Years ago, I had a blog called "My Left Brain." After President Bush was re-elected, disillusionmnet with politics led me to abandon blogging and personal issues kept me from returning to it.
I continued to follow Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo, which have always been two of my favorite blogs.
Recently, I started another blog with my boyfriend (debunkerhill.com), because we are very concerned about the health care debate, the attitudes of conservatives in this country, and the influence of Fox "News" in ginning up sentiments that seem increasingly dangerous and detached from reality.
Yet every time I try to find something to write, cycling through my favorite blogs (including this place, which I have to say has some of the most "on top of it" wonks I have had the pleasure to associate with), I find that not only is everything I might write about covered but that it is covered on multiple blogs.
Has the blogosphere become a giant echo chamber, kind of like progressive (and, on the flip side, conservatives) TV commentators? For example, the guy who wrote the C Street book has been repeating himself on every left-leaning political show I have seen recently: Maddow, Mahr, Stewart.
Although I like Rachel Maddow, I sometimes have to turn her off because if I have already watched Ed and Keith, I feel like I am watching old news by the time I get to Rachel Maddow.
My other problem with blogging is that by the time I come across a topic it is either (1) widely covered (and possibly better than I could do) or (2) not that exciting to anyone.
I think blogs like Kos and TPM, which invite user participation and allow people to create their own "blogs" to discuss the news, as well as the news aggregator site Huffington Post, which has numerous blogs and an enthusiastic contingent of commenters, have resulted in creating sites that are so comprehensive and rich in diverse material that it is difficult for a new blogger to break in.
What are your habits regarding blog reading? Do you visit multiple blogs? Do you find that Daily Kos meets a lot of your "progressive opinion" needs? Do you prefer blogs that allow you to become a blogger?