political models, thanks RIGHTALK.COM for the Michael Moore pin-up to go with Matt "Carpet Burner" Furrey.

Baylen|8.12.05 @ 2:31PM|#

ESPN's Sports Guy answered the following Jennifer Love Hewitt-themed (whose "sexy" eBay photos look fake as her breasts to me) question as part of his mailbag wrap this week:

Q: In your "Midseason Form" column, you write about how your wife hates Mariah Carey and that most women do. Try this: Tell your wife that you find Jennifer Love Hewitt attractive and you enjoy her acting. You may even be able to squeeze a whole column out of her reaction and the pure bile that women spit when hearing her name. Ask any sisters, sisters-in-law, other female friends; they all hate her universally, and it is unexplainable.
--Jack, Cleveland

SG: Just for the record, I tried this with the Sports Gal this week ... she reacted like George Brett in the Pine Tar Game. Highest of high comedy. Somebody needs to film the pilot, "Everybody Hates Jennifer."

|8.12.05 @ 2:32PM|#

Has anyone ever really had their mind changed by something posted on these sites?

Actually, this blog has changed my view on a few things...

|8.12.05 @ 2:33PM|#

Here here, duncan, here here.

|8.12.05 @ 2:35PM|#

I also find it bizarre, yet somehow predictable, that a study of leading blogs would find ALL of them can be classified as "liberal" or "conservative". I think the only useful conclusion to be drawn is, ignore the New Politics Institute.

|8.12.05 @ 2:43PM|#

The most popular political blogs are party-line astroturf outfits. But it's interesting how they replicate their parties in blog form: republican blogs are top down talking point delivery vehicles; democratic blogs are anarchic infighting like a bunch of ever splintering marxists groups in the 1910s. Democratic blogs can raise buttloads of money though (see the OH-02 special election) which is an interesting development. I don't think conservablogs can do anything like.

Then there are weirdo niche players like H&R that are a lot of fun. Plus you can get a lot of actual news from the interweb. More in 10 minutes than you'll get in 12 hours of cable news.

|8.12.05 @ 2:44PM|#

I've evolved on my positions based on this blog.

But I can't say I've changed my mind based on any of the conservative sites I've visited.

Phil|8.12.05 @ 2:48PM|#

Oh, I have, joe. By adopting exactly the opposite position of what the conservative blog has argued for. Sometimes out of pure contrarianism.

Warren|8.12.05 @ 3:17PM|#

I've evolved on my positions based on this blog.

Any chance one of those positions evolved into something other than "just put all the power and money in joe's hands then everything will be allllll riiiiiight"

Alice Lillie|8.12.05 @ 3:20PM|#

Here is a libertarian blog for you.

I have only read a few liberal and conservative blogs, but it seems to me that they all advocate bigger government, the difference being only in the details of exactly in which areas the government should grow the most.

Conservatives favor the war in Iraq and other imperialism and regulation of our personal lives. So do the liberals but to a lesser extent.

Liberals favor stricter regulation of the economy, higher taxes, and more dependency on social programs. So do conservatives but to a lesser extent.

Both favor extreme measures to be taken against privacy, drugs and guns on the grounds that we will be safer and they favor further centralization including further U.N. involvement.

Neither seem to realize that without liberty there can be no real security and that government is not the answer to any social problems.

And, of course, both want to quash dissenting opinions, particularly libertarian (individualist) opinions which present viable answers to problems.

But then of course, what would be in it for them if freedom were to be restored?

I posted a blog that I worked on for a very long time in an effort to see how we lost our freedom in this once-free land.

Please read it at http://www.alicelillieandher.blogspot.com and if you think it's worth anything please pass the url along to others.

I posted this info on pro-Bush sites and got very little response (all negative as predicted; after all I don't call myself Anti-Bush Alice for no reason). Guess they don't want to think outside the box, or at all in fact.

Enjoy the blog.

Alice

|8.12.05 @ 3:31PM|#

Best libertarian blog by far: Samidata. Their quality post to snarky rant ratio is higher than H&R's.

|8.12.05 @ 3:50PM|#

I've changed my mind about CFR due to this blog, although I still respect the people who advocate it.

Without having read the article in question, one point I've seen raised on liberal blogs (I linked to this in another thread): while lib blogs are fewer in number, they have higher traffic. Also, allegedly they more often have a comments section or diaries feature, so (assuming this is true)that might mean that liberals have the option of participating in existing lib blogs instead of starting their own.

|8.12.05 @ 3:58PM|#

Jesus what a load of crap. Quick glance shows that they count Drudge as part of the Republican machine, and Kos as a "progressive."

|8.12.05 @ 3:59PM|#

He is. And he is.

|8.12.05 @ 4:16PM|#

Alice Lillie sets the dowrigger, lowers the weight and starts the motor on her boat.

I thought H&R was immune to this kind of thing.

R.C.- I'd say Kos is "progressive" by the way such folks identify themselves these days.

Derek Ashworth|8.12.05 @ 4:21PM|#

Oh Nick, you shit. I just wasted half an hour on that "Hewitt's Just Different" link, but it wasn't completely wasted. In the "you learn something new every day" department, this on "Gilligan's Island"'s The Professor (actor Russell Johnson):

During the Second World War, enlisted to become an aviation cadet and rose to the officer's rank of First Lieutenant, under the service number 765 497. Flew as Bombadier in B-25 aircraft on a total of 44 combat missions over the Netherlands, East Indies, and the Phillipines. World War II decorations include the Bronze Star, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 3 service stars, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with 1 service star, and the World War II Victory Medal with Honorable Service Lapel Button.

Now get back to work. Cavanaugh's watching.

|8.12.05 @ 4:31PM|#

Let me clarify what I said earlier. When I asked "Has anyone ever really had their mind changed by something posted on these web sites?" I meant this: "Has anyone ever completely changed their political outlook from generally conservative to generally liberal based on what they may have read on one of these sites?"

Certainly, a lot of people change their minds on individual issues based on what they read. But anyone who completely converts over to the other side is obviously a highly impressionable person who does not spend a whole lot of time seriously considering what their world outlook should be. People do not instantaneously "become" conservative or liberal, or whatever, for life; they develop their ideas over a long period of time.

|8.12.05 @ 5:21PM|#

If by "progressive" you mean "Angry Left Party Line Dem", yeah, I guess Kos is a progressive. I mean, I certainly don't follow his antics religiously or anything, but has he ever done anything but carry water for the anti-Bushites?

And, come on, how is Drudge part of the Republican machine? Unless the Republican machine has a weakness for natural disasters and dishing the odd celebrity scandal, I just don't buy it.

|8.12.05 @ 5:47PM|#

I've become much more tolerant of carpet humping because of this blog.

|8.12.05 @ 6:19PM|#

If by "progressive" you mean "Angry Left Party Line Dem", yeah, I guess Kos is a progressive.

R.C. - It looks like you're invested in some classical definition of progressive. I'm content to let people self-identify themselves however they feel like unless it conflicts with something I identify with.

|8.12.05 @ 9:46PM|#

Blogs didn't exist yet, and neither did Web sites, but I changed my views on gun control (rather drastically) as a result of participating in the old "Heinlein Forum" BBS on Prodigy. More generally, I think it definitely contributed to my evolution from conservative to libertarian, although that took place over time, with no specific "aha!" moment.

|8.13.05 @ 10:53AM|#

This blog has reinforced my attitudes toward humanity: I'm more a misanthrope today than I was before I started visiting this blog. :)

crimethink,

Now if we could just get you to dump your irrational religious beliefs. :) There's hope for you yet boy.