Jack O’Toole thinks the world is just not fair to the Left:
Each and every day, Glenn [Reynolds] quite skillfully uses his site to weave the right side of the blogosphere into a coherent, compelling whole, a narrative of conservative ideas and opinion. In short, a message. And despite our signal successes — the professional-level political and policy analysis being done by some, the potent partisan anger that’s bracingly channeled by others — the left side of Blogdom still doesn’t have anything quite like an Instapundit. And we suffer for it. Seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year.
Hey- I’ve got an idea, why don’t they buy 6 blogs and pay for them with bad checks and see how many readers they get!
It really is sad. For years the left has blamed Rush because they have no message on radio now they blame Glenn because they have no message in the blogosphere. Do these people own mirrors?
Why not drop the usual liberal “woe is me” crap and get a message that is intellectually honest, can be defended intelligently and does not repulse a large hunk of America. How hard is it?
The problem with today’s Democratic party is not that they don’t have a message. The problems is that their message just repulses too many people.
UPDATE: Jack thinks, well- I’m not exactly sure what Jack thinks. It is somewhere between I mischaracterized his post to I was being too hard on him. What ever the case, follow the link to his post and read the comments on this post and draw your own conclusions. My “whiny liberal” detector went off but it is known to be extremely sensitive- mostly owning to years of overexposure. 😉
Update 2: Steve the Llamabutcher has some solutions in the comments.
Funny, I thought they had Josh Marshall or Markos Zuniga for their guiding light. Must be the foam at the mouth blocking the view.
Jeez, folks, I don’t mind being criticized for what I actually say — that’s half the fun of blogging.
But if you’d take the time to actually click through and read that post in it’s entirety, you’d find that what I wrote was intended as a compliment, not a complaint.
Well, don’t I feel dumb. Sorry about the apostrophe in “its”….
Hey Jack, I actually clicked through and read it. Bravo, I even went through James Joyner’s TBs sent your way and read through some of his quips as well. Nope, you’re not foaming at the mouth (as far as I’ve read), though the “they” part sure might seem like I was referring to you.
Your complaint — as well as your n*anced compliment to Glenn — is valid. You really don’t have an Insty. As to why, I do not know, but Paul’s mention of cutting the “woe is me” crap sure is a better suggestion than talking about the yearlong liberal suffering and leaving it hanging out there.
OF Jay — Regular readers of my blog understand that, as someone who has spent a good chunk of his adult life working in and around politics, I don’t blame the other side for our own shortcomings. That would be … dumb. My point was that Glenn delivers his message in the most effective way possible; he does it each and every day, all year long.
Point taken. Tell you what. He probably wouldn’t be the liberal Insty but if Michael Totten can get to close to Markos’ link level he’d be a good place to start. That’s just me; he’s one of the libs I enjoy reading, but he’s been branded a heretic by the ones with crabfoam on the face.
Such tragedy, really.
And my point was that you have a blog too.
Your side’s argument about radio, while vacuous, had a lilt of plausibility to it.
On the internet you have no excuses.
Paul
OH- And if you think I was linking you to the goofball antics in recent Dem history, that was not my point exactly. The point was the message is the problem.
Respectfully, Paul, that doesn’t exactly look like your point from my spot in the cheap seats. In fact, your point looks very much like, “Jack O’Toole thinks the world is just not fair to the Left.” And that statement just won’t stand up to a fair reading of my original post. Obviously, this is your blog, and I respect your right to do with it what you will. But when I made a similar error an hour or so ago with one of James Joyner’s posts, I corrected it right where Glenn Reynolds makes his corrections — on the front page. (You see? I really am an InstaFan….)
Anyway, thanks for letting me have my say here at Wizbang. And good luck.
I’m not sure that the left’s problem is presentation skill. You guys have a lot of folks that do a fine job at presenting your side of the story.
My belief is that the problem is not how the story is presented, but the story itself. It’s just not resonating.
But, being a retired Navy Chief and a Texan, having grown up on one of the notches in the Bible Belt, I may be biased.
Jack, I was turning a phrase with my lede.
Perhaps had you not added the “And we suffer for it. Seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year.” I would not have looked at it the way I did… I my little brain it came off as whining.
What ever the case, I’ll put something on the front I hope you find acceptable.
Paul
BTW This is Kevin Aylward’s blog. There are a few of us that help him out when he gets busy. Yesterday was one of those days.
Thanks for the update, Paul. I appreciate it.
The only fair and reasonable answer is taxation and regulation, as well as perhaps affirmative action.
My plan:
Bloggers are taxed per entry in a progressive manner: the more traffic you receive, the greater a percentage you pay for the right to have the public read your ideas. Reynolds, Lileks, Sullivan etc. would have to pay the highest. Drudge, of course, would have to be barred from publishing at all because, well, he’s just a racist hate-monger and you can’t have that now, can you? Kos and Josh Marshall would be exempted because they are blogging for the public good.
Point two is content regulation. You just can’t have these blogs being run by people without degrees from journalism school out there and trying to influence the public debate! I mean, they might tell people things that are wrong, or they might be in reality dead-beat dads or something, so licesning is a fair answer: to blog you must receive a license from the FCC. A reasonable application period, a reasonable fee, content supervision (no naughty words) and of course most importantly equal time provisions—members of the democratic underground will have the right to respond to any thing said about their people on instapundit, indc journal, what have you. Kos, Marshall, etc. would be exempted because they are blogging in the public interest.
Lastly, affirmative action. The blogosphere historically discriminates against all those who didn’t watch a lot of Star Trek as kids, read Neal Stephanson novels, and sit on their subsidized keisters as professors. Therefore, all blogs must devote at least 20% of their blog roll and 20% of their posts to blogs that have been tragically and historically discriminated against, as determined by the government. Of course, blogs in the public interest will be exempted.
I think this will solve the pesky problems of these upstart bloggers! Taxes! Regulation! Affirmative Action!
Love,
Howell Raines
Assistant Manager (Night Shift)
Kinkos
57th and Lexington Ave.
For all your document needs