Who’s winning the Battle of the Blogosphere?
Over at The Reaction, Heraclitus looks at the ongoing war of words between Taylor Marsh and Debbie Schlussel and wonders whether the left-wing blogosphere is beating the right-wing blogosphere in terms of both quality and influence. At least in terms of the former, he argues, the left is winning.
Now, Heraclitus’s post is sure to annoy many of you in many ways. TMV is fortunate to have some very thoughtful conservative readers, some of whom rank among the right’s very best bloggers. These readers and bloggers are sure to disagree with the view that the blogging left is qualitatively superior to the blogging right. Also, Heraclitus does not consider the rather more nebulous centrist blogosphere, of which TMV is a prominent member. As the left and right square off against each other, the center (or, the “center,” given how difficult it is to define) has proven to be remarkably strong, with the centrist blogosphere growing and thriving as an alternative to the partisan left and right. I would like to think that TMV is leading the way here, but of course there are many great centrist blogs, and we link to them and feature them regularly. Centrist readers and bloggers are sure to point out that no assessment of the blogosphere is complete without a serious consideration of the quality and influence of its centrist membership.
Regardless, I recommend the post to you, not least for the reactions it is sure to provoke. And Heraclitus isn’t a dogmatist. These are his perceptions. Feel free to disagree with him and them, even vehemently.
You can find the post here.
opinions powered by SendLove.to
15 Responses to “Who’s winning the Battle of the Blogosphere?”
Debbie Schussel is an embarresment to Michigan and bad lawyers. She is more deranged than Ann Coulter or Michele Malkin at their worst. Little Debbie jumped on the ‘cell phone terrorists’ in Michigan and Ohio and never retracted any of her lies or exaggerations. Atleast Malkin will admit to mistakes, Little Debbie will lie and never retract.
I think the Righty blogosphere may have become a one trick pony. All they seem to be able to do is motivate their base and not very well if Nov. 2008 is any indication. The Jamil Hussien “controversy” is a good example of this. The Right-o-sphere spent a lot of time and effort on that and in the end they didn’t change any minds and made themselve look foolish.
The Right is suffering a huge identity crisis thanks to the 2006 elections and a movement led by a very Unpopular GWB.
Right now I would be my kindergarten teacher could win an argument with the right bloggers.
That is because the right which I feel a kinship with is totally clueless as to how to respond to this unheard of and a once sound bastion of “CHRISTIAN/RELIGIOUS NUTS/WHACKJOBS.
This really has been a big impetus behind the right/conservative base and suddenly we are all being lumped into the pot with RADICAL ISLAMISTS and JEWS and made to be EVIL. We honestly do not know how to respond to this Religion BAshing that is taking place from the Left toward the right.
I’ve heard it even so much as describe as the Republicans are the PARTY OF JESUS. I mean how do you respond to that when its said in contempt and anger. If we say yes we are………WERE NUT JOBS….if we say NO WERE NOT then we are LIARS.
The left is winning and winning big until the right can once again redefine itself and claim ownership to those who have jumped ship because they have allowed themselves to be painted in a bad way much like the Republicans painted Democrats as LIBERAL and made that an UGLY word and something the Dems could not for years figure out how to deal with.
The right of the blog world contains many disasters, that is for sure. The flag-bearers at Powerline and Little Green Footballs have been episodically great, such as during the “Rather-gate” investigations, but the day-to-day drumbeat isn’t good.
Nonetheless, it is hard for me to see any basis for a claim of superiority. As long as the flag-bearers from the left continue to be foul-mouthed, over-the-top, and frothing-at-the-mouth-deranged intellectual wastelands like DailyKos and Democratic Underground, the only “victory” to be won in that kind of blogosphere is a Phyrric one.
While I agree with the statement that “
”
my opinion is that the description aptly fits the “flag-bearers” of the right, as well.
Sanskritg, I second that motion. Maturity is the missing on both sides.
I certainly must agree with you there.
I think the right side of the blogosphere has suffered a severe “brain drain” over the last couple of years, as some of their best have thrown in the towel with the Bush Administration.
Andrew Sullivan, John Cole, Gregory Djereian… I’m sure the list goes on, but each of these bloggers represented some aspect of those I considered the best and brightest on the right.
Ed still manages to occasionally make compelling arguments, but I just don’t see any equivalent to the growing TPM empire, or Steve Clemmons, or even the witty snark of Sadly No! on the right.
Most of those who remain are reality-devoid ranters like Noonan, or Schlussel, it seems to me.
The Left isn’t so much winning as the right is forfeiting the intellectual battle.
Please list some ‘moonbats’ that spew the hate by the likes of Little Debbie Schussel. Visit her website and tell me she isn’t crazy.
Debbie Schlussel has a history of getting into heated irrational rants, going on power trips, and threatening lawsuits toward conservative bloggers as well. The notion that the “left/right” dichotomy in the blogosphere can be seriously studied on the basis of another Schlussel rant is hopeful cherry picking by those who like to think Debbie typifies blogs on the right. You’re welcome to believe so, but I don’t find the notion very plausible.
On the other hand, Michael’s comment about the center blogosphere is well worth noting. I would also toss in a similar word about blogs that aren’t terribly political.
Deb Schlussel still hasn’t hit Deb Frisch-level scary. Yet.
Centrists are more interested in things that actually work than things that fit some treasured poli-theology. Even the wingers come up with some good ideas and valid points and arguments now and again, it’s just not worth wading through the cesspools of rant to find them.
Saner heads in both wings will readily admit that they wish they could pick their “friends.” Or unpick them.
The extreme right is probably not doing any better than the extreme left. The Kos Krowd and the LGF Team are both problematic more often than they offer good solid comment and thoughtul analysis. But I would say the right has an edge, simply because the left keeps supproting so many folsk who have decided that emperical, fact based reality is for racists, sexists and the patriarchy. Look athe the blogs which are center-right or right which have stood up for the Duke lacrosse team, while most of the left of center blogs have done the same thing as the New York Times, by sticking to the party line that since they are white athletes they must be guilty of something. Or the number of right of center blogs who have shown up the failures of the MSM (Rathergate, Jayson Blair), or the behavior of tenured professors (Michael Bellesiles, Ward Churchill, Duke Group of 88). The past five to eight years the left wing bloggers have been conspicuously absent in dealing honestly with these cases, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. Instead they are the one trick pony, making everything about the war in Iraq. While the war is important, it is NOT the only thing on voters minds.
You’re conflating Kos and his front page posters with the diarists. dKos is a thriving community, and has done more than anyone else to support the progressive netroots. To equate him with RedState, Malkin, LGF, and the general run of RW blogs is wishful thinking on your part.
And to say Democrats, and the left, are “only” about the war is an absurdity only possible to utter if you know nothing about, and never go to, the lefty blogs. Granted, the wide range of issues that do get discussed – healthcare, energy, environmentalism, economic classism – aren’t issues that interest the Right, or the GOP. But I’ve got news for you: those are the issues that matter to Americans in general. If you want to insist otherwise, go right ahead: that’s a good way to buy a one-way ticket to Irrelevanceville.
There is nothing, nothing at all, on the Left to compare with the sheer witlessness, viciousness, and craven fear-mongering that the Right subsists on. To read Mark Noonan, Hindrocket, RedState, Malkin, LGF, et al., is like wandering into a mental ward.
“Centrist readers and bloggers are sure to point out that no assessment of the blogosphere is complete without a serious consideration of the quality and influence of its centrist membership.”
Sry, but what influence? Pls point out a single centrist blog among the top 20 of the blogosphere. The US have become a very partisan nation. And this reflects in the blogosphere, too. Only a very small percentage of people really stand in the middle (I don’t particularly like that situation, I just say it as it is). And this is why I don’t see any chance for a centrist party in the US. Projects like Unity 08 are just pipe dreams, or even worse, trojan horses to hijack centrists for partisan purposes.
Casey, you prove your own point, but not in the way you hoped. If you truly believe that the parties you named are mental cases, but cannot see how warped so many people posting on left of center blogs are, then you have become exactly what you say does not exist. The left wing person who cannot see anything worthwhile in anyone who disagrees with him. If this is indeed where we are, then the polarization is moving along, and all that’s left is for the centrists to choose sides. Not a good prospect.